Chapter 10: The Charity Gala Invite

Elena’s phone wouldn’t stop vibrating. News alerts, texts, missed calls, each one a fresh blade.

CNN Business: Vanguard CEO Damian Holt’s Secret Vegas Love Child Exposed – Photos Surface.

Bloomberg: Reyes & Reyes CEO Elena Reyes Linked to Holt in Explosive Scandal.

T*****r trending: #VanguardBaby #HoltLoveChild

She sat frozen on the couch, Damian’s arms still around her, his fingers still slick from moments ago. The orgasm he’d given her still pulsed between her legs, but the heat had turned to ice.

Damian’s phone rang, his father, the retired founder. He ignored it. Another call, Theo. Ignored. A text from Victoria.

Victoria: Family meeting. Now. My place. Damage control.

Elena’s screen lit up again. Lila.

She answered on speaker.

Lila’s voice cracked through the room. “The debt collector is here. Right now. In the lobby. He says the photos were his insurance policy, but someone paid him extra to release them early. He’s laughing, Elena. Laughing.”

Damian’s grip tightened on Elena’s waist. “Put him on.”

A shuffle. The collector’s smug drawl came through. “Mr. Holt. Pleasure. Your daughter’s cute. Looks just like you in the old Vegas shots.”

Damian’s voice went deadly quiet. “Name your price to kill the story and disappear.”

“Too late. Wire already hit my account, from an offshore shell. Someone wanted this out tonight.”

Elena’s face dropped. Not the debt people. Someone else.

Cut to the Vanguard boardroom, two miles away.

Theo leaned back in the CEO chair Damian’s chair, feet on the desk. Sarah sat across from him, legs crossed, scrolling her phone with a satisfied smirk.

“Leak’s live,” she said. “Stock dipped 4% in after-hours. Board’s panicking. Perfect timing for your vote tomorrow.”

Theo grinned. “And the photos? Clean?”

“Anonymous tip to three outlets. Untraceable.” Sarah’s eyes glittered. “Victoria thinks she’s playing chess. She doesn’t know I copied her contact list weeks ago.”

Theo laughed. “Keep flirting with my assistant. Make it look like you’re just ambitious. Damian will never suspect the new girl from Sterling is feeding me everything.”

Sarah’s smile turned sharp. “Already did. He liked the coffee I brought him this morning. Told me to stay late for ‘strategy.’”

Back in the penthouse.

Mia’s small voice floated from the hallway. “Mommy? Why is my picture on the big TV?”

Elena’s heart shattered. She bolted up, yanking her tank down, and rushed to the guest room. The TV was on, some late-night entertainment show. A split screen: grainy Vegas photo of her and Damian, then a paparazzi shot of Mia leaving preschool yesterday.

The nosy preschool teacher, Ms. Harper, a single mom who’d always asked too many questions, appeared in a quick interview clip.

“I always suspected something. Little Mia talks about her ‘tall man’ friend. And Ms. Reyes wears that strange bracelet every day. It’s all very mysterious…”

Elena slammed the TV off. Mia looked up, eyes wide. “Am I in trouble?”

Damian appeared in the doorway, face pale. He crouched to Mia’s level.

“No, sweetheart. You’re perfect.” His voice cracked on the last word. He looked at Elena over Mia’s head, raw pain, fierce love, and something else. A half-remembered shadow he still couldn’t name.

His phone buzzed again. This time a video call from an unknown number. Elena answered it.

Her mother’s gaunt face filled the screen. Eyes red, mascara streaked.

“I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “They made me. Victoria Holt found me last week. Said if I didn’t give her the Vegas photos and sign that guarantor paper, she’d expose my gambling debts to the collectors. She wanted leverage over Damian. To force him into a ‘family image’ push for the board. I didn’t know she’d leak it this fast…”

The call cut off.

Damian’s expression turned to stone. “Victoria.”

Elena’s knees buckled. “She’s been playing everyone. The offer, the rumors, now this.”

Another text hit both their phones simultaneously.

Victoria: Charity Gala tomorrow night. Black tie. You two will attend. Together. Smile for the cameras. Show the world it’s a happy little family. Or the rest of the photos drop, including the ones from the hotel room.

Attached: an invite to the annual Vanguard Children’s Foundation Gala, hosted by Victoria herself.

Damian stared at the screen. Then at Mia. Then at Elena.

“She wants to parade us. Force my hand on the board vote. Make me look stable… or destroy me.”

Elena’s voice was barely a whisper. “What do we do?”

Damian stood. Pulled Elena into his arms. Kissed the top of her head, then Mia’s.

“We go. We smile. And we turn her trap against her.”

But as he spoke, another call came through, Damian’s ex-fiancée, the one the outline said would return as a board member.

Ex (text): Saw the news. Still wearing my ring in your drawer? I can help spin this. Call me. We were always better together.

Damian deleted it instantly.

But Elena saw the name.

And the look on his face.

Lila’s voice came through the speakerphone again, frantic.

“Elena, debt collector just left. But he dropped a final bomb. He said Victoria paid him, but there’s someone bigger behind her. Someone who knew about the one-night stand from day one.”

Simultaneous texts exploded:

Theo: Board emergency vote moved to right after the gala. Your “family” better look perfect.

Sarah (to Damian’s assistant, copied to Theo): He’s distracted. Move on the Asia accounts tonight.

Preschool teacher Harper (voicemail to Elena): I’m so sorry, but parents are pulling kids. Gossip is everywhere. Maybe Mia should stay home a few days?

Elena’s mother (new text): Forgive me. Victoria has more. Hotel video.

Damian looked at Elena, eyes blazing with new fire.

“Tomorrow night at that gala, we walk in as a family. We smile. We dance. And we start taking them all down—one by one.”

He kissed her in front of Mia who giggled and covered her eyes.

But as their mouths met, Elena’s phone lit up one last time.

A new anonymous message.

Unknown: Enjoy the gala.

Attached: a 15-second video clip.

Damian, five years ago, in the Vegas suite, laughing, naked, slipping the poker-chip bracelet onto a woman’s wrist.

The woman’s face was blurred.

But the bracelet was unmistakable.

And in the background, a second phone recording the whole thing.

Someone had filmed them that night.

And they still had the tape.