CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY ONE – THE REAL SCHEMER

"Are you telling me this Clarissa person has been gunning for you - for both of you - from the very start?" His brow furrowed deeply. "We need to explore every connection to her right now. This could be the biggest lead we've had." As the next few hours ticked by in a flurry of information gathering and strategizing, the picture became terrifyingly clear. Clarissa McAllister, a wealthy socialite and serial dater, had been utterly scorned and humiliated by Lance after a tempestuous on-again, off-again romance years prior. She had developed an unhealthy, all-consuming obsession with Lance that only escalated after his relationship with Kayla went public. The more the investigators probed, the more evident it became that Clarissa's mental state had deteriorated into dangerous instability. Her hatred for Kayla was derived from seeing her as the ultimate affront - an "unsuitable" woman who had finally "won" Lance in a way she never could. "I'm telling you, the woman is completely bon