The next morning, Amara sat in her conference room with Jaden, Mia, and Cynthia, all of them bent over a shared screen full of interconnected documents, emails, and bank transfers.
"This isn't just sabotage," Cynthia said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "This is premeditated character assassination."
"Classic Derrick," Jaden muttered. "Looks clean. Isn't."
Amara clicked to the next slide, her voice sharp. "Here's the play: we go to the press with our version of the story first. We release a joint statement, share the real evidence, and take control of the narrative."
Jaden nodded. "We leak his leaks—every shell firm, every off-record meeting."
"But there's a problem," Mia said, hesitating. "Someone tipped off The Echo."
Amara froze. "The Echo? They're brutal."
"They're already prepping a feature on you. Lead headline. With photos."
"What kind of photos?" Jaden asked.
Mia hesitated, then turned the tablet toward them.
It was a grainy but unmistakable photo—Amara and Jaden, on her balcony, in each other's arms. Intimate. Personal.
Below it:
"Power, Passion, and Corruption: The Branding Queen and Her Billionaire Flame."
Amara's heart dropped.
"Someone wants to turn this into a scandal," she said quietly.
"They want the story to be about us, not the truth," Jaden added. "They're making it emotional. Messy. Clickable."
Amara stood, pacing. "If this goes public before we release our evidence, the entire campaign will look like a cover-up."
"And you'll look like you slept your way into the biggest project of your career," Cynthia added grimly.
The silence was heavy.
Finally, Amara said, "We need to get ahead of this. I'll do the interview."
Jaden turned to her. "What?"
"I'll go to The Echo. I'll tell them everything—about the leak, the sabotage, even us."
"You don't have to protect me like that."
"I'm not." She looked him in the eyes. "I'm protecting the truth. And my name."
He swallowed hard, pride and worry warring on his face.
"Okay," he said softly. "But I'm going with you."