All Chapters of Between Her Shithead And The Wrong Brother : Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Ariella’s POVMy morning began with betrayal. The headline screamed from every newsstand: “Billionaire’s Wife Caught at Party with Mystery Man.” The photo showed me laughing, a drink in my hand, my shoulder pressed against a man whose face was partly masked. It looked real. The implication was lethal.Damon didn’t call. My phone lit up with urgent texts from Elsa, Layla, and even Marcus. “What is this?” I asked myself. I took another good look at the picture. I knew immediately that it was the handiwork of my enemies.I called Elsa first. “Someone is blackmailing me,” I said, voice brittle.She clicked through her feed. “It’s everywhere. But the lighting is off. The shadows don’t match your face.”“I know. It’s photoshopped.”“Do we have a trail?” Layla’s voice crackled next.“I’m coming over now,” Elsa said. “Stay off socials until we dig deeper.”I found Damon’s office empty when I arrived. The city lights glinted off his windows.After waiting for a couple of minutes, he came to th

Ariella’s POV“Where did you learn to hide like that?” Roe asked, blade half-drawn. “I wasn’t hiding,” I said. “I was listening.” We stood at the edge of the council chambers, veiled behind a cloaking field Layla had calibrated. Inside, Seris whispered furiously with Elder Kaelen. Her tone was tight, her fingers twitching with restrained energy.“They’re planning to release the second leak,” Roe murmured, eyes scanning the chamber. I replied, “They want the world to believe Damon’s spiraling. And that I’m the reason.”Seris slammed a hand on the desk. “She’s already out of the house. His trust is fractured. One more push, and the Vale holdings will fold.” Kaelen nodded. “We move tonight. This time with timestamps.”Roe looked at me. “Still think silence is a strategy?”“No,” I said. “It’s time to pull off the mask.” The penthouse was quiet. Damon sat at the edge of the glass terrace, back straight, a drink beside him. “You came back,” he said. “I didn’t leave because I stopped loving

Ariella’s POV“There’s someone inside,” he said finally. I looked up from the files on my desk. “Inside where?”“Our side. Someone is leaking time-stamped intel before it hits your hands or Damon’s.”“Is it Layla?” I asked. He shook his head. “No. She’s clean. I’ve been cross-checking her logs personally. But someone in Damon’s inner logistics team, maybe one of the old board advisors, has been slipping breadcrumbs.”“That would explain how the photos and video were so perfectly timed. Whoever it is, they’re not just leaking, they’re orchestrating perception.”Marcus tossed a flash drive on the table. “Here’s a short list. Two names rise to the top. Want me to handle it quietly?”“Not yet. I want to see what Damon knows first.” Damon stood by the media wall, replaying the latest footage on mute. A grainy video of me, someone who looked like me, pushed a man into a car outside a nightclub. His face was blurred. Mine was not.“They’re calling it the ‘Midnight Coercion’ clip,” he said, e

Ariella’s POVI didn’t ask if he knew what the video contained. I didn’t speak. I tapped the link. The screen flickered. A black background. Then a grainy image.It was me, inside a private meeting room at Vey-lor Holdings, four weeks ago.The video angle was low. It is like done with a hidden camera beneath the desk. The video had no sound, but I saw myself sliding a folder across the table to a man whose face was deliberately blurred out. No audio. Just images.Another cut. I appeared again, leaving a hotel lobby at night. A second man, also blurred, walked five feet behind me. The implication was obvious: secret meetings, blurred identities, and suggestive timing.But the footage wasn’t just edited. It was designed to frame me. Whoever made it had enough access to track my movements and distort the narrative.Damon stepped forward as I replayed it.“Where is this from?” he asked tightly.“Vey-lor Holdings. And later, Atria Hotel. Both were public. The second guy is Jace’s security

Ariella’s POVIt wasn’t Damon who broke the news.It wasn’t me either.It was someone else. Someone who sat in the same meetings, nodded through the same war room sessions, held my coffee, and smiled like they had my back.And they sold me out.I woke up to the sound of my name trending.Not for the deepfake scandal.Not for the Vox-Ledger leaks.Not for the board vote scheduled in five days.But for this:> BREAKING: Tech CEO Ariella Vaughn Reportedly Pregnant Amid Corporate MeltdownSources say the pregnancy could complicate investor confidence and leadership succession in her firm, Talon Systems.It took me a full minute to process it.Then came the second punch.> Alleged Father Identified as Talon Chairman Damon Rourke – Silence from Both PartiesI stared at the screen, mouth dry. My inbox was on fire. Elsa had texted fourteen times. Three missed calls from PR. One from my brother. Two from my old mentor in Boston, who never called unless someone was dying.I hadn’t even gotten m