Chapter 3 - The Secret Affair
Victor didn't turn around to face us. He kept his back to the room, clutching his whiskey glass so hard the crystal groaned under the pressure.
"Is this true, Dad?" Landon’s voice trembled with a sickening mix of grief and rage. "You... you've been having an affair with Aubrey’s half-sister?"
"Landon, listen to me carefully," Victor started, his tone trying to regain its smooth, corporate authority. "You don't understand how business works at this level—"
"Answer the damn question!" Landon screamed, kicking a heavy mahogany coffee table sideways. It crashed into the wall, shattering a glass vase. "Did you sleep with her?!"
"Yes!" Sienna shrieked from the couch, breaking down into ugly, breathless sobs. "Yes, okay?! It was Victor! He approached me at the gala six months ago! He promised he would divorce your mother and give me a seat on the executive board! But then he tried to cut me off last month, so I told him I was pregnant! I used the baby to force my way into the family!"
The horrific truth hung in the heavy air of the suite like toxic gas.
Sienna had never slept with Landon. She was carrying Victor’s child—Landon’s future half-sibling—and had tried to pin the pregnancy on Landon in front of hundreds of people. She wanted to force Landon into a scandal that would break our engagement and destroy my life, all while securing her hold on the Vance family wealth.
Landon looked at his father as if he were staring at a complete stranger. "You let her throw wine in Aubrey's face. You let her slap her, humiliate her, and call her names in front of all our friends... just to protect your dirty, pathetic secret."
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"I was protecting the stock price!" Victor spat back, finally turning around, his face red with frustration. "If the public found out the CEO of Vance Enterprise got his son's future sister-in-law pregnant, the board would have stripped me of my position by midnight!"
"They're going to strip you anyway, Victor," I said quietly, tapping my phone screen. "Because I activated my personal safety recording app the second Sienna walked up to me with that glass of wine."
