Chapter 156
156:
“Collin, wait!” Linsey’s voice echoed with a trace of anxiety as she instinctively called out to him.
Collin paused and turned to face her with a gentle expression that belied the turmoil beneath. “What’s wrong?” he asked, his voice soft yet tinged with concern.
Linsey bit her lip, grappling with her emotions. The air between them crackled with tension; his aura hinted at anger, though his demeanor remained calm.
She wanted to voice her worries, to bridge the distance that had formed so suddenly. Yet, her words faltered, trapped by her hesitation. “Nothing. Just… don’t bury yourself in work for too long. Try to get some rest early, okay?”
“Alright,” Collin replied, his lips pressing into a thin line, a subtle sign of his inner conflict.
As his figure tapered into the distance, Linsey was enveloped by a poignant sense of loss. She watched until he disappeared, her heart heavy with unspoken words.
Collin, wrapped in his own storm of emotions, was oblivious to Linsey’s turmoil. His thoughts were a tangled mess, dominated by self-reproach.
If only he had resolved the Wells family debacle sooner, Linsey wouldn’t have gotten injured.
Since he had to keep up the facade, all he could do was watch.
Retreating to his study, Collin drowned himself in work, trying to smother his heavy heart under piles of paperwork.
His solitude was abruptly shattered when one of his subordinates burst through the door, breathless with urgency. “Mr. Riley, we’ve got a problem!”
Collin’s head snapped up, his frown deepening. “What is it?” he demanded.
The grim expression on the subordinate’s face deepened as he relayed the news to Collin. “Despite your clear instructions to the media to avoid any mention of you and Mrs. Riley, it appears that the story has still found its way online.”
Mᴏʀᴇ ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇs ɪɴ ɢᴀʟɴᴏᴠᴇʟs.ᴄᴏᴍ
Collin’s face darkened immediately. He shifted in his seat, leveling a piercing gaze at the messenger. “Explain to me how this happened. I gave explicit warnings to those outlets. How did this leak?”
The icy intensity in Collin’s eyes sent a shiver coursing through the subordinate’s body. In a trembling voice, he replied, “We did issue the warnings, sir, but Marisol Wells has…”
Let me know if you’d like further changes been tenacious.
She actually brought in a scandal-chasing tabloid rat to do her dirty work.” He hastily pulled out his phone, navigating to the damning article, and handed it to Collin.
The screen displayed the freshly published scandal.
“Explosive Exposé: The Dark Secrets behind Felix Wells’ Imprisonment! Linsey Brooks, his long-term girlfriend, betrayed him brutally. On the day they were to wed, she not only cheated but married another man. Subsequently, she crafted a devious plot to frame Felix, alleging her own kidnapping to squeeze a fortune from his wealthy family. When her outrageous demands were refused, she and her new husband vindictively ensured Felix’s imprisonment.”
The article was a concoction of sensational fabrications, utterly lacking in proof.
But gossip-hungry netizens didn’t care whether it was true—they devoured the story like a feast.
“How can people be so ruthlessly cruel?”
“Is this the same kidnapping case everyone was talking about a while back?”
“Poor Felix! He’s completely innocent. If he actually ends up in prison, it’ll destroy his entire life.”
“Linsey is the definition of shameless and rotten to the core.”
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