Chapter 13 - THE DEFEATED SILENCE
The apartment felt painfully cold and empty as Ethan walked over and clicked the heavy front door shut.
Chloe sat frozen on the edge of the sofa, staring at the spot on the kitchen table where her life's work had just been confiscated.
"They took it... they actually managed to steal the only proof we had," Chloe whispered, her voice cracking with despair.
Ethan walked over, sitting down beside her and pulling her into a tight, protective embrace.
"They took the physical folder, Chloe, but they didn't take everything," Ethan reminded her gently.
Chloe pulled back slightly, her tear-filled eyes searching his face for answers. "What do you mean?"
"Before I submitted the final draft to the academic board, I uploaded an encrypted backup copy to a decentralized cloud server," Ethan revealed with a faint smile.
Chloe let out a shaky, disbelieving laugh, burying her face against his chest in overwhelming relief.
"You're brilliant, Ethan. You actually outsmarted my father's legal team," Chloe murmured against his shirt.
"I just wanted to make sure nobody could ever silence you again," Ethan replied softly, kissing the top of her head.
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"So what's our next move? If my father has the FBI in his pocket, we can't just walk into a police station," Chloe noted practically.
"We bypass local jurisdiction entirely. We take the backup straight to the federal investigative journalists in Washington," Ethan declared firmly.
