The first sign came in the form of silence.
Not the peaceful kind she had grown used to.
The tense, corporate kind.
The kind that followed her into lobbies, wrapped around phone calls, and settled into every glance that lingered just a bit too long.
When Lin Yaoyue returned to the city, things weren't the same.
People at Jinlin Tower no longer looked through her. They looked at her. Not with judgment, but caution. Like they didn't know what she knew, or what she might be capable of.
She'd expected whispers.
But this was different.
This was retreat.
---
Su Cheng noticed it first.
"Three people who ignored you last month offered to buy me coffee just for saying we're friends," he said, glancing up from his phone. "Either you got promoted without telling me, or something's going on."
Yaoyue narrowed her eyes. "What kind of something?"
"Something that smells like fear."
---
It wasn't until her second week back that she overheard the conversation.
Two mid-level executives, whispering near the glass conference room.
"…she's the one. The CEO's girlfriend."
"Not girlfriend. Contract, right?"
"Doesn't matter. Tang Min tried to ruin her and now she's disappeared."
"No, she didn't disappear. She was *removed*."
"From what I heard, Zeyan buried half her network."
"Seriously?"
"They say someone from the board was forced out. Quiet resignation."
"Reputation ruined."
"All for her?"
Yaoyue paused outside the doorway.
Her pulse jumped.
Zeyan...
---
She didn't confront him right away.
Mostly because she didn't know how. And partly because she wasn't ready to know if the rumors were true.
But that night, when she arrived at the penthouse for dinner. Something they'd been doing, casually and cautiously, since her return. She noticed something different.
The dining table was cleared. Wine already poured. Candles lit, not romantically, but purposefully.
She raised a brow. "What is this?"
Zeyan looked up from his seat. "You're early."
"You're predictable."
He didn't smile, but his eyes softened a fraction.
She sat down, eyeing the glass of wine. "Any reason the vibe tonight is halfway between victory party and interrogation scene?"
"No."
That was a lie.
---
They ate in silence for a few minutes, but she wasn't playing along this time.
"I heard a rumor today."
Zeyan didn't look up. "You hear many."
"This one involved a board member's resignation, a smear campaign folding, and someone's entire PR team disappearing overnight."
He reached for his glass, slow and unbothered.
"People talk."
"I'm asking if it's true."
A pause.
Then, calmly: "Yes."
Yaoyue stared.
"You did that?"
"Yes."
"For me?"
He looked at her fully now.
"I warned them once. They didn't listen."
Her breath caught.
"So you destroyed them?"
"I removed the threats."
"That's not the same thing."
"I know."
She stood, hands flat on the table.
"You went behind my back."
"I protected you."
"I didn't ask you to."
"That's what makes it protection."
The words hit like glass between them, sharp, clean, and just slightly cracked.
---
She walked to the window, heart pounding.
Part of her wanted to scream. The other part, the part that remembered being humiliated, alone, targeted, wanted to fall into him.
But she couldn't.
Not without asking.
"Did you do it because you care about me," she said quietly, "or because someone touched what belongs to you?"
Silence.
The city lights blinked below.
Then:
"I did it because I watched you suffer alone. And I realized that the only way I could make it right wasn't with words. It was by making sure no one would *ever* think they could do it again."
Yaoyue turned to him.
"I'm not a project."
"I know."
"I'm not yours to defend."
"You're not mine," he said. "But I'm still yours."
That silence again. Thick and honest.
She walked back slowly, sat down across from him again.
"I should hate you for this."
"I know."
"But I don't."
"I know."
She reached for her glass. Drank.
Then said, "Next time… include me in the war plan."
His lip almost almost curved.
"I was planning to."
She narrowed her eyes. "Planning to when?"
"Now."