Chapter 7 : Exposure
592 Words
The next afternoon, Victoria sat inside her private office overlooking downtown.
The sunlight poured through the tall windows, but her mood was far from bright.
The man she had hired entered the room carrying a folder.
Victoria looked up immediately.
“Well?”
He placed the folder on her desk.
“You were right.”
Victoria leaned forward slightly.
“Tell me.”
The man opened the folder.
“Her name is Aria Daniels. I am twenty-three years old. I live in a small apartment in the east district.”
Victoria’s eyes narrowed.
“And?”
“She works as a waitress.”
Victoria leaned back slowly.
“A waitress,” she repeated.
The man nodded.
“At a café downtown.”
For a moment, Victoria said nothing.
Then she laughed quietly.
“A waitress.”
She picked up the file and scanned the information.
“Ethan Blake,” she murmured, “engaged to a waitress.”
Her eyes darkened.
“This is embarrassing.”
“What do you want to do?” the man asked.
Victoria closed the folder slowly.
“I want the truth to come out.”
That evening, Ethan and Aria attended another smaller gathering at a private lounge.
Compared to the charity gala, this event was more relaxed.
But Aria still felt the same nervous energy.
“I feel like I’m being tested every time we walk into a room,” she said quietly.
“You are,” Ethan replied.
Before she could respond, a voice spoke from behind them.
“Well, if it isn’t the happy couple.”
Aria turned.
Victoria stood there.
But this time, she wasn’t alone.
Several people stood behind her, including a few reporters.
Aria felt her heart sink.
Victoria’s smile was calm.
“I thought it might be fun to introduce your fiancée properly,” she said to Ethan.
Ethan’s expression hardened slightly.
“What are you doing?”
“Oh, nothing dramatic,” Victoria replied sweetly.
She turned toward the reporters.
“Everyone has been wondering who exactly captured Ethan Blake’s heart.”
Aria’s pulse quickened.
Victoria stepped closer.
“So I thought it might be interesting to share a little information.”
The room had gone quiet.
Victoria opened a small folder.
“Did you know,” she said slowly, “that Ethan’s fiancée works as a waitress at a small café downtown?”
Whispers immediately spread through the room.
Aria felt heat rise to her face.
Victoria looked directly at her.
“Isn’t that right, Aria?”
The silence was suffocating.
Cameras flashed.
Everyone was waiting.
Watching.
Judging.
Before Aria could say anything, Ethan stepped forward.
His voice was calm.
“Yes.”
The entire room froze.
Victoria blinked.
“Yes?” she repeated.
Ethan slipped an arm around Aria’s waist.
“She’s a waitress,” he said.
“And?”
Victoria looked momentarily thrown off.
Ethan’s gaze swept across the room.
“Does anyone here believe someone’s job determines their worth?”
No one answered.
Ethan looked back at Victoria.
“If anything,” he continued, “Aria is the most genuine person in this room.”
Aria looked up at him, stunned.
Victoria’s smile had completely disappeared.
Ethan’s voice grew colder.
“So if you brought everyone here expecting some kind of scandal…”
His eyes hardened.
“You’re going to be very disappointed.”
The silence that followed was deafening.
Victoria slowly closed the folder in her hands.
But the look in her eyes made one thing clear.
This war wasn’t over.
Not even close.
- Writer
