Trash Husband, I'm the Top novel Chapter 81

Aurora felt like she was on the verge of losing her mind.

She wanted to scream, to tear the world apart, to let her rage swallow everything in its path.

Hatred and pain knotted together inside her, shredding every last shred of her composure.

“Why?” Her voice shook as she jabbed a trembling finger at Eleanor, her eyes fixed on Daniel. “Why do you always take her side?”

She had been so close—just one step away from clearing her name.

But Daniel had ruined everything.

Once again, he’d chosen Eleanor over her.

Tears blurred her vision.

“Daniel, you know I’m telling the truth. You know she was here with an executive from our competitor.” Her voice cracked, desperate. “Even a private investigator could’ve found that out—so why couldn’t you?”

Eleanor looked stricken, her delicate face tilted up at Aurora, wide eyes brimming with well-timed tears.

“So let me get this straight,” she said, voice trembling. “Just because I happened to have dinner at the same restaurant as someone from the other company, you think I’m the one who leaked the formula?”

A few perfect drops slid down her cheeks.

“Yes,” she admitted, “I was there, I had dinner with him. But Aurora, don’t you know why?”

Turning to Daniel, she let her voice grow softer, more pitiful. “It’s because I couldn’t stand the way Aurora bullied me in the office—how she ordered people to make my life miserable. I wanted to find another job, that’s all. That’s the only reason I was there.”

“And besides, Aurora developed that formula herself, bit by bit in the lab. I’ve never even been inside. If the formula got out, how could it possibly have come from me? Aurora, do you really not know?”

She looked the picture of wounded innocence, every inch the victim.

Aurora clenched her fists until her nails dug into her palms. The way the evidence pointed, the leak was airtight—there wasn’t a single clue left for her to grasp at, nothing she could use to clear her name.

Except, maybe, the security footage.

“I’ll have the techs recover the footage,” she said, voice low but steady. “If, after that, you’re still innocent, I’ll take the blame without another word.”

Eleanor’s voice hitched as she pleaded, “Aurora, you know what almost happened to me that night. Do you really want to destroy me?”

But Daniel wouldn’t even allow that.

Instead, he wanted her out of the way, sent home like a troublesome child.

Aurora laughed—a bitter, splintering sound that rang through the room as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Despair settled over her like a shroud; she looked utterly defeated, hollow.

“Daniel, have you ever heard the saying: ‘A lapdog that grovels for love ends up with nothing’?” Her tone was icy, her words sharp as glass. “I hope you spend your whole life chasing after someone you can never have.”

Daniel’s jaw tensed, storm clouds gathering in his eyes. Her cruel curse rattled him, stoking his anger even further.

“Will,” he called, summoning his assistant, “take Mrs. Carter home. She’s been under a lot of stress lately. Make sure she gets plenty of rest.”

Will nodded quickly, treating Aurora with the utmost respect. “Ma’am, let me see you home.”

Aurora’s gaze was cold as she swept her eyes over Daniel and Eleanor. “You’re both despicable.”

She turned away, shoulders trembling, her steps unsteady as she walked out of the room.