POV: Xavier
It began as a tremor, then became an earthquake. Isabella’s statement from the precinct steps was a stone hurled into the placid, heavily controlled pond of the Hale Holdings public image. The ripples were immediate and seismic.
Xavier watched it unfold from the silent, tense fortress of his office. David Chen had three news feeds running silently on his monitors, with captions scrolling like ominous ticker-tape predictions.
NY POST: “HOTEL HEIRESS OR HOTEL HEIST? Disgraced Designer Drops Bombshell About Hale Empire.”
BUSINESS INSIDER: “Addendum: X: The Ghost in the Hale Grand’s Machine?”
SOCIAL MEDIA: #EleanorShaw was trending by 10:15 AM. The algorithm, hungry for scandal involving old money and secret heirs, fed it to the world.
The articles were a messy blend of cauti
