The summit coverage followed them for the next forty-eight hours.
Every financial page, business channel, and social column seemed determined to turn a handful of natural gestures into the story of the week. Photos of Lucien guiding Seraphina through the press line circulated beside headlines about Ashford's recovered stability. Analysts praised the optics. Social commentators speculated about the strength of the marriage. Even the board, which had once treated Seraphina as a useful but temporary variable, began speaking as if her place beside Lucien had always been inevitable.
From the outside, it looked like victory.
From inside Ashford Tower, it felt like pressure to wear a softer face.
The public closeness that had once been an obligation was beginning to mirror something private and far more difficult to control, as the executives struggled to balance their public personas with the mounting pressures and personal challenges they faced behind closed doors.
