The internet didn't whisper.
It roared.
Clara's phone buzzed nonstop, notifications stacking faster than she could read them. Headlines blurred together, each one sharper than the last.
CEO's Marriage Revealed as Legal Arrangement
Love or Leverage? The Monroe Contract Exposed
Was Clara Monroe Ever More Than a Deal?
Her chest felt tight, as though the air itself had turned heavy.
Dylan stood across the room, already on his third call, voice clipped and controlled. He spoke in measured tones, issuing instructions, stabilizing chaos the way he always did.
Except this time—
She was the chaos.
"Clara," he said finally, ending the call. "We need to move quickly."
She looked up at him slowly. "Move how?"
"We issue a statement," he said. "Minimal emotion. Strong front. We deny the implications."
Her heart sank. "Deny what?"
"That the marriage was transactional," he replied. "We emphasize privacy. Mutual respect."
She laughed softly, disbelief cracking through. "It was transactional."
"Yes," he said, frustrated. "But it's not anymore."
"And you think pretending otherwise will fix this?" she asked.
"It will protect you."
"No," Clara said, standing. "It will protect you."
Silence fell.
"You want me to lie," she continued. "Again. Smile again. Absorb it again."
Dylan's jaw tightened. "This isn't about feelings."
"That's the problem," she shot back. "It never is with you."
Outside, cameras had already gathered.
She could hear them now.
Waiting.
"She didn't sign up for this," one voice said faintly from below.
"She knew what she was doing," another replied.
Clara flinched.
Dylan stepped closer. "Stay inside today."
Her eyes snapped to his. "Excuse me?"
"It's safer," he said. "Let me handle it."
The words cut deeper than the headlines.
"I am not something you hide," she said quietly.
"That's not what I meant."
"It's exactly what you meant."
She grabbed her coat.
"Clara," Dylan said sharply, "don't do this."
She turned. "I won't disappear to make your life easier."
She walked out before he could stop her.
The press swarmed instantly.
"Mrs. Monroe!"
"Did you know about the contract?"
"Were you paid to marry him?"
Clara's heart raced, but she didn't run.
She stopped.
Turned.
And faced them.
"Yes," she said clearly.
The noise stilled.
"Yes, there was a contract," Clara continued. "And yes, it started as an arrangement."
Gasps rippled.
"But what you're not going to do," she went on, voice steady despite the shaking inside her, "is reduce me to a clause on paper."
Cameras flashed wildly.
"I wasn't bought," she said. "I chose. And I'm still choosing."
Someone shouted, "Are you in love with him?"
Clara paused.
She thought of the nights she cried alone.
The moments he stood beside her.
The times he almost chose control over honesty.
"I'm learning what love looks like when power is involved," she said finally. "And that's not something you figure out quietly."
She walked away before they could ask more.
Dylan watched the footage in stunned silence.
She hadn't crumbled.
She hadn't hidden.
She had stood where he should have stood with her.
And he hadn't been there.
"You mishandled this," Margaret Hale said coldly over speakerphone.
Dylan ignored her.
"You've lost narrative control," she continued. "The board will convene tonight."
"Good," Dylan said flatly. "So will I."
He ended the call and grabbed his jacket.
For the first time, fear wasn't about money or power.
It was about her.
Clara returned to the penthouse long enough to pack.
Not everything.
Just essentials.
Dylan arrived as she zipped the bag shut.
"You went public," he said.
"I went honest," she replied without looking at him.
"You blindsided me."
"You tried to silence me."
"That was protection!"
"No," Clara snapped, turning to him. "That was control. And I won't live under it."
He froze.
"I'm not asking you to choose me over your empire," she said, her voice breaking. "I'm asking you not to make me collateral damage."
"I don't know how to separate the two," he admitted quietly.
Her chest tightened.
"Then you don't get to keep me," she said.
She walked past him.
He reached out, then stopped himself.
The door closed behind her.
And for the first time, Dylan Monroe understood something terrifying.
Power couldn't buy back what he'd just lost.