Chapter 14: Chapter fourteen: you are responsible for the leak
anwhile, Lilian’s fans were busy creating their own fairy tale online.
As CEO of Blackwood Dominion Enterprises, Alexander had never lacked public attention.
He appeared often in financial magazines and business headlines—young, powerful, impeccably dressed.
Tall, strikingly handso, born into prestige, and untouched by scandal.
To the public, he was the perfect man.
The kind people admired from a distance and dread about in private.
Lilian was no less adored.
Beautiful, internationally recognized, elegant, and polished.
When people looked at them side by side, they saw what they wanted to see.
Beauty and power.
Talent and status.
A perfect match.
The internet went wild.
Within days, a new hashtag trended across every platform.
#BlackwoodSumrLove
Their follower counts surged.
Fans edited romantic videos using scenes from Lilian’s old dramas mixed with Alexander’s interviews.
Artists drew matching profile photos.
Writers posted imagined love stories about long-lost sweethearts finally reuniting.
One post caught my eye.
Are CEO Blackwood and Lilian Sumr secretly married already?
The comnts beneath it were worse.
He stayed single all these years while she was abroad.
No scandals. No girlfriends.
He was obviously waiting for her.
This kind of loyalty is rare.
To strangers, it was a beautiful love story.
To —
It was unbearable.
Each comnt felt like a knife pressed slowly into my chest.
My fingers trembled around the phone.
My throat tightened until breathing felt difficult.
I was his wife.
So why did I feel like the outsider in my own marriage?
I shut off the screen and stood abruptly.
Enough.
I walked straight to the CEO’s office.
I knocked once.
"Co in."
Alexander’s voice was calm, distant.
I entered.
He looked up from behind his desk, expression unreadable.
"Do you need sothing?"
"Yes."
I forced myself to et his eyes.
"I don’t think handing this issue to CCPR was the right decision."
His gaze sharpened slightly.
"And why is that?"
"Because this doesn’t only affect the new product line. It affects ??clat Beauty as a whole."
I stepped closer.
"You’re the CEO. If the public believes you used your position to secure the ambassadorship for Miss Sumr, it won’t stop with one scandal."
He said nothing.
So I continued.
"Every future campaign tied to our company will bring her na back into controversy. That damages the brand, the product, and the company."
For a mont, silence filled the office.
Then a faint, cold smile touched his lips.
"Is that truly your concern?"
My chest tightened.
"...What?"
"Or," he said coolly, "are you speaking from personal motives?"
I stared at him.
"Personal motives? Why would you even say that?"
His expression hardened.
"Alicia, you already leaked the information online."
The accusation struck like a slap.
"What?"
"So what explanation could you possibly give
now?"
I took a step back.
"You think I leaked this?"
"Who else could have done it?" he shot back.
His voice rose for the first ti.
"What’s your next move? Announce our marriage publicly so Lilian gets branded a mistress and her career destroyed?"
A hollow laugh escaped .
Slowly.
Painfully.
"So that’s how little you think of ."
His jaw clenched.
"Answer ."
I looked at him as if seeing a stranger.
"You truly believe I’d use sothing so filthy?"
"Then tell ," he said coldly, "who else has the access, the influence, and the connections to orchestrate this?"
I could hardly hear him over the rushing sound in my ears.
Every word felt unreal.
Then he said the one sentence that shattered everything left inside .
"Lilian has nothing to do with the problems between us."
He stood from his chair.
"Leave her out of it."
His eyes were icy.
"She’s innocent."
I felt sothing crack in my chest.
Innocent?
The woman openly walking beside my husband.
The woman benefiting from my humiliation.
The woman he protected without hesitation.
And ?
What was I, then?
He continued rcilessly.
"If you were unhappy with our arrangent, you should have co to
directly."
Then, with finality:
"She doesn’t even know about our marriage."
The room went silent.
My lips parted, but no words ca.
Because suddenly, after everything...
I understood exactly who the villain was in his story.
And it was .
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