Chapter 118
At the penthouse suite of a five–star hotel, Luke Holloway had just returned from the gym, muscles still flushed and taut. He’d already showered, yet a restless heat seemed to radiate from his skin.
His assistant had been waiting for him for some time. Normally, Luke was approachable and easygoing–never one to pull rank–so the assistant joked as he greeted him, “Mr. Holloway, I can’t believe your sister is married to the CEO of Vaughn Enterprises! How come you never mentioned that?”
Luke’s expression chilled instantly. “Where’d you hear that?”
Without missing a beat, the assistant handed over his phone. “Look, she’s trending again.”
#Selene mistreats her son#
#Selene’s ex–husband Harrison#
#Selene feeds her child slop#
At the top of the trending list, every headline spelled trouble for Selene.
Luke tapped a link to an interview with Dames.
He didn’t even finish listening before his grip tightened, nearly crushing the phone in his hand. Veins bulged along his forearm. “Complete rubbish!” he roared, the sound so fierce it made his assistant’s heart nearly jump out of his chest.
The whole internet was ablaze, obsessed with Selene’s ex–husband–the infamous Harrison Vaughn, heir to Vaughn Enterprises and a fixture in the city’s elite social circles.
Once people heard Dames, Selene’s own son, accuse her on record, the outrage online only intensified.
“The little Vaughn is right! Selene was married to Harrison for seven years. Besides giving the Vaughn family two kids, what has she ever done for them?”
“She has the nerve to tell reporters her ex–husband isn’t worth mentioning? She’s got some nerve!“.
“Walking away from a life of luxury, abandoning her husband and kids—what a joke. Housewives these days are so out of touch, it’s almost scary how stubborn they
can be!”
10:15
Cha
“Does Selene even realize how much other women want her husband? Harrisons the crown prince of the city’s most powerful family! There’s a line of women waiting to have his children!”
“My cousin’s close with people in their social circle. He says Harrison’s totally clean–never a single scandal. Women throw themselves at him and he doesn’t even look.”
“With a husband like that, what more could Selene possibly want? She’s just ungrateful! Out of her mind!”
“If I could marry someone like Harrison, he could have all the fun he wanted, and I’d happily be the perfect housewife, waiting on him hand and foot!”
Harrison didn’t have Twitter, but that didn’t stop people from flocking to the official Vaughn Enterprises account to post their own “applications“:
“Notice me, Mr. Vaughn! Ivy League grad, only child, about to start at a Fortune 500 company. Smarter and prettier than Selene, and I love literature, music, and art…”
“Excuse me, but Mr. Vaughn is mine! I’m a top university grad from the capital, and I love him to death! I’d give him the world!”
“Harrison! If Selene doesn’t want you, I do! I’m not stupid–I know a good thing when I see it!”
“Harrison, look at me! Your children would be my children–I’d happily give you three more, one for every season, and all my love! Message me, please!”
As soon as the internet learned Selene’s ex was the city’s golden boy, the insults rained down on her with dizzying force.
Luke couldn’t stomach another word. He exhaled sharply through his nose, then scrolled through his contacts and dialed a number.
Standing by the floor–to–ceiling window, gazing out over the city, he gave his order: “Wipe every negative story about Selene from the internet. All of them. And get our partners with verified accounts to publish something to set the record straight. No more online harassment–make it stop.”
He would never allow Selene to be hurt again.
When Luke hung up, it was as if an invisible hand swept across the digital landscape. In moments, every negative headline about Selene vanished.
Anyone searching those terms on Twitter now saw the same automated message: “Content unavailable due to violations of platform policy.”
1016
Chapter 0
Meanwhile, at Vaughn Enterprises, in the CEO’s office:
Harrison picked up the phone as Secretary Burnett called in, sounding flustered. Burnett quickly summarized the storm brewing online.
“… Honestly, I never expected Selene would treat her own son like that behind closed doors! It’s just too much.”
He held his tongue from saying anything worse–after all, Selene was Harrison’s ex–wife.
Harrison listened as a clip played of Dames accusing Selene of abuse.
He tried to remember if he’d ever noticed injuries on Dames before–but realized, with a sinking feeling, he’d never really paid attention.
