Adira's POV
The first notification hit my phone before dawn. By the time I poured my coffee, there were hundreds. By the time I reached the office, thousands.
Trending #1 in the UK: "Adira & The Secret Billionaire."
I froze at my desk as the headlines scrolled across the screen:
Heiress Caught in Midnight Tryst.
Williams Empire Tied to Craig Fortune?
Who Really Owns Her Success?
Each article carried the same blurry photos: me and Jayden leaving the restaurant, walking side by side by the river. His hand brushing my cheek in one too-perfect frame.
The room tilted. The narrative Ashley wanted was obvious: that I hadn't built my empire, that I was just a puppet, prettied up and pulled along by a man with deeper pockets.
By mid-morning, board members were calling. Investors too. Their words carried the same venom: Is this appropriate? Is your leadership compromised? How much influence does Craig really have?
I clenched my fists until my nails dug crescents into my palms. I'd fought too hard, bled too much, to let Ashley reduce me to a headline.
The door opened.
Jayden.
He walked in calm, controlled, the storm already reflected in his eyes. "Don't panic."
"Don't panic?" My laugh was sharp, brittle. I shoved my phone at him. "Look at this! They're saying you own me, Jayden. That everything I've worked for is yours."
For the briefest second, something flickered in his expression a secret, a truth I couldn't place. Then it was gone, masked behind his usual steel.
"Scandals burn fast," he said evenly. "The truth doesn't."
"You don't get it." My voice cracked, louder than I intended. "This isn't just gossip. This undermines everything I've built. If people believe this, they'll think I never earned a damn thing. That I've been carried by a man's shadow."
He stepped closer, lowering his voice, his presence filling the room. "Adira, look at me."
I did. Against my will, I did.
"You are not defined by whispers," he said. "Not Ashley's, not the media's. You built your empire with your own hands. And anyone who matters knows it."
His hand hovered above mine on the desk, close enough that heat radiated between us. He didn't touch me not yet but the restraint only made my pulse pound harder.
"You don't have to fight this alone," he added, softer.
I swallowed hard, torn between leaning into his steadiness and recoiling from what it might cost me. "But if I stand too close to you, Jayden... maybe that's exactly what they'll think. That I can't fight without you."
His lips curved, not quite a smile. "Then let them think it. Because the truth? You could conquer the world without me. But I'll be damned if I let you face it without me."
The words hung heavy between us, dangerous and comforting all at once.
I looked away first, heart hammering.
Ashley's POV
Ashley sprawled across her penthouse sofa, silk robe draped artfully, phone buzzing nonstop with updates. The blogs had eaten the photos alive. Morning talk shows replayed the grainy footage like gospel.
Perfect.
She scrolled, savoring the chaos. Adira Williams, the illegitimate daughter who couldn't even hold her empire without a man's hand. The headlines wrote themselves.
"Checkmate, darling," she whispered into her champagne glass.
But deep down, one thought needled her: if Adira survived this storm too, nothing would stop her.
And Ashley wasn't about to let that happen.