The morning paper screamed with headlines.
> "CEO Lu's Secret Marriage: Love or Contract?"
"Anonymous Insider Claims Lu Shenyan's Wife is a Paid Bride."
Tang Yueru stared at the article in silence. Her fingers trembled just slightly.
They'd used an old photo — one from the engagement banquet — her smile too perfect, his hand resting on hers like it had been placed there by a PR manager. And now, the world knew.
No. Worse.
The world guessed.
---
By the time she reached the Lu Corporation building, reporters were already gathering like vultures.
Security tried to push them back.
Cameras flashed.
Questions flew.
> "Mrs. Lu, is it true you signed a marriage contract?"
"Did you marry for love or for money?"
"What's your role in the company? Is this all staged?"
She walked past them without flinching.
But every word echoed like glass cracking under her heels.
---
When she stepped into Lu Shenyan's office, he was already on the phone, calm but furious.
"Yes, I want every digital trace down in an hour. No, I don't care about freedom of the press. I said down."
He hung up and turned to her.
His eyes — storm gray and unreadable — flicked over her face.
"You saw it."
"Yes," she said. "Did you leak it?"
His jaw clenched. "You think I would?"
"I don't know what to think anymore, Lu Shenyan."
He didn't reply.
Just walked around the desk and handed her a file.
"Legal drafted a counterstatement. It confirms our marriage is real and private, and all speculation is defamatory."
She took it, but didn't read it.
Instead, she asked, "And is it real?"
His gaze flickered.
"I signed the contract," he said. "But what I feel now—"
She cut in. "Don't. Don't say it unless you mean it without a contract."
Silence fell. Sharp and final.
Then she placed the file on his desk.
"Do whatever you want with the media. But don't protect me just because of guilt."
She turned to walk away.
---
He didn't stop her.
But just as she reached the door, he said quietly, "It wasn't you."
She paused.
"I think… it was someone inside my legal team."
"Why?"
"Because the contract ends in 46 days."
She turned back. "And?"
"And someone wants it to end sooner."
---
That night, she received a message from an unknown number.
> "You married the wrong devil, sweetheart. Shall we make a new deal?"
Attached was a blurry photo of her and Lu Shenyan from the engagement night.
But the sender's name chilled her:
> Zhou Linwei.
Her ex-fiancé.
The man she thought she'd left behind.
---