Alina didn't storm through the mansion-she glided, her silence louder than any scream. Jesse followed, tension pulsing in his chest like a ticking bomb.
"Alina, wait," he said, grabbing her arm gently.
She turned, eyes ice-cold. "Don't touch me."
He let go immediately. "Let me explain. That article-it's twisted, it's only half-"
"Half true?" she snapped. "So the rest is what? Character building?"
Jesse looked genuinely gutted, the kind of expression you can't fake-not even for five hundred thousand dollars. "I didn't come into this to scam you. I needed the money, yes, but I didn't think I'd actually start-"
"Start what?" Her voice cracked, just once. "Caring?"
He didn't answer.
That silence was everything.
She stepped back. "I trusted you. I let you into my home, my life-"
"You hired me," he cut in, anger bleeding into his voice now. "This whole thing started because you didn't believe in love. And now I'm the villain for catching feelings?"
Alina flinched like he'd hit her.
And that's when the door opened.
"Alina," came a soft voice.
Naomi, her personal assistant-short, sharp, dressed in sleek gray slacks and no-nonsense boots. But her eyes, always softer around Alina, now brimmed with concern.
"I saw the article," Naomi said, stepping between them. "And the security tapes. That story broke too fast. It's planted. Someone wanted it to explode tonight."
Alina blinked, struggling to breathe. "Why would someone...?"
Naomi looked at Jesse, then back at her. "You know who."
Alina's voice dropped. "Gregory."
Naomi nodded grimly. "You're being played, Alina. Again. But this time, it's not just business. He's attacking you. The woman, not the CEO."
Jesse stepped closer, voice low and honest. "I swear to you, I never meant to hurt you. I came in for the money. I stayed because... because somewhere between the pretending and the posing, I started falling for you."
Alina looked between the two of them-her walls fighting to hold, her emotions clawing through the cracks.
"I don't know who to trust anymore," she whispered.
Naomi gently touched her shoulder. "Then trust me. And trust what you felt tonight. Because that wasn't fake, Alina. Not for you. Not for him."
The room fell silent.
Alina looked at Jesse one more time, pain blooming across her face like a slow bruise.
"I need air," she said, and walked out into the night.