4

In twenty-four hours, exactly three days after my wedding to the billionaire boss, my suitcase was packed and ready to go.

I looked at the mirror one last time, and readjusted the black Gucci shades sitting on my face. I struck a pose and took a picture, making sure the flight ticket was visible in the mirror selfie.

Uploading it, I walked out to the Mercedes waiting and joined Cole in the passenger seat. Immediately the car started, he turned his phone to me and frowned, "I see you've already started with the pictures."

I shrugged an arm in response. "The

earlier, the better. Right?"

"Good day ma'am. We'll be arriving at the airport in approximately twenty minutes," the chaffeur greeted, looking at me through his front mirror. I nodded my head, and out of habit, signalled for him to put the partitions up. I held my leather jacket tighter against my body, letting out small breaths of air as I rubbed my palms together and placed them on my face.

Cole glanced at me with an eyebrow raised, but said nothing and continued to smile at his phone. I tilted my head to see and caught a glance of his last message: "She won't pose a problem, baby".

I sighed loudly and folded my arms, turning my face away to stare at the high-rise buildings as we drove past. My boss had always found a way to play me down, whether professionally or personally. Even now, he still made me look insignificant to Susan, whoever that was.

"Sorry sir, ma, but there's a bit of hold-up ahead of us. I'll contact the team and find out what is going on," the chaffeur called out, quickly getting on the phone with the Winston security team driving in the Honda ahead.

I looked out of the window and saw a small group of people carrying cameras and notebooks. Reporters. When we drove closer, they began to speak loudly.

"Mrs. Winston, what are your thoughts on your husband's infidelity?"

"Mr. Winston, is that really you in the viral

video?"

"Are you both going for your honeymoon or trying to escape?"

"Is this a means to diffuse the damage?"

My breath hitched in my throat, but I folded my arms and kept my glasses on, trying to keep my composure stoic. Beside me, Cole chuckled and crossed his legs as he took a sip of the water in front of him.

"Drive on. I don't know why they still bother. How can we converse when they cannot see us?" He chuckled and shook his head, still glancing down at his phone.

"Your post made a lot of moves then. Let's see if it will attract more negative attention or bring some positivity," Cole directed at me and leaned back, assessing the situation as his security dispersed the crowd.

"If it is attracting reporters, then that is positive news. They will be watching us now, so we have to play it right," I replied smoothly, fighting down the urge to hurl a quick jab at him. I was already doing more than him, considering everything imploded because of what he did.

It was a silent ride till we got to the airport. Immediately Cole and I stepped out, more reporters rushed to us armed with more cameras and microphones. His team swiftly got to work, shielding us from the attack as we tried to moved on.

Somehow, one of them got past and shoved a mouthpiece into my face. "Mrs. Winston, will you file for a divorce after the debacle?"

I stumbled backward and stepped on a set of toes behind me, hitting their torso afterwards. The person winced in pain, but steadied himself and grabbed my hand. I looked up at Cole who drew me to his side and glared at the baby-faced reporter.

"There'll be separation between us. That video is a fake, and it is your job to see that. Not to harass my wife," he glanced at the name tag on the reporter's shirt and continued, "Nate, don't make me sue you defamation of character," he warned, using the same threat I employed weeks ago.

After that, the reporters went silent and we passed, Cole still latching onto my hand till we got to check-in. A portion of his security team stood behind us, while others sat down in different corners of the airport watching our movement.

"Remind me why we had to travel in a commercial plane, Elizabeth." He

grumbled and rubbed his forehead absently as he frowned at me.

"For the exposure. I did not know it would get this bad," I admitted, feeling thankful for the glasses I still had on. My eyes were watery, and my face had started to itch. Beside me, Cole dropped my hand and I closed my eyes in relief and sighed.

"I want to use the bathroom. I will be back soon," I said and quickly left him, rubbing my hand in a circular motion until I entered the female stall.

I dropped my bag on the counter and set to work. The first thing I did was to remove the glasses from my eyes and rinse my face, drying it with a towel as I readjusted the contacts in my eyes. Somehow the stumble had made them shift out of position and if not for Cole holding me, I might have misstepped.

I blinked twice and stared at the mirror where a pair of brown pupils surrounded by flecks of gold sat properly, and a sudden memory of a dark haired woman with green eyes floated in my vision.

"Not now," I murmured and quickly reapplied my makeup before stepping out, this time without the glasses. A bulky man with long hair and a full beard standing outside the door nodded when he locked eyes with me and I nearly shrieked in fright before remembering he was part of Cole's security.

I kept a small distance from him until I reached Cole again, who looked me over once and faced the man.

"No one disturbed her?" He made it sound like a question and an order, but the man seemed to understand because he nodded and left us.

"What took you so long? Let's get checked in," he commented, not kindly, and stood behind me. Used to it, I ignored him and smiled at the gesture.

He sent someone to watch over me.