Secret Vows Unveiled

The first camera flash went off before i reached the Black Sedan. I stopped. Ethan Cole immediately stood in front of me. “Stay behind me.” He moved forward, blocking the reporters from reaching me. Before I could process what was happening , we were completely surrounded. My assistant grabbed my arm. “Keep moving ma’am.” “What’s happening!”I asked . “I don’t know ma’am,just keep moving ” . She said firmly. I had just walked out of DM ACTIVEWEAR expecting a peaceful afternoon. Instead , I found myself trapped in a crowd of reporters and cameras. My name was mentioned from every direction. “Ariana!” “Are you going to comment?” “Did you really…” Questions collided over me as Ethan struggled to push me toward the Black sedan. “… the hotel..”. “The photographs”. “Last night”. “Daniel”. My brows pulled together. “What photographs ?” “The hotel?” “What about last night?” “Daniel?”. None of these made sense to me. Just before we reached the black sedan, a massive digital billboard towering over broadway caught my attention. A headline reading “ DM ACTIVEWEAR CO- FOUNDER AND CEO’S WIFE CAUGHT WALKING OUT OF THE HOTEL WITH ANOTHER MAN”. “What?” My voice barely came out. I exclaimed. The reporters surged toward me. “Is it true you were with another man at the hotel?”. “Is your husband aware?” All these questions echoed in my head as i was staring at the displayed photograph. The photograph showed me walking out of the hotel. The man beside me had his face turned away from the camera ,making it impossible to identify. But my face. Perfectly clear. I knew the hotel. I knew why i had been there. But I didn’t know the man beside me. And yet, nobody looking at that photograph would believe otherwise. I looked back again at the headline. One camera flashed at me. “Are you denying the affair?” My face burned as the cameras kept moving towards me. Ethan grabbed my arm. “Move” Security officers immediately paved a path through the crowd as Ethan pushed me toward the sedan. I took a deep breath that i have been holding,trying to process everything that i had seen. The door slammed shut. “Just stay calm. Everything is under control”My assistant said, trying to reassure me. “Under control? I stared at her . “That’s my face on the billboard, with a man I can’t even recognize”. “That’s right ma’am, but i need you to stay calm”. Outside ,Ethan was already dealing with reporters. The videos were already recorded and trending all over the social medias. I could see the billboard through the car windows, still displayed the photograph for everyone to see. Comments were already pouring in. I saw my name. Daniel’s. DM ACTIVEWEAR. People were dragging DM ACTIVEWEAR into this. Speculating my marriage as if one photograph was already a permission to re write my entire life. My phone couldn’t stop vibrating. Instagram . Tiktok . Messages. Mentions. I opened i********:. The first comment made my jaw drop. “I knew this b***h was fake”. I scrolled. “What could she possibly be missing from her husband?”. Another one appeared. “The demise of the power couple”. I stared at the screen. These were the same posts that had thoughtful comments of people praising our marriage and calling us a perfect couple. Now , the same people are tearing it apart. I couldn’t bring myself to read any further. I put my phone down. Cameras continued pressing at the windows of the car, demanding answers from me. I could still hear the voices outside. “ Are you and Daniel divorcing ?”. I opened my phone again, stared at the photograph and zoomed the man. But his face remained unclear. Whoever was behind this had known exactly what they were doing. They had captured something designed to look like the truth. And turned it into something it wasn’t. My phone vibrated. I glanced at it. Daniel. It was at this moment when I realized,the reporters outside aren’t the ones frightening me anymore. I picked up “ Hello!” “Ariana , come home.” The call ended. I stared at my phone until it went dark. That was it. No explanation. No question . Just “come home”. The reporters outside no longer frightened me. Now, I wanted to know what was waiting for me at home. The driver finally managed to moved the car from the crowd, heading home as Daniel had instructed . As we passed the billboard, i saw something else that caught my attention. The photograph disappeared. A video was displayed. Showing me walking out of the hotel with the same man beside me. His face turned away from the camera. Again. My assistant sat beside me , struggled with the right words to comfort me. “Its okay ma’am,it will be handled”. I couldn’t say a word, just stared at her and turned to the window. Ethan was as quiet as he was not present in the car, his fingers busy with the keyboard. I didn’t ask anything. I was busy thinking what Daniel would say. “Is he going to understand anything I try to explain to him?”I thought. We arrived at home. I expected Daniel to be furious or even mad at me. I expected questions. Accusations . But instead the quite opposite of it. “You can now leave us “Daniel instructed . Ethan and my assistant left with the car. Daniel welcomed me inside. Not to the dining room. Not to the bedroom . Not even to the sitting room. He took me into a random room in our house that we barely used. “Wait there” he ordered. I stopped. Looked around the room . “Why would Daniel, My husband bring me in this room?”. Minutes later , he came back with a chair . Turned it around and sat In front of me,his arms resting against the back. He looked directly into my eyes. “How are you doing,My wife ?” His face was calm. His tone was even calmer. And somehow, that frightened me more than anger wouuld have.