The Day I Walked Away My Empire Began novel Chapter 84

“Are the lawyers just sitting around doing nothing?” Steven exploded, his face twisted with anger.

Martin and Andy looked like they’d seen a ghost. “Mr. Heath, our legal team is already reaching out to every major site to cool things down. The PR team’s working overtime to manage the fallout.”

“I don’t care what it takes, just get this under control. Send legal notices to every site that posted the story.”

“Yes, sir, right away,” Andy stammered.

Steven was so furious his whole body shook. He’d never had a scandal blow up online like this before. But what really terrified him was Lucie. She was already ready to divorce him because of Shannon. If she saw this news, there’d be no way to explain himself, no way to come back from it.

“Find out who’s behind this, now,” he barked.

“We’re already on it. We’ll know soon,” Martin promised.

Steven’s jaw clenched so hard the veins in his temples bulged. Whoever dared to go up against him like this had to be someone serious. But he swore they’d regret it.

—

Meanwhile, over in Westbrook, Lucie was up early, poring over the artifact presentation script with her team. She was so focused she almost missed the weird vibe in the room. Everyone kept shooting her these awkward, pitying looks, like they wanted to say something but were too scared to.

She finally broke the silence. “Um, is there something wrong with the script?”

One of the staff gave her a sympathetic smile. “Ms. Anderson, you haven’t checked the news this morning, have you?”

Lucie felt like the air had been knocked out of her. She tapped on the top headline, and up popped a photo of Steven and Shannon wrapped in each other’s arms. Shannon was in a flimsy nightgown, snuggled up against Steven, looking heartbreakingly fragile. Anyone who saw the picture would assume they’d spent the night together.

She opened her socials and was instantly hit with a wave of posts about Steven and Shannon. Lucie stared at their picture, hands shaking, her throat tight and aching with a sour, stinging pain.

She’d made up her mind to leave Steven, but seeing it all out in the open like this hurt more than she’d expected.

A bitter chuckle slipped out. “Wow. You really couldn’t wait, could you?” she muttered. “Was it too much to ask to keep it quiet until after the divorce? Did you have to throw me under the bus like this?”

Her chest ached. Trying to hold herself together, she turned her phone face down on the table and took a deep breath, forcing herself to focus on work. But the headlines and photos wouldn’t leave her mind. She’d wanted at least a little dignity, a clean break. Now it felt like Steven and Shannon were determined to stomp on whatever pride she had left.