Miriam’s POV
I sighed weakly in Victor’s arms as we sat in the car.
His cologne filled my senses, and I breathed it in deeply.
He smelled so good.
The way he’d swooped me up and carried me had made me forget that I’d just vomited.
My heart wouldn’t stop fluttering as I looked at the worried expression on his face.
That small gesture of care melted something inside me.
I didn’t know what else to do except lean into his touch.
Then the car suddenly stopped.
“Sir, I’ll go check what this is all about,” the driver said, getting out.
“What’s happening?” I asked quietly, still leaning against Victor.
He looked down at me, his brows creased with concern.
“It’s just some protesters. Nothing to worry about.”
His phone rang, cutting off whatever he was about to say.
“What’s with the protesters blocking the road? How do they know we were coming from the resort?” he asked the caller, his voice sharp and controlled.
I sat up gently, confused about what was happening.
My phone vibrated.
A message came through from the number Nadia had used to call me earlier.
She’d sent me a video link.
I clicked on it slowly.
It was a livestream.
A woman was talking on camera, and my name was the main topic she was discussing.
She was saying terrible things about me.
She was attacking my credibility.
She was talking down on Ashford Industries.
My hands started shaking as I watched.
Who was this woman?
I’d never seen her before.
Another message came from Nadia.
“I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW YOU HAVE SOME SHITTY ENEMIES WHO WANTED YOU DOWN. WELL SOMEONE JUST DID WHAT I WANTED.”
She’d added a laughing emoji at the end.
My hands trembled.
What was happening?
One minute I was the new CEO.
The next minute, false rumors were spreading everywhere about me.
My phone was suddenly yanked out of my hands.
“What are you doing?” Victor asked, his voice firm.
“You don’t have to watch that livestream.”
I turned to face him.
“How? Who is she? Everything she’s saying is not true. I need to clarify myself. I need to respond.”
I paused, realization hitting me.
Victor held my hands immediately, his grip gentle but strong.
“Miriam, that lady has been caught.”
He paused, hesitation flickering across his face.
“That lady is just some past thing. She’s just trying to bring you down because she heard you became my wife and the new CEO.”
“Can I see her? I need to ask her why she’s doing this. Who sent her? Where did she get all this false information?” I demanded, my voice shaking with anger and frustration.
“No,” Victor said firmly.
“I need you to go home and rest. This is my problem to handle now. Okay?”
He finalized the statement by holding my eyes with that fiery intensity.
This was my problem.
I should face it.
I shouldn’t let him handle it for me.
But something about the way he held me, the way he told me this was his to handle, made my heart flutter so much that I couldn’t argue.
I knew announcing myself as CEO would cause some controversy, but not this quickly.
Not this intensely.
The sirens of police cars suddenly echoed around us.
“I have backup already,” Victor said gently.
I nodded my head, feeling like I was under his spell, unable to think clearly or resist him.
The driver returned and resumed driving back to the penthouse.
When we arrived, Victor helped me out of the car and swooped me into his arms again.
The attendants had assembled on the red carpet, and my face flushed with embarrassment.
“I can walk, you don’t have to carry me like this,” I protested.
He chuckled, glancing briefly at me.
He completely ignored my protest and walked inside with me in his arms.
My heels dangled from his hand.
I had to support my weight by wrapping my arms around his neck.
After what seemed like an endless elevator ride, he laid me gently on the bed.
His eyes didn’t leave mine.
“Are you okay now?” he asked softly.
I nodded my head.
“I need to go attend to something immediately. I’ll be back soon,” he said, standing up.
“What about meeting your mother?” I asked.
“It can wait,” he replied without hesitation.
“No, no,” I said firmly, sitting up slightly.
“If you think this is because of that livestream or because of the brief sickness, it shouldn’t stop what we’ve already planned. I decided something the moment I signed that marriage agreement- nothing would break me. We’re still going to your mother’s place.”
He stared at me, and an expression I couldn’t quite read flickered across his face.
Then a smile crossed his lips.
“You take this more seriously than I do,” he said.
“It makes me want to do more than this.”
He held my hand again, and my heart fluttered.
He sure knew how to say things that gave me butterflies.
“Okay, deal,” he said, standing up.
“I’ll have the attendants come up here. Take care of yourself.”
I nodded as I watched him leave my room, his footsteps retreating down the hallway.
As soon as he was gone, I took my phone and went online. The source of this chapter is g.com.
The comments were brutal.
“She definitely forced herself on him.”
“She left her husband for money. She’s such a bitch.”
“How could she sell her body for just a position? She’s such a pick-me bitch.”
I chuckled bitterly.
Who were these people to judge when they didn’t know the real truth?
I remembered what Victor had said about the woman who started the livestream.
He’d called her “a past thing.” I searched her name online.
Miranda.
She was trending everywhere.
Instagram influencer.
Model.
Actress.
She had millions of followers.
She was beautiful in that polished, artificial way that social media demanded.
Who was she to Victor?
Why was she trying to bring me down?
Was she an ex?
I scoffed and kept scrolling through the posts about her.
Then something caught my attention.
A headline from two years ago.
“#MIRANDA CLAIMS SHE IS VICTOR ASHFORD’S GIRLFRIEND”
My stomach dropped.
I clicked on it and started reading.
There was a picture of both of them coming out of a hospital.
She was wearing hospital clothes and smiling beside him.
They looked comfortable together.
Close.
The post claimed they’d been together for two years.
Someone had caught them on camera at the hospital, and rumors spread that she was pregnant with his child.
But then there was Victor’s public statement.
He’d made it clear they were never in a relationship.
He’d said she’d made a prank call to get him to the hospital that night and that her agency worked with his company on various projects.
The comments showed mixed reactions.
Some people believed him.
Some didn’t.
Many of them shipped them together, wishing they were actually a couple.
I gripped my phone tightly, my heart racing.
What if she really was his ex?
What if Victor had lied to the internet to protect his reputation?
What if she was going to this extreme to bring me down because she was jealous?
Because she’d lost him to me?