The studio lights were brutal—bright enough to expose anything you tried to hide.

Aria sat across from the host of The Financial Pulse, camera-ready in a sleek navy suit. Hair pinned up, expression sharp, voice trained.

Dominic sat beside her in a tailored gray suit, calm on the outside. But under the table, his hand was clenched into a fist.

They’d rehearsed the basics:

• The accusations were false.

• Vale Interiors maintained full transparency.

• Hale’s connections to the smear campaign were “under internal review.”

Aria knew how to play this. She wasn’t just defending a brand—she was defending herself.

The host leaned forward. “Aria, you’ve built Vale into one of the top bespoke firms in the city. But there are whispers that this success was bolstered by personal ties to Blackwood Capital. Any truth to that?”

Aria smiled coolly. “My company was self-funded, grown from grit, not handouts. The only thing Dominic ever gave me was space.”

Dominic kept a straight face. But the jab hit its mark.

“And Dominic,” the host continued, “you signed a divorce six weeks ago and remarried days later. That’s not exactly conventional. Some viewers are wondering—was the first divorce… a cover for something else?”

Before Dominic could speak, Aria leaned in.

“We never stopped working through things. We were separated, not broken. What you’re seeing now isn’t a cover-up. It’s the real story.”

The host smiled, but her eyes sharpened.

“One last question—off-script, if you’ll allow it.”

Dominic tensed.

“Aria,” the host said slowly, “there’s an unsigned letter we received this morning. Anonymous source. It claims that someone close to you—very close—signed over controlling interest in your company six months ago. Without your knowledge.”

Aria froze.

Her lips parted. Then closed.

Dominic didn’t breathe.

The host continued, “Would you like to respond?”

Aria turned to Dominic.

“What did you do?” she asked, voice flat, tight.

“I—”

But he couldn’t finish. Because she already knew.

“You signed over part of my company. To you. To protect me, or control me?”

Dominic’s voice dropped. “I did it to keep you safe. Hale was circling. I had to secure majority before he made a move.”

“And you didn’t think I deserved to know?”

The host quickly cut to commercial.

But the damage was already done.

Aria stood, calm but shaking. “We’ll finish this later,” she said. Not to the host. To him.

Dominic watched her walk off the set.

And for the first time since she came back into his life…

He knew he might lose her all over again.