Chapter 104 Inside Information
Veronica's POV:
The article read, "Is the Age-Old Ashford-Whitmore Feud the Reason for the Whitmore Heiress Sabotaging the Engagement?"
I scrolled down with numb fingers, reading the article that had clearly been written by someone with inside information.
It was just too much inside information. I wasn't even able to read it anymore. "What does it say?" I asked Theo blankly. "Can you just say it out loud?"
Theo hesitated, his eyes scanning the screen again as if he was hoping the words would change the second time.
“They’re saying…” he started slowly, “that my mother and your father… they dated in college.”
I felt my breath hitch, but I didn’t interrupt him.
He swallowed and continued, quieter now. “It turns out my mother was actually in love with your father back then."
"What?"
“But…” Theo exhaled. “Her family didn’t approve. The Ashfords were already more powerful, more established… and your father, at that time, wasn’t where he is now.”
I clenched my fingers tightly, my nails digging into my palm. Yes, my father's family was just millionaires back then. This was the right information. But does this mean all this is true?
“They forced her,” Theo said, “They'd forced my mother to marry into the Ashford family instead. It was more… beneficial. More strategic.”
A bitter laugh escaped me, hollow and sharp. “Of course it was.”
Theo looked at me, conflicted. “The article implies that your father never got over it… and that this feud... everything between our families... started from there.”
I was stunned. My father has such a past that I'm not aware of?
“And now,” he continued, glancing back at the screen, “they’re saying you sabotaged the engagement because of that same old grudge. Like you’re trying to take revenge for your father… or finish what he couldn’t.”
"And the last one is a lie," I let out a sigh. "Still, this is just too much truth revealed in a single moment."
I moved to the couch and collapsed onto it, my legs no longer able to support me.
My father and Elizabeth. In love. Before she married Senior Ashford.
The feud wasn't just business rivalry... it was heartbreak, rejection, and bitterness that had festered for decades.
"Did you know?" I asked Theo, looking up at him. "About your mother and my father? About them being... together?"
"No," Theo said, sinking down beside me. "I had no idea. Father never spoke about Mother's past. Never mentioned any romantic history before their marriage. But..." He paused, thinking. "Some of his old colleagues probably knew. The ones who were at university with them. That's probably where this leak came from."
"So now everyone thinks I have a motive," I said dully. "That I sabotaged Laura's engagements as some kind of revenge plot on behalf of my father. That I'm carrying on the family feud."
The pieces were falling into place with horrible clarity.
The way both fathers had reacted so strongly to the idea of their children being together.
The threats. The manipulation. It wasn't control.... it was personal conflict.
"That is why it's important for you to maintain the image that you're in love with Max and planning to marry him," Theo said. "It's for the best, Veronica. It shows you're not carrying on the feud. That you've chosen an Ashford, united the families. It completely undermines the revenge narrative."
I wanted to argue.
I wanted to scream that I shouldn't have to sacrifice my happiness for damage control, for an ancient family drama that I had nothing to do with.
But I couldn't. The words died in my throat.
I felt overpowered by forces beyond my control.
Now I'm forced to choose Max even if my heart belonged to Theo.
"Our last chance is Max finding the footage," Theo said, checking his phone. "If he can get the police to recover the encrypted security feed showing Laura's coercion, we can at least prove the confession was forced. That's our last hope."
As if summoned by his words, the penthouse door burst open and Max came rushing in, still in his rumpled tuxedo, his black hair a mess.
"Guys," he said, slightly out of breath. "The footage. The Bellamys got to it. They must have people inside the hotel security. Everything... the encrypted feeds, the backup servers, all of it... it's been deleted. I couldn't recover it."
I felt the last shred of hope drain out of me. There goes our last chance.
Without that video evidence, it was my word against Laura's.
My audio recordings against the damning visual confession that thousands of people had witnessed live.
Who would believe me now?
Max crossed the room quickly and knelt in front of where I sat on the couch, taking my hands in his.
His blue eyes were full of concern.
"Tomorrow," he said firmly, "we're calling a press conference. I'll fix this for you, okay? I'll stand beside you and we'll tell the truth. All of it. I'll make them believe you. I promise."
I nodded, unable to speak past the lump in my throat.
Max squeezed my hands, reassuring me. "We're in this together, Veronica. You and me. Whatever it takes."
Looking at him, I felt guilty. Just a short while ago, I'd confessed to Theo that I loved him. That I wanted to choose him. That I was in love with him, not Max.
And now here was Max, being sincere to me.
He had transformed himself for me. Given up drinking, taking on responsibilities, become a better version of himself because of our connection.
I felt completely unworthy of Max's dedication, his fierce protectiveness. Of the way, he was willing to put himself on the line for me.
"Thank you," I managed to whisper. "Max, I... thank you."
He smiled, that cocky half-smile that usually made my heart skip, though now it just made the guilt worse.
"That's what fiancés do, right?" he said, trying to sound sarcastic. "Take care of each other. Lol. I was just kidding. I know this is all an act. Thank you for saving me, by the way."
"Max about that," I started slowly. "We need to talk."