Swapping a Broken Heart for a New Start novel Chapter 515

This matter was way too urgent. Once Camila Davis caught wind of The Smith Group and Raymond Mitchell’s scheme, there was no way she’d just sit around and wait for disaster to strike.

She didn’t care if she was waking up Walter Wilson in the middle of the night—she called him right away. She also looped in Kyle Garcia, asking them both to meet up ASAP to figure out their next move.

There was nothing they could do about The Smith Group’s media department—that was a locked door. According to the whistleblower, the earliest The Smith Group would start releasing videos was tomorrow morning. They needed a plan: how to defend themselves, maybe even stop this thing before it started. This wasn’t the kind of problem you could just wing.

Walter didn’t even hesitate—he was all in.

An hour later, the three of them were sitting together at a late-night diner, the kind that never closes and always smells faintly of burnt coffee and fries.

“Sorry to drag you guys out so late,” Camila said, sheepish, wrapping her hands around a mug of coffee. “But this couldn’t wait until morning.”

Walter just waved her off, scooping up a handful of pretzels from the bowl on the table. “Don’t mention it. Actually, I’ve got some info to share with you too.”

Kyle slid into the booth, shaking his head. “Yeah, don’t worry about it.”

Walter leaned in, lowering his voice. “I had Aiden dig into Raymond Mitchell’s past. Turns out, this guy’s got a laundry list of shady stuff behind him. Most common? Stealing other people’s patents and formulas. The Smith Group’s sued him a bunch of times, but nothing’s ever stuck—lack of evidence.”

He paused, looking grim. “But there’s more. For years, he’s been making regular visits to an orphanage—just one in particular. The year he started showing up? A few little girls died under mysterious circumstances. Investigators chalked it up to illness, but the whole thing stank. Not long after, the place was shut down. Officially, it was because of toxic materials in the building, but the timing was odd. Before Mitchell got involved, the orphanage had its issues, sure, but never anything fatal—just the usual childhood illnesses.”

Kyle picked up where Walter left off. “And it’s not just that orphanage. I found out Raymond’s been a visiting professor abroad. He’s had students—mostly women—who ended up in bad shape. A few even committed suicide, and it made headlines at the university. All of them were his students. The official story was that they couldn’t handle the academic pressure, but here’s the thing—not a single one of his male students ever had these problems. I just don’t buy that all those young women caved under stress.”

Walter nodded. “It’s possible. There’s no way he could have found real dirt on Mr. Morris in such a short time. Faking it is his only option.”

Camila’s heart sank. “But when you guys were investigating, you didn’t find any real evidence on Mitchell? If he’s done all this, there has to be something—some mistake he made, someone who saw something. What about the staff at those orphanages, the girls’ homes?”

Walter shook his head. “Maybe, but it’s been years. And most of those places were overseas. Staff come and go, records get lost, people move on. It’s like chasing ghosts.”

Camila slumped back, frustrated. “So what do we do now?”

Walter was resolute. “We don’t give up. We dig deeper. Mitchell’s dirty, and the truth always leaves a trail. We’ll find it—even if it takes time.”