Isabelle’s POV
By the time I arrived at the office the next morning, the story had already broken.
I didn’t need to check my phone or open my laptop. I could feel it in the air—the tight hum of tension pulsing beneath every whispered hallway conversation. It was the kind of charged silence that always comes before impact. The kind that means the avalanche has started, and nothing is going to stop it.
Stephanie was waiting outside my office door, her expression unreadable as always—but her knuckles were white against the tablet she held.
“It’s out,” she said, offering the screen to me.
I took it with steady hands. No hesitation. No theatrics.
“Blackwood Conglomerate Implicated in Overseas Labor Scandal—Leaked Records Show Possible Violations of International Human Rights Laws.”
I scr
