Charlene covered her face and wept bitterly. She was so good at bursting into tears to the detriment of her dignity that it began to move some of the crowd into doubting their initial moralist instinct.Brendan was about to say something when one of the guests burst out of the horde and slapped Charlene.“You lying, two-timing b*tch!” the man thundered. “What did you tell me when you slept with me? B*tch, you told me you’re only in this for Brendan’s money. You told me you would run away with me once you got the money, but what did you do? You threw a six-against-one orgy behind my back! Does it kill you not to have a d*ck inside you for a moment!?”His invective, plus that slap that came from nowhere, shocked Charlene. When she finally recovered and looked at the man, she ignored her disheveled hair and shrieked, “Who the f*ck are you!? I don’t even know you! Security! This guy just slung an untrue slander at me, and I want him out!”As she covered her face, the man’s features bec
Charlene regarded him as though he was her messiah. Throwing her arms around his thigh, she launched a litany to explain why she was innocent despite the weight of evidence showing otherwise.“Bren, you believe me, don’t you? Someone set me up! I don’t know who, but I know they’re trying to destroy me. You know I devote my heart and soul to you, Bren! How could I possibly want to be with any other guys!?”Brendan said nothing, even as Charlene tightened her arms around his legs. He took a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it up. When white smoke started to swirl in the air around them, he finally looked down at her. “How big of an idiot do you think I am, Charlene?”Charlene considered the frigid look on his face and shivered. “I’m willing to excuse your… orgy with the possibility that you’ve been drugged.” He continued. “But what about those pictures? How are you supposed to explain that away? Doctored? Deep fake?”His inquisitor’s tone bleached Charlene’s visage. Her lips w
Charlene’s mind raced to everything that had happened to her back there as fear, panic, and lividity ravaged her. But now was not the time to lose control. She recalled how Brendan tried his best to maintain his composure and defended her despite being humiliated by the ordeal. It meant that he still cared about her and had enough care and love for her that he could not bear to watch her suffer.She had to secure this man! If Brendan decided to abandon her, those people she had been forced to work with… they had even less reservation about abandoning her, too. Someone whose reputation had gone down the sh*tter to the elite circle could not possibly rise up on their own ever again!After squaring the pros and cons of her options, Charlene turned on her heels and left quickly. The waitress watched her darting away, and the smug grin on her face disappeared. Solemnly, she said, “She’s gone, Miss McKinnon.”Deirdre rubbed her arms, which were cold from being exposed to the AC. “Ph
Brendan sneered. “Well, well. Aren’t you naive?”Sam knocked on the door at just that moment, his visage grim. Brendan extinguished his cigarette and asked, “What’s wrong?”Sam shot a resentful glance at Charlene. “Someone’s taken pictures of what happened, so now… Charlene’s scandal has been leaked out to the public and became viral. Everyone has been anticipating this wedding for so long that this piece of news immediately became the most viral discussion. We couldn’t censor it at all.”Brendan scowled in silence. Charlene was aghast. “But how? How did it get leaked!?”“Why wouldn’t it, huh!?” Sam snapped at her. “Mr. Brighthall had a target painted on his back these days, so of course, they would be glad for a story that would ruin him in one fell swoop! Hell, it didn’t just leak! They clearly put in money to deliberately amplify the story to all corners of the Internet! Not only does Mr. Brighthall have to suffer being seen as a cuckolded husband, but the company’s tanking in
”Bren, I know someone who holds a grudge against you, but I can’t… tell if he’s the real mastermind behind the conspiracy against you.” “Oh?” Brendan’s interest was piqued. He focused his attention on Charlene’s face as though reading her. “Who is it?”She bit her lips. “I don’t know his name, but I know he’s not someone from Neve.”“Not from Neve?” Brendan’s eyebrows were furrowed together. “If he’s not someone who lives in Neve, then why would he hold a grudge against me?”“I don’t know. I only learned this much when they asked me to work with them.”“Work with them?”“Yes. They wanted to ruin you through my relationship with me and even resorted to compensating me financially.” Her eyes shifted for a moment, and she decided she needed to express her loyalty. “But they were never as important to me as you are, so I said no to working with them. But given how much they wanted to destroy you, I bet they didn’t let up just because I refused to help. So, all of this is probably… t
“Nothing makes a man wanna protect more than his ego, right? Especially someone like Brendan. We can see that from what happened a few years ago. How could someone like that even allow news of himself being cucked to be leaked to the world? It just doesn’t make sense.”The man sank into a pensive silence. The underling was not wrong, yet he could not help but think something was amiss about this entire event—even if he could not connect Brendan to the mastermind. A long beat later, the man finally broke his silence. “Charlene McKinney is not salvageable by this point. Time to use this. Add fuel into Brendan’s chaos.”-Three days later, another story related to Charlene made the rounds. This time, intimate photos between herself and other men were under the spotlight. The leaker had stories, too. While Charlene was “a sl*t”, Brendan was described as someone whose apparent chastity and self-control were completely faked. He had predatory relationships with many minors, the leaker c
“Why hasn’t Mr. Brighthall come out to say anything after three days? Is it not the truth that his fiancee’s been sleeping with other men? The fact that he remains silent even after this discovery makes people wonder if the rumors are true about him doing equally despicable things on his own. Is this him trying to give Charli a second chance because he needs to absolve his own guilt?”“Nobody with a healthy sense of self-worth would accept a partner like this! Does the fact that Brendan can show that he’s someone who’s on the same boat as she is?”Charlene snuck out of the cab and entered the basement parking lot, making her way to the private passage. When she passed an employee by, she removed her mask to show them who she was. The employee regarded her with contempt and disgust, but they pushed the button to the highest floor and let her in silently.She reached the door to his office. Just one second before pushing the door open, she heard Sam shouting at his angriest. “We cou
Charlene hugged Brendan tightly and wept silently. He rubbed her back soothingly.His eyes were nonchalant and cold.“You’re only going through this because of me, aren’t you? With that in mind, how could I possibly sit on my hands while you go out there like that? Especially when the public is at its most merciless? If you go down there and explain it that way, your life will be lost forever.”Charlene sniffled as a twinkle of glee flitted through her eyes. It was just as she had suspected! Brendan would not leave her the moment she shed some tears.“But what are we going to do now? Your reputation… your name… they’re all ruined because of me! I don’t even dare return to the villa, Bren. I don’t know how to stand before Miss McKinnon and listen to her mocking me! I can’t bear it! The guilt… The agony…”“It’s not your fault.” Brendan comforted her. “It will pass.”Not that the journey to letting the entire event go would be easy. While they were locked in a comforting cuddle, B