CHAPTER 6

My phone slipped from my hand. I barely caught it before it hit the floor. The image on the screen made my stomach twist.

It was me. And Adrian. Except it wasn't.

I stared at the photograph again, trying to understand what I was seeing. I was sitting on the edge of Adrian's desk, my blouse slightly open at the collar. Adrian stood between my knees, one hand apparently resting on my thigh. It looked intimate. Too intimate.

My heart started pounding. Beneath the photograph was a message.

*Chloe Bennet slept her way into the Vance family.*

Another line followed.

*How much did Adrian Vance pay for her loyalty?*

"No."

The word came out as a whisper. My fingers trembled as I zoomed in. I knew that office. I knew that desk. I even recognized the clothes I had been wearing that day. But I had never sat like that. I had never touched Adrian that way. Someone had edited the photograph. Someone had deliberately made a lie look real.

My phone buzzed again.

*Maya: Have you seen what's going around?*

My heart dropped. Before I could answer, another message appeared.

*It's spreading inside the company.*

I stood so quickly that my chair scraped across the floor. I grabbed my phone. I needed Adrian. Now.

I barely made it into the hallway before people started looking at me. Two employees stopped talking when they saw me. One immediately looked away. Another glanced at my phone, then at my face, then quickly away. My chest tightened. They had seen it. Everyone had seen it.

"Chloe."

I turned. Maya was hurrying toward me, her phone clutched in her hand. Her expression was panicked, apologetic.

"Don't," I whispered.

She stopped. "You've seen it?"

"Everyone has."

My throat felt dry. "Who sent it?"

"We don't know."

"Where did it come from?"

Maya hesitated. That hesitation frightened me more than the photograph itself. I grabbed her arm. "Tell me."

"The board."

I went still. "The board?"

She nodded. "Every board member received it this morning. Within an hour, it was circulating through the entire company."

For a moment, everything around me seemed to disappear. I thought about the threat I'd received. *You have one hour before the whole world sees what you really are.* They hadn't been bluffing. Someone had been preparing this. Someone had waited for the right moment, the perfect moment to strike.

And now the board had the photograph. The people who mattered most. The people who controlled Adrian's company.

"I need Adrian."

Maya caught my arm. "Chloe, wait."

"No."

"He's already in a board meeting."

I stared at her. "What?"

"They called an emergency meeting about thirty minutes ago."

My stomach sank. "Because of the photograph?"

Maya didn't answer. She didn't need to.

I turned and headed straight for Adrian's office. A security guard stood outside the boardroom. He stepped in front of me without hesitation.

"Ms. Bennet, Mr. Vance asked that no one disturb the meeting."

"I'm not no one."

He hesitated, clearly torn between his orders and the reality standing in front of him.

I reached for the door. Before I could open it, voices came from inside.

"...can't pretend this doesn't concern the company."

Another voice answered coldly. "It concerns his judgment. His objectivity. His ability to lead."

Then Adrian spoke. His voice was calm. Too calm. The kind of calm that came right before something dangerous happened.

"Choose your next words very carefully."

I opened the door.

Every head in the room turned toward me. Robert Vance sat at the center of the table, his expression grim. Several board members had their phones in front of them. And on every screen was the same photograph.

My face burned. I felt exposed. Dirty. Even though I knew the picture was a lie, even though I could see the editing now that I knew to look for it, the feeling of violation remained.

Adrian looked at me. His expression changed immediately, shifting from controlled anger to concern.

"Chloe."

I walked inside. "I'm sorry."

He came toward me. "You have nothing to apologize for."

One of the board members gave a bitter laugh. "That's debatable."

Adrian turned toward him without releasing my hand. "What exactly are you suggesting?"

The man placed his phone on the table with deliberate slowness. "That this company is being dragged into a scandal because the CEO can't separate his personal interests from his professional responsibilities."

I stared at the photograph again. I wanted to disappear. I wanted to stop existing in this moment.

Another board member spoke, her tone sympathetic but firm. "Whether the photograph is authentic or not, the perception is damaging. Perception is everything in business."

"Then investigate it," Adrian said.

"We will."

"Good. Then we wait for the results before making any decisions."

"But until then, perhaps Chloe should step away from the company. For her own protection."

My eyes lifted. Adrian didn't even look at the man. "No."

Robert finally spoke. His voice carried the weight of authority. "Adrian."

Adrian turned toward his father. "Not now."

"This isn't about emotion. This is about business."

"You called an emergency meeting because someone forged a photograph of Chloe." Adrian's voice remained calm, but there was an edge underneath it now. An edge like sharpened steel. "Someone deliberately tried to damage her reputation and, by extension, this company. And your response is to ask her to leave?"

"We called this meeting because that photograph is already damaging the Vance name."

I flinched. The words hit harder than the photograph itself. Damaging the Vance name. That's all I was. A liability. A risk to the family reputation.

Adrian noticed my reaction. His jaw tightened. His hand tightened around mine. "The Vance name isn't more important than a human being."

Silence fell over the room. Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. The weight of what Adrian had just said hung in the air between us.

I stared at him. For the first time since this nightmare began—since Liam's betrayal, the pregnancy revelation, the threat, and now this humiliation—Adrian was the only person in that room who didn't look at me like I was something shameful. Something to be hidden away.

Robert looked at me. His expression was unreadable. "You understand what people will say. What they're already saying."

I swallowed. My voice came out steady, quiet. "They're already saying it."

Everyone looked at me. I forced myself to continue, to hold their gaze, to not disappear even though every instinct screamed at me to hide.

"But I didn't do this. I've never done anything like this."

"I know."

Adrian's voice was quiet. Certain.

I looked at him. "You know?"

His eyes stayed on mine. There was no doubt in them. No hesitation. No uncertainty.

"I know you," he said simply.

Four words. That's all it took to break something open inside me. After everything that had happened today, after Liam's betrayal, after the pregnancy, the threat, and now this public humiliation, Adrian was the only person who believed me without needing proof.

A board member pushed his phone forward across the table. "Then explain this. Explain how your name and her name and this photograph all ended up on the phones of every board member simultaneously."

I looked at the photograph. At the lie printed in pixels. "I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because it isn't real."

The man leaned back in his chair. "Can you prove that?"

I opened my mouth. Nothing came out. I had no proof. No evidence. No way to defend myself except for Adrian's faith in me.

Adrian stepped beside me. His hand found the small of my back. "We'll prove it."

Then every phone in the room seemed to come alive at once. Notifications pinging rapidly, one after another after another. The board members looked down at their devices, their expressions shifting from skepticism to confusion.

Maya, still standing near the door, checked her phone. Her face changed. She looked up at Adrian. "Adrian..."

He turned toward her. "What?"

She looked at me, her eyes wide. "It's worse."

My stomach dropped. Worse. How could this possibly get worse?

Adrian's expression hardened. "How much worse?"

Maya swallowed. "The photograph isn't just circulating inside the company anymore."

She raised her phone so we could see the screen.

"It's been sent outside."

My heart stopped beating. I felt it stop. I felt the moment my world shifted.

"To who?" Adrian asked.

Maya looked at me. Her eyes held pity and fear.

"The press."

Adrian's hand found mine. His fingers closed around mine tightly, anchoring me. But before he could say anything, Robert's phone rang. He answered immediately.

"Yes? What?"

I watched his face change as he listened to whoever was on the other end. His expression shifted from angry to something darker. Something that looked almost like fear.

He slowly looked at Adrian. "The board has received another email."

Adrian's eyes narrowed. His entire body went rigid beside me. "What does it say?"

Robert looked directly at me. His gaze held something that looked like pity.

"It says this is only the beginning."

My blood ran cold. Only the beginning. Those words echoed through my mind. Only the beginning of what? How much worse could this get?

Then the boardroom doors opened again. An assistant rushed inside, her face terrified. She looked like she was about to deliver the worst news possible.

"Mr. Vance..."

Adrian turned toward her. "What is it?"

She looked down at her phone, and her hands were shaking. "The board members just received another message. It's already been sent to everyone."

Adrian stared at her. "What message?"

She raised her phone. "I... I don't know how to tell you this."

But I already knew. I could see it in her face. Whatever this message contained, it wasn't about the photograph anymore.

It was about me. And whatever was written on that screen had already reached every single board member in this room.