Sera's POV
"Turn it off. Please, just turn it off."
But Maya keeps flipping through news stations, and every single one is showing my face.
" 'Jilted Bride Becomes Billionaire Overnight,'" Maya reads the title. "Oh, this one's better: 'Cinderella Story Gone Wrong: Thornton Family's Dark Secrets Exposed.'"
I'm curled up on Damien's huge leather couch, watching my entire life become entertainment for millions of strangers. It's been twelve hours since the courthouse wedding, and the internet is on fire.
"Look at this." Maya shows me her phone. " The Thornton house has forty reporters camped outside. Margaret tried to leave this morning and got mobbed with questions. "
Good. Let them feel what it's like to have their freedom destroyed.
Damien walks in carrying coffee. He's been on the phone with lawyers all morning, but he looks completely calm. Like destroying people's lives is just another Tuesday for him.
"Drink this," he says, giving me a mug. "You haven't eaten since yesterday."
"I can't eat. My stomach won't stop churning." I take the coffee anyway. It's perfect—exactly how I like it. How does he know that?
"The media will calm down in a few days," Damien says. "Right now, everyone wants the story. By next week, they'll move on to the next story."
"But the damage is done," Maya adds, scrolling through her tablet. "Richard Thornton's business partners are pulling out. Margaret got kicked out of her country club. And Vanessa—" She grins. "Vanessa's Instagram is getting wrecked. People are calling her a con artist, a liar, a fake dying girl who stole someone's fiancé. " I should feel satisfied. This is what I wanted—them suffering the way they made me suffer.
So why do I feel sick? " Adrian's stock dropped fifteen percent this morning," Damien says, looking at his phone. "Cole Industries is in crisis mode. His board is demanding answers about the wedding scandal."
Adrian. I haven't thought about him since that text from the mystery "friend" about Damien's dead wife.
"Damien," I say slowly. "Were you married before?"
He goes very still. Maya's eyes widen.
"Yes," Damien says after a long pause. "Five years ago. She died in a car crash."
The same way my parents died.
"That's convenient," I say, my voice sharper than meant. "Everyone around you seems to die in car accidents."
"Sera—" Maya starts.
"No." I stand up, facing Damien. "I got a text yesterday. Someone telling me to ask about your first wife. Someone saying I might have married my parents' killer."
Damien's face doesn't change. "And you believe an anonymous text over the man who's been protecting you?"
"I don't know what to believe anymore!" My voice rises. "Everyone in my life has lied to me. The Thorntons lied. Adrian lied. How do I know you're not lying too?"
"Because if I wanted to hurt you, I wouldn't have spent six years keeping you alive." Damien's voice is cold now. "I wouldn't have married you to protect you. I wouldn't have given you everything you need to destroy the people who stole your life."
"Unless you have another motive." I cross my arms. "Unless this is all about controlling the Ashford Empire through me."
Maya stands up quickly. "Okay, everyone needs to calm down—"
"My wife died because she was investigating the Thorntons," Damien cuts in. His voice is like ice. "She found their connection to your parents' accident and they killed her for it. So yes, Sera, I have a personal reason for wanting them killed. Is that what you wanted to hear?"
The room goes dead.
"Your wife was investigating them?" I whisper.
"Sarah was a professional accountant. I hired her to find the Ashford Empire money after your father died. She found the trail of theft leading to Richard Thornton." Damien's jaw tightens. " Two days before she was going to report her findings to the police, her car's brake line was cut. Just like your parents'. " Oh God. " I'm sorry," I manage. "I didn't know—"
"Now you do." Damien's eyes are hard. "So when mysterious texts try to make you doubt me, remember that I've lost someone too. Remember that we're on the same side."
My phone buzzes on the coffee table. We all look at it.
Another unknown number.
"Check the news. Your precious Adrian is having a press conference. Thought you should know before he throws you under the bus. - Friend " Maya grabs the TV remote and switches to a news station.
Adrian's face fills the screen. He's standing outside Cole Industries offices, surrounded by microphones and cameras. He looks terrible—exhausted, desperate, broken.
"Turn it up," I say.
"—didn't know about Vanessa's deception," Adrian is saying. "I was manipulated by the Thornton family into thinking she was terminally ill. They showed me fake medical records. They threatened people I love if I didn't comply. I was—" His voice cracks. "I was a coward. I should have trusted Sera. I should have fought for her. Instead, I lost the only woman I've ever loved."
The reporters shout questions.
"Mr. Cole, are you saying the Thorntons blackmailed you?"
"Did you know Sera Ashford was an heiress?"
"Have you spoken to your ex-fiancée since her marriage to Damien Cross?"
Adrian holds up his hands for quiet. "I have evidence of the Thornton family's crimes. Bank records, forged papers, proof of their fraud. I'm giving everything over to the FBI today." He looks straight at the camera. "Sera, if you're watching this, I'm sorry. I know I don't deserve forgiveness. But I want you to know that I'm going to make this right. I'm going to help destroy the people who hurt both of us."
The press meeting ends. The news anchor starts analyzing Adrian's remarks.
I sit down slowly. "He's helping us?"
"He's trying to win you back," Damien says simply. "Playing the hero now that you're worth eight hundred million dollars."
"That's not fair. He sounded genuine—" "He sounded desperate." Damien turns off the TV. "But if he has real proof against the Thorntons, we'll use it. We'll use anything and anyone to win."
Maya's phone rings. She answers, listens, then goes pale. "You need to see this."
She pulls up a news page. The title makes my heart stop: "BREAKING: Thornton Industries Files Bankruptcy. Family Assets Seized by Federal Investigators."
"What?" I grab her phone, scanning the story. "How—we just announced my identity yesterday—"
"I've had the FBI investigating them for months," Damien says quietly. "Your announcement gave them the final piece they needed—proof you were alive and your name had been stolen. They moved fast."
The story includes photos. Richard and Margaret being led out of their home in handcuffs. Vanessa yelling at reporters. Police tape across Thornton Industries' doors.
"They're arrested?" My voice sounds faraway.
"For fraud, bribery, and identity theft. The murder charges will come later once we have stronger proof." Damien walks over, hands me a thick folder. "Phase One is complete. The Thorntons are revealed, humiliated, and facing federal charges."
I stare at the box. My hands are shaking.
"What's Phase Two?" I ask.
Damien's smile is sharp and dangerous. "Phase Two is where you take back everything they stole. The Ashford Empire. Your inheritance. Your character." He stops. "And Phase Two is where we figure out who's been sending you those anonymous texts warning you about me."
"You think someone's trying to drive a wedge between us," Maya says slowly.
"I know someone is." Damien pulls out his phone, shows me a text he got. "I got one too." " Ask Sera about the baby she's having. Ask her whose it really is. Then ask yourself if you just married your enemy's pregnant ex-fiancée. - Friend " The world stops.
Baby? "I'm not—" I start.
But then I remember. The nausea. The exhaustion. The way coffee suddenly tastes wrong.
My last night with Adrian. Three weeks ago.
"Oh my God," I say.
Damien's eyes bore into mine. "Are you pregnant, Sera?"