Ethan ignored her.
His hands shook as he scrolled through the board messages.
At 5:11 a.m., the CFO had written:
“What the hell is this?”
At 5:16, Ethan’s father — Richard Whitmore — had sent a single message:
“You are an idiot.”
“Give me your phone,” Ethan demanded suddenly.
Vanessa frowned. “Why?”
He snatched the phone from the nightstand and unlocked it with her face.
There it was.
The same image.
Sent to me at 3:01 a.m.
Ethan looked at her in horror.
“You sent it.”
Her confidence faltered.
“She deserved to know,” Vanessa snapped. “You told me the marriage was dead. You said you’d divorce her after the merger closed.”
“I say a lot of stupid things!” he shouted.
Vanessa turned pale.
Because in that moment, she understood the truth.
She was never the chosen woman.
Just a convenience.
But I understood men like Ethan perfectly.
That was why I didn’t cry.
That was why I disappeared before sunrise carrying the one thing my husband feared more than scandal:
Evidence.
By 9:30 a.m., Whitmore Global headquarters in downtown Los Angeles had become a bunker of panic.
Executives whispered in hallways.
Financial media outlets began reporting an executive scandal involving the CEO.
By 10:40 a.m., company shares had fallen 12%.
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