The moment that first reporter spoke up, the rest of the press corps erupted.
“You folks at Platinum 818 are something else! You actually managed to track down Miss Thompson’s son for an interview!”
“Wait–Miss Thompson has a son? I thought she only had a daughter.”
A reporter with sallow teeth and a gaunt face let out a nasty laugh. “Oh, I know all about it. Not only does Miss Thompson have a son, but I’ve also dug up the true identity of her ex–husband! Guess what? Turns out Miss Thompson’s ex is none other than Harrison, CEO of Vaughn Enterprises!”
His words hit the crowd like a thunderclap. The room buzzed with frantic voices.
“You’re kidding! Is that for real?!”
“Harrison? You mean Harrison Vaughn–one of the top dogs in The Capital Circle and CEO of Vaughn Enterprises?”
Eyes turned to Selene, their gazes shifting from curiosity to something sharper, hungrier.
“Miss Thompson, is it true you divorced Harrison? Why would a life of luxury like that?”
you
walk away
from
“Why did you split from him, Miss Thompson? What happened–did you do something to make Mr. Vaughn throw you out?”
“Families like the Vaughns don’t dissolve marriages lightly. What did you do to get yourself exiled from high society?”
To the reporters, Selene was suddenly the juiciest story in the room–a walking tabloid headline. They were desperate to dig up every sordid detail of her fall from
grace.
In their minds, Selene was automatically the one at fault. Sure, she was the beloved daughter of the Thompson family, but everyone knew she’d only been brought home at eighteen. She must have done something shameful to get herself cast out by the Vaughns.
The Platinum 818 reporter, almost giddy with anticipation, whipped out his voice recorder. This was his moment to drop a bombshell.
“Well, since Selene’s kept you all in the dark, let’s hear what her own son has to say about her.”
1/2
21:40
Chapter 112
He pressed play.
A child’s voice piped up, clear and innocent: “My name’s Damien. I’m five. Daphne is my little sister, but now she’s changed her name to Dafina.”
Several reporters leaned in, holding their microphones closer to the recorder.
“Selene isn’t my mommy anymore. She divorced my daddy!”
Even through the recording, you could hear the edge of anger in the boy’s voice whenever he mentioned Selene.
“That woman gave up on me a long time ago. Last time you reporters came to my school to interview her, she pretended she didn’t even know me!”
A reporter’s voice chimed in, “Miss Thompson is your biological mother–why would she abandon you?”
Damien sighed, sounding far older than his years.
“My family spent endless money on her, gave her the best food and everything she wanted, but she was always unhappy with me and Daddy. She even changed my sister’s last name, just to embarrass Daddy!
You have no idea–my mommy is a drama queen and a total fake. She’s as lazy as a pig at home! And she–she even abused me! She wouldn’t let me eat!”
A wave of shock rippled through the crowd. “Selene treated you like that?”
“She always used me to threaten Daddy! She wanted him to pay attention to her, to love her most, to make her the center of everything! She was insanely jealous.
Once there was this really nice lady at Daddy’s office who gave me candy, and Selene went crazy! She stormed into the company and forced Daddy to fire the nic lady.”
The reporter with the recorder sucked in a breath, pushing for more. “What else di Selene do to you?”
“She hit me. I was covered in bruises–look, I still have marks!”
Another gasp, even louder. “Oh my God! She beat you that badly?”
Selene couldn’t help rolling her eyes at the reporter’s melodramatic outburst.
Damien went on, “And she fed me pig slop! If I didn’t eat it, she’d hit me and yell at me!”
A chorus of horrified exclamations filled the air.
21:40
The reporters looked at Selene now with a mix of shock and schadenfreude. The woman who’d been celebrated online as a math prodigy and the perfect homemaker was now exposed–at least in their eyes–as a fraud.
In reality, she hadn’t lived up to any of the duties expected of her.
The reporters were practically giddy. They believed they’d uncovered the ugly truth behind the mask, and they couldn’t wait to drag Selene down from her pedestal.
