The scandal
1127 Words
Elena’s POV
“Margaret has some explaining to do too.” The words had barely left my mouth when the ballroom erupted downstairs.
It was one scream then a louder one. We could hear footsteps thunder through the hallway.
Damian and Ethan exchanged a look.
“What now?” I whispered.
Ethan was already moving toward the door.
“I’ll find out.”
He barely made it two steps before the study room door burst open.
It was Nicholas and Victoria.
Nicholas’ tie was loosened, his usually composed expression completely gone.
“Damian.” He called out
“What happened?”
Nicholas looked at me then at the phone in Damian’s hand.
“Everyone knows.”
My stomach dropped. “Knows what?”
He held up his phone and I saw my face was on the screen.
For a second, I couldn’t understand what I was seeing. It was a photograph of me walking down the aisle in Vivienne’s wedding dress.
The caption beneath it was short.
“THE WOMAN WHO MARRIED DAMIAN SINCLAIR TODAY IS NOT VIVIENNE LAURENT.”
My blood ran cold when I read it.
“No.” I grabbed the phone from Nicholas.
The post had been published on Vivienne’s official account and thousands of comments were already appearing.
“Who is she?”
“Is this a joke?”
“Damian Sinclair married someone else?”
“Where is Vivienne?”
“I knew something was wrong.”
“Who is Elena Hart?”
I stopped breathing when I saw the last one, they knew my name.
“How…”
Ethan took out his own phone immediately to check something.
“Someone published it five minutes ago.” Ethan said.
“Delete it!” Victoria ordered.
Ethan looked at her. “We can’t ma”
“Why?” She screamed.
“Because the account has been compromised.”
Margaret’s face was drained of color. “Then get it taken down.”
“I’m trying.” Ethan answered.
Victoria turned toward me with her eyes were filled with fury.
“This is your fault.”
I stared at her. “My fault?”
“You should never have agreed to this.”
“I didn’t” Why was she saying this??
“You stood at that altar.”
“Because you ordered me to!” I answered, the blame wasn’t going to be laid on me.
The room went silent, Victoria’s jaw tightened and for once, she had no immediate response.
Damian stepped between us. “Enough.”
His voice was quiet but everyone stopped.
He took the phone from my hand and looked at the post then another notification appeared like he summoned it.
Ethan’s phone vibrated so he looked down and his expression changed immediately.
“What?”
He turned the screen toward Damian, another post had appeared.
This one wasn’t a photograph, just a message.
“She was never supposed to be the bride. Ask the Laurents why they chose her.”
My heart sank. It was clear that someone wasn’t simply exposing me, they were deliberately dragging the Laurent family into it.
Margaret took a step backward. “That’s impossible.”
Damian looked at her.
“What is?”
She didn’t answer.
“Mother?” Damian called Margaret
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
Her eyes snapped toward him. “I said I don’t know.”
“I shouldn’t have let your family close to mine” Victoria screamed and left the room, probably for damage control.
The ballroom doors suddenly opened, a wave of noise rushed into the hallway.
Guests were leaving their seats, some were shouting and others were filming.
The wedding had become a spectacle and I was the spectacle.
Damian suggested we leave the first floor for the topmost floor so he took my hand and guided me through the crowd.
There was paparazzi!! The cameras were blinding that at some point, I barely registered the cameras anymore.
My mind was spinning and the moment we reached the corridor, I pulled my hand away and his eyes met mine.
“Someone wanted this exposed.”
“So?”
“So they wanted you exposed.”
I stared at him. “Why me?”
“That is what we’re going to find out.”
Before I could respond, Ethan appeared.
His face was grim.
“There’s more.”
Damian looked at him.
“What?”
Ethan held out his phone.
“The post wasn’t just uploaded to Vivienne’s account.”
“What else?”
“It was sent to every major news outlet in the country.”
My stomach dropped but Ethan continued.
“And someone sent them information about Elena.”
I froze.
“What information?” Damian asked and Ethan looked at me with pity.
“Her employment history.”
I felt sick. “That’s impossible.”
“It gets worse.” Ethan continued.
He turned the screen toward me.
There was a headline already circulating online.
“WHO IS ELENA HART? THE MYSTERIOUS WOMAN WHO REPLACED A BILLIONAIRE HEIRESS AT THE ALTAR”
Below it was a photograph of me and beneath that, a short biography.
My age, my previous jobs, a short family history and more… When I saw my mothers name, Olivia Hart, my fingers went cold.
I looked at Damian.
Someone had dug into my life, someone had deliberately connected me to my mother.
Then I noticed something else, there was a line beneath her name.
“Former employee of the Laurent family.”
My heart stopped and I looked toward Margaret.
She was standing at the end of the indoor corridor and she had seen it too.
But unlike everyone else in the room, she wasn’t surprised, she was terrified so I took a step toward her.
“What did my mother have to do with the Laurents?”
Margaret said nothing so I just stepped closer.
“You knew her.” I pressed Margaret but she still said nothing.
“Margaret.” I called out, watching her lips tremble.
Then she looked at the ring on my finger and whispered, “You should never have been given that ring.”
My stomach twisted but before I could ask another question, every phone in the hallway began vibrating at once.
Ethan looked down then up again to us with a pale face.
“What now?” Damian asked.
Ethan slowly raised his phone.
“Another post had appeared on Vivienne’s account.”
This time, there was only one sentence.
“ASK MARGARET WHAT HAPPENED TO OLIVIA HART.”
I looked at Margaret and she looked at me back
I just realized that Vivienne’s disappearance might have been the least shocking thing that happened at my wedding.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD