Chapter 107 Jealousy

Alden felt defeated, with nowhere to blow off some steamb. /bHe roughly stubbed out his cigarette and snapped, “Is that good enough for you?”

Frank shed a small smile. “That works.”

“Wait, when will Uncle Lucien finish his meeting?” Alden was clearly annoyed about the cigarette situation, and it showed in his voice.

Frank’s tone turned slightly colder. “Mr. Alden Graves, I have no authority to interfere with the CEO’s meetings.”

Alden fell silent. He felt like he’d been humiliated enough for one day.

It wasn’t until eleven at night, when Alden was about to lose it, that Lucien finally called him into the office.

“What’s going on, Alden? My assistant said you had something urgent?” Lucien slowly put on his suit jacket and adjusted his tie as he spoke casually.

Alden pressed his lips together–he wouldn’t dare show attitude in front of Lucien.

“Uncle Lucien, there’s a smear campaign going on against Luna today. I couldn’t get those nasty trending posts taken downb, /bso

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can you talk to your guys and see if they can help?”

Lucien looked up with a meaningful expression. “Oh? So you’re saying Luna didn’t giarize?”

“Of course she didn’t!” Alden met Lucien’s unreadable felt his confidence waver slightly.

gaze

and

“Uncle Lucien, you know she never faced this kind of public humiliation before. She’s been getting attacked online all evening. Do you have any idea how much this is hurting her?b” /b

“Yeah,” Lucien nodded like it was no big deal, “it’s tough for her. But that’s how brutal the entertainment industry is. If she can’t take it, you should probably tell her to quit now, Alden.”

A small smirk showed up on his face. “You can’t shield her from everything, right?”

Alden froze.

Is he calling me uselessi? /i

Lucien continued, “Anyway, I’ll reach out to the right people. If you’re done here, you should head back.”

Alden felt relieved when he heard that. “Thanks, Uncle Lucien.”

“No problem. We’re family.”

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Maybe it was just him, but Alden couldn’t shake the feeling that Lucien’s “we’re family”ment sounded pretty hollow.

After Alden left, Frank walked in. “Mr. Graves, should we pull the trending topic?”

Lucien raised an eyebrow with casual indifference. “What’s the rush? Someone bold enough to giarize should be able to handle a little heat.”

“But you just promised Mr. Alden Graves-”

“What did I promise? I said I’d reach out to people. I never said I’d definitely pull the trending topic.”

Lucien always chose his words carefully and never left loose

ends.

*****

Alden had just reached the parking lot when his phone buzzed with a message from his team.

[Mr. Graves, we found out Ms. Domont has been spending time with Jimmytely.]

His eyes narrowed a bit.

So Kaia was behind this?

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Across the townb, /bKaia had just finished getting ready for bed when an unknown number called. She figured it was a client, so she picked up. But the moment she heard the voice on the other end, her face went cold.

“It’s me. Either youe down, or I’ming up.” Alden’s tone left no room for argument.

Kaia clicked her tongue in annoyance. “Alden, do you even know what time it is?”

Alden shot back, “Did you think about the time when you got Luna trending on social media?”

Kaia froze.

iSo /iithat’s /iiwhy /ihe’s herei–/ibecause iof /iiLuna/i.

He added, “You’ve got three minutes. Unless you want your neighbors filing noiseints at this hour.”

Kaia’s eyes went cold. “Fine. But this is thest time.”

Next time, she’d call the cops.

Three minutester.

Alden leaned on his car, watching this woman he hadn’t seen in forever walking up.

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Thest time they met was when he dropped off that dress. Just ba /bweek ago, but to Alden, it felt like years.

Kaia just tossed on some cardigan over her silk nightgown and came down. Her hair was up, showing off her neck all fancy.

Alden stared at the perfect skin around her corbone, swallowing hard. He wasn’t nearly as calm andposed as he appeared.

Kaia was worried he’de upstairs and cause a scene, so she rushed down without thinking. But when she noticed his heated gaze fixed on her corbone, disgust shed in her eyes. She instinctively pulled her knit cardigan tighter around herself.

“Alden, just say whatever you came here to say!” she snapped.

Alden regained his senses. His eyes darkened with something Kaia couldn’t read. “Did you buy those trending topics? Are you really that jealous of Luna? Jealous enough to pay for bad press?”

Alden stepped closer. “If you were, you shouldn’t have broken off the engagement. Then, you’d still be Mrs. Graves right now.”

Kaia had to fight the urge to roll her eyes. “Stop right there. Quit your stupid theories.”

Her voice was cold and impatient. “First of all, I didn’t buy those giarism posts about Luna. I don’t have the power to keep

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something trending on the social media all night.”

Sheughed mockingly, “And even if I could, don’t you think you’d have the pull to take them down?”

Alden felt a pang in his chest. He already knew all this deep down. He just wanted to know how much his ex–girlfriend was involved in this mess.

He even felt a spark of hope. If Kaia really was targeting Luna out of jealousy, it meant she still had feelings for him…

For thest month since they split, Kaia had been ripping his confidence to shreds.

Alden was dying for some proof she’d actually loved him once. Couldn’t exin why he needed it so bad, but just thinking it might exist got him more hyped than mad.

“Even if you didn’t buy the trending topics, you brought that singer to getwyers to mess with Luna, right? Don’t tell me you didn’t have your own agenda.”

Write yourment

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