THE DIVORCE GAMBIT From Dumped Wife to CEO's Forever novel Chapter 441

Forest tagged Tammie directly—about as subtle as calling someone out in person with a bullhorn.

The moment Forest’s tweet went live, the comments exploded.

Holy hell! What kind of bombshell is this? Someone pretending to be C’s relative???

How does anyone even have the guts to fake being related to C? Do they have any idea who she is?

I’m speechless—absolutely speechless.

We demand the truth! I don’t think Mr. Gonzales is the type to chase clout like that.

My brother would never pretend to be C’s family!

@Tammie, bro, come out and explain yourself!

Are people really this dumb? Just a comic artist, and he dares to leech off a national legend?

Hey, criticize the person if you want, but don’t attack the profession. We comic artists would never stoop that low!

...

As soon as Tammie opened Twitter, he was bombarded with dozens of DMs and mentions.

A tweet that had just over twenty thousand comments was suddenly surging past a hundred thousand.

Tammie’s lips curled up in a small, satisfied smile. Trending again! The chaos from last night’s gala had sent his name rocketing up the charts.

Good.

This was perfect!

Just goes to show, when one door closes, another opens.

Just wait. Soon, he’d be more famous than Caitlin—than “C” herself!

But as soon as he refreshed his timeline and saw the trending topics, his heart sank.

There it was.

The number one hashtag, front and center: #TheRealReasonTammieLeftTheArtsGala

Second place: #TammiePretendingToBeC’sRelative

What the hell?

How did this get out?

With shaking hands, Tammie tapped the top hashtag. The first tweet he saw was Forest’s.

!!!

Unbelievable. Absolutely insane.

Forest had gone nuclear, showing zero mercy. Worst of all, Forest had tagged him directly for everyone to see.

How was he supposed to show his face in the arts community after this?

His heart pounded as he pressed the start button on the first machine, terrified of making a miscalculation.

But almost instantly, relief washed over him.

The claw, which usually felt limp and useless, closed tightly around a plush toy and dropped it neatly into the chute.

Then a second. Then a third.

In no time at all, Gordon’s shopping cart was overflowing with stuffed animals.

A girl nearby, watching him conquer machine after machine, worked up the courage to approach. “Hey, handsome. Mind if I add you on WhatsApp?”

“Sorry,” Gordon replied politely, “I have a girlfriend.”

The girl’s face fell. Figures—a guy this cute is obviously taken.

The next day, after proving his formula in the wild, Gordon invited Caitlin back to the mall for another round.

He exchanged cash for tokens like a seasoned pro, picked up a little basket, and led her to the row of claw machines. “Catie, just tell me which one you want. I’ll get it for you.”

“You really think you can actually win one?” Caitlin arched an eyebrow, skeptical.

“Absolutely,” Gordon said, brimming with confidence. “I’m unstoppable now.”

She eyed the machine, unconvinced. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Gordon sidled up to the controls, glancing sideways at Caitlin. “And if I win, what do I get as a reward?”