CHAPTER FOUR: The Truth Unspools
812 Words
The tension in the penthouse was so thick it felt like drowning in velvet. Savannah couldn’t sleep. Not after that
The tension in the penthouse was so thick it felt like drowning in velvet. Savannah couldn’t sleep. Not after that message. Not after seeing Adrian’s face drain of all color.
She stood by the window, watching the city buzz far below. Adrian’s reflection hovered behind hers.
“You still haven’t told me,” she said. “What video?”
Adrian stepped beside her.
“I don’t know exactly,” he said, voice low. “But if it’s what I think it is, Marcus has footage from the night the merger failed. A confrontation. Things got... ugly.”
“You were physical?”
“No. But there was shouting. Threats. He recorded me—took things out of context. If he releases it, it could be spun as coercion. Abuse of power.”
Savannah pressed her fingers to her temple.
“This isn’t just about you anymore. They’re painting me as a con artist.”
“I know.” Adrian looked away. “Which is why we need to fight back.”
“How?”
“We make the engagement real.”
Savannah froze.
“What?”
Adrian turned to her, eyes unreadable.“Publicly. We double down. Make a spectacle. A charity gala. I’ll donate five million to a children’s hospital. You’ll plan the floral theme. We’ll be photographed. We’ll kiss. I’ll propose again—this time in front of the press.”
Savannah blinked. “You want to... stage a proposal inside a staged relationship to counteract the rumor that the whole thing is staged?”
Adrian almost smiled.
“Ironic, isn’t it?”
“And what happens when someone calls our bluff again?”
Adrian’s gaze met hers.
“Then we decide if it’s still a bluff.”
---
The days leading up to the gala were a tornado. Designers sent gowns. Publicists sent notes. Knight Media’s press team released polished statements defending Savannah and calling the leak “unauthorized slander.” But the speculation didn’t slow down.
Savannah returned to her shop in disguise one afternoon, desperate for air. Lily was sorting tulips when she walked in.
“Are you crazy?” Lily hissed. “You’re supposed to be under the radar!”
“I needed to see home.”
Lily hugged her tightly.
“Marcus is still talking. There’s a podcast episode going live tonight—he’s teasing more ‘proof.’”
Savannah’s breath hitched.
And then her eyes fell on a package on the counter.
Plain brown paper. No return address.
“Did you open that?” she asked.
Lily shook her head.
Savannah opened it slowly.
Inside was a USB drive.
And a note:
“Watch alone. Then decide who’s lying.”
---
She plugged the drive into her laptop that night while Adrian was at a press briefing.
The video began with a shaky phone cam. Two men in a dim conference room.
Adrian and Marcus.
The audio was scratchy.
“I know what you did,” Marcus said. “You used her. Just like you used Bianca.”
Adrian shoved a folder across the table. “You want to talk about betrayal? You cost me that deal. And you’re still jealous because I always win.”
“You won, Bianca. Now you’re trying again with Savannah.”
“She isn’t part of this,” Adrian snapped. “Leave her out of it.”
The video glitched.
Then Adrian’s voice, clear and bitter:
“She doesn’t know I picked her because of you.”
Savannah slammed the laptop shut.
Her heart thundered.
---
When Adrian returned, she was already packing.
“You lied,” she said. “You did pick me to get back at Marcus.”
“I said that once. Before I knew you.”
“But it was true.”
He grabbed her wrist. Not harshly. Desperately.
“It’s not anymore.”
Savannah stared into his eyes. And for a second—just one—she wanted to believe him.
But trust was a fragile thing.
And hers had cracked.
“I need space,” she whispered. “Time. If any of this was real, prove it without cameras. Without press. Without lies.”
She walked out the door.
And didn’t look back.
---
The next morning, the video leaked.
And Knight Media’s stock dropped 17%.
Savannah opened her phone to a flood of headlines.
“Adrian Knight’s Empire Shaken by Secret Footage.”
“Fiancée Walks Out on Billionaire as Truth Comes to Light.”
But buried beneath them all was one message.
From an unknown number.
“There’s more. Meet me at the Orchid Café. Come alone. B.”
Savannah’s heart stopped.
She knew who B was.
Bianca.
The woman who came before her.
The woman everyone thought had vanished.
- Writer
