I’ve never heard my phone buzz the way it did. I was immediately brought out of my thoughts. I was reviewing some contracts while seated at my desk. I was simply trying to distract myself from all the chaos that had been brewing in my life recently. Ethan was at school, and the quiet in the office had been comforting, but today it wasn’t.
I reached for my phone. It was Janet, my assistant.
“Have you seen it, Stella?’ she said, her voice taut with urgency.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, my pulse quickening.
“There’s …there’s a story circulating about you online,” she said cautiously.
“It’s bad Stella.”
Immediately, my heart sank. “Can I see it?”
My inbox pinged seconds later. I clicked on it, my stomach twisted as I braced myself. The headline read:
“Businesswoman Stella Hayes Caught in P
