The Billionaire's Sixty-Day Wife

Chapter 13

Camila's POV

The next morning begins with my phone exploding.

Messages, calls, notifications. By the time I open my eyes, the screen is lighting up every few seconds.

Something is very wrong.

My stomach tightens as I sit up in the uncomfortable waiting room chair and unlock my phone.

The first article appears immediately.

*Billionaire CEO's Sudden Marriage Raises Questions.*

The second one is worse.

*Did Alejandro Vega Marry the Woman Who Sued His Company?*

The third makes my chest hurt.

*Nurse or Opportunist? Inside Camila Reyes' Rise Into Billionaire Society.*

I stare at the screen, then keep staring. Maybe if I look long enough, the headlines will disappear but they don't.

A few feet away, Alejandro is speaking quietly on the phone, his expression unreadable as several messages arrive on his own screen.

He already knows.

The story is everywhere by the time I finish scrolling, spreading across social media, news sites, business blogs, and celebrity gossip accounts so fast that avoiding it becomes impossible.

Against my better judgment, I open one of the articles, only to realize almost immediately that the comments underneath are even worse than the headline itself.

*She planned this.*

*Gold digger.*

*She found a rich target.*

*Funny how she sued him and married him.*

*Smart ass woman.*

My throat tightens.

I close the article and open another.

Mistake number two.

Apparently, I'm manipulative now, I'm ambitious I'm some kind of mastermind who spent months planning a lawsuit just to marry a billionaire.

It's amazing what strangers think they know.

A shadow falls across my screen.

Before I can react, Alejandro takes the phone from my hand.

"What—"

"You don't need to read that."

I blink, then blink again.

"Alejandro."

"No."

He locks the screen. "They don't know you." The words catch me off guard. "Alejandro—"

"They know headlines."

His gaze meets mine. "They know rumors." Something hard flashes through his eyes. "They know whatever gets the most clicks."

The phone disappears into his pocket.

"They don't get to decide who you are."

For a second, I don't know what to say because nobody has defended me like that before.

The silence stretches, then my lips twitch.

"You stole my phone."

"I did."

"That's illegal."

"Then sue me."

The response is so quick that I almost laugh.

However, the hospital has other plans.

What starts with a handful of reporters outside the hospital quickly spirals out of control because by eight o'clock the first journalists have arrived, by nine there are six of them, and by ten the number has climbed past twenty.

Cameras seem to be everywhere, security officers are forced to intervene, and frustrated patients begin complaining as the hospital slowly turns into the center of a media storm.

One elderly man asks if Alejandro is secretly a movie star.

Honestly, it isn't the worst theory I've heard today.

The emergency department quickly turns into a circus.

Nurses gather around their phones whenever they get a free moment, doctors lower their voices to whisper in hallways, and receptionists slip into quiet gossip between patients because suddenly everyone seems to have an opinion about my marriage.

Unfortunately, most of them aren't keeping those opinions to themselves.

"Ignore them."

Lena appears beside me carrying coffee and irritation.

A familiar combination.

"I'm trying."

"Try harder."

I laugh despite myself.

Lena hands me a cup, then immediately points toward a group of nurses.

"They've been talking about you all morning."

I look over and several nurses quickly look away.

Busted.

"Great."

"Don't worry." Lena takes a sip of coffee. "I already threatened two of them."

I stare at her. "You what?"

"They're fine."

That answer doesn't reassure me at all.

A familiar voice suddenly joins the conversation.

"Good morning, ladies."

Dylan Carter.

Lena immediately narrows her eyes.

"What do you want?"

Dylan places a hand over his heart. "Lena, your warmth continues to inspire me."

"It should inspire you to leave."

He grins and she glares.

The chemistry is so obvious it's painful.

Neither of them seems aware of the obvious chemistry crackling between them, but everyone else definitely notices it, especially me and the nurse standing behind me who is struggling not to laugh.

The hospital remains chaotic throughout the day.

Some coworkers defend me, others don't.

A respiratory therapist loudly tells reporters to get lost. A surgical nurse argues with someone online during lunch.

One resident doctor accidentally becomes a meme after yelling at a journalist.

The entire thing feels surreal.

By afternoon, the situation gets much worse because Alejandro schedules a press conference.

The announcement immediately attracts attention.

News channels arrive first, followed closely by business reporters, and before long social media is exploding all over again as everyone demands answers about the marriage.

I end up watching the live broadcast from a staff lounge with Lena and several coworkers, and the room falls completely silent the moment Alejandro steps in front of the microphones because everyone knows the questions are coming.

They start flying almost immediately.

"Did you marry Camila Reyes because of the lawsuit?"

"Is the relationship genuine?"

"Were settlement negotiations involved?"

"Did she receive financial compensation?"

Questions come from every direction at once as reporters talk over each other in their eagerness to get an answer, turning the room into a wall of noise.

Alejandro simply waits, calm and patient as ever, and when he finally raises a hand, the room quiets almost instantly.

"I married my wife because that decision belonged to us."

The answer isn't really an answer.

The reporters know it, so do I.

Another question follows.

"Is she benefiting financially from the marriage?"

Something dangerous settles across Alejandro's expression.

The room notices, so do I.

"My wife spent years working in emergency medicine." His voice remains calm. "She devoted her life to helping strangers during some of the worst moments they'll ever experience."

The room becomes completely silent.

"If you think that makes her the villain in this story, then you're asking the wrong questions."

My breath catches.

Beside me, Lena slowly lowers her coffee cup.

The press conference continues for another twenty minutes, but that's the only part anyone remembers.

Because within minutes, the clip spreads everywhere.

Comments start changing. Not all of them but enough.

For the first time all day, I feel like I can breathe again.

My phone suddenly vibrates, and before I can check it, another notification appears, followed by several more until the screen is practically glowing nonstop.

A familiar sense of dread settles in my stomach as I unlock the phone and discover the source of the commotion…..a photo from the lawsuit hearing, taken on the day everything began.

The image shows me standing outside the courthouse while Alejandro stands only a few feet away.

The photo captures both of us at our worst, angry, exhausted, and locked in a stare that should look hostile but somehow doesn't. Instead, the image carries an intimacy neither of us intended, and the caption under has already attracted millions of views.

*The chemistry was there from the beginning.*

My pulse stops because there are already thousands of comments under it. And the number keeps climbing.