---- Chapter 19 Alexandra Smith POV: Just as Edward's rage reached its murderous peak, the screen behind him lit up again. This time, it wasn't a recording; it was a live feed. From a security camera Jamie had installed opposite Carla' s apartment. The footage showed Carla, earlier that week, locked in a passionate embrace with another man. The man from the park. The man with the rose. The crowd gasped again, a fresh wave of shock rippling through the ballroom. Edward's grip on Carla's throat loosened. He turned to the screen, his face a mask of utter devastation. He had been played. So completely, so thoroughly, that it had broken him. He released Carla, who collapsed to the floor, gasping and sobbing. He looked from her pathetic, crumpled form to the damning evidence on the screen, then out at the sea of shocked and judgmental faces. The golden boy of the Cardenas dynasty was a fool. A cuckold. A murderer of his own child, betrayed by the very woman for whom he had committed the monstrous act. ---- He stumbled off the stage, pushing his way through the stunned crowd, and fled the ballroom. 1 let him go. His public humiliation was complete. Now, it was time for the final act | walked onto the stage, a single sheet of paper in my hand. | picked up the microphone Edward had dropped. "For those of you who don't know," | said, my voice ringing out with a cold, clear authority, "that was a recording of Carla Patterson admitting to, among other things, drugging Edward Cardenas and deliberately causing the miscarriage that | suffered, and which she blamed on me." | let that sink in for a moment. Then, | held up the paper. "This," | announced, "is a DNA test. It proves that the child Carla Patterson was carrying was not Edward Cardenas's." The final bombshell landed with a deafening silence. | dropped the paper onto Carla's sobbing form. "It's over, Carla," | said, my voice devoid of any emotion. Then, | turned and walked off the stage, leaving the wreckage of their lives behind me. The Cardenas empire was burning. And | was the one who had lit the match. The aftermath was swift and brutal. The party, which had been live-streamed on several society blogs, became an instant viral scandal. The Cardenas Corp stock plummeted overnight. Major investors, including Gabriel, pulled out, ---- causing a catastrophic financial hemorrhage. The police opened an investigation into Carla Patterson for the cyberattack on my car and the death of my child. They also opened an investigation into Dianne Cardenas and Frank Miller for the murder of my mother. Edward, humiliated and broken, went into hiding. Jamie, as planned, stepped into the power vacuum at Cardenas Corp, using the chaos to stage a boardroom coup. A few days later, a pale, disheveled Edward appeared at Gabriel's gate, begging to see me. "Please, Alex," he cried, his voice hoarse and broken. "I didn't know. | swear to God, | didn't know. She manipulated me. She drugged me. Please, you have to believe me." | looked at him, this shell of a man, and felt nothing. No pity, no anger, no love. Just a vast, empty void. "It doesn't matter what | believe, Edward," | said, my voice as cold as the grave. "You still made a choice. You chose to believe her over me. You chose to abuse me, to torture me, to stand by while our child died." | slid a new set of divorce papers through the bars of the gate. "Sign them," | said. "It's the only mercy you're going to get." He sank to his knees, sobbing, a pathetic, broken man. "I love you, Alex," he wept. "I've always loved you." ---- | just laughed, a bitter, hollow sound, and walked away, not even bothering to look back. In "CEO, That Intern is Actually Your Wife" by CrushReel, delve into a captivating romance where a billionaire CEO becomes contractually linked to an unexpected partner. When faced with the urgent need to fund her grandmother's critical surgery, our protagonist finds herself in a unique situation—entering a one-year contract marriage with a stranger. As the story unfolds, themes of love, sacrifice, and the complexities of modern relationships come to light. The novel offers a fresh take on the familiar billionaire romance genre by exploring the dynamics of office relationships and the intricacies of contract lovers. Discover this modern tale of unexpected connections and heartfelt emotions, available to read at CrushReel.