Chapter 209 The Viral fallout

Chapter 209 The Viral fallout


~Julian’s POV~

My phone wouldn’t stop buzzing. 

It started around 8 p.m. with notifications messages, missed calls, mentions. I was lying on the couch, half-asleep, when the first one came in. I ignored it at first, but then more kept coming.

I picked up my phone and opened Twitter. 

The video was everywhere. 

It was the recording from last night, the one Chard made when he confronted me at the warehouse. My voice was clear. Too calm. 

“Yes,” I had said. “I have the hotel photos. I bought the shares. I saw Chris that night. I knew he attacked Lora.” 

I watched myself say it over and over. Different accounts were reposting it with different captions. 

“Julian Anderson admits to everything.” “Chard Anderson’s stepbrother exposed.” “The Anderson family drama just got darker.” 

My stomach turned. 

I sat up quickly and opened my stock app. My hands were shaking as I checked my shares in Anderson Marketing. They were dropping fast. People were already pulling out. The numbers kept falling right in front of me. 

“Damn,” I muttered. 

I threw the phone on the couch and stood up, pacing around the living room like I always did when I didn’t know what to do. 

My phone rang. It was one of my lawyers. 

I answered. 

“Julian,” he said, sounding stressed. “Have you seen the video?” 

“I’m looking at it right now,” I replied. 

“This is bad. Really bad. The board is calling for an emergency meeting. Your shares are tanking. We need to do damage control immediately.” 

I laughed bitterly. 

“Damage control?” I said. “The damage is already done. Chard made sure of that.” 

“Julian, this is serious. People are saying you knew about the attack on Lora Anderson and said nothing. That you bought shares in secret. This could get legal.” 

I ran a hand through my hair. 

“Let them talk,” I said. “It’s already out there.” 

I hung up. 

Another call came in almost immediately. This time it was from one of my business partners. 

“Julian, what the hell is going on?” he shouted when I answered. “The video is everywhere. My wife saw it. My investors saw it. What were you thinking?” 

“I wasn’t thinking,” I said flatly. “That’s the problem.” 

“You need to make a statement. Deny it. Say it was edited or something.” 

“It wasn’t edited,” I said. “It’s real. All of it.” He was quiet for a second. 

“Then you’re on your own,” he finally said. “I can’t be associated with this.” 

He hung up. 

I dropped the phone on the couch again and kept pacing. 

The news was already running with the story. I turned on the TV, and there it was my face on the screen. Chard’s face. Lora’s face. The Anderson name was everywhere. 

“Business tycoon Chard Anderson’s reputation has been vindicated after a shocking recording of his stepbrother Julian Anderson surfaced online. In the video, Julian admits to secretly acquiring shares in Anderson Marketing, possessing compromising photos, and knowing about the attack on Lora Anderson months ago.” 

I turned the TV off. 

The silence felt louder than the noise. 

I walked to the window and looked out at the city. Everything looked the same cars moving, lights on, people living their lives. But in here, my world was falling apart. 

I had spent years building this. Years of staying quiet. Years of collecting information. Years of waiting for the right moment. And in one night, Chard had destroyed it all. 

Because of Lora. Everything always came back to her. 

I sat back down on the couch and picked up my phone again. I opened the hidden folder, the one no one knew about, filled with photos of her. 

Old modeling shots. Random pictures I had taken over the years. Screenshots from her social media. Even one from the night I told her how I felt. 

I stared at them for a long time My chest felt tight. 

She probably hated me now. After everything. After the video. After finding out I knew about Chris and said nothing. After learning I had been working against her husband this whole time. 

I had lost her Completely. I started deleting the photos one by one. Each one hurt more than the last. 

I deleted the ones from her modeling days, the ones where she was smiling, the ones where she looked free. I deleted the ones I had taken secretly, the ones where she didn’t even know I was watching. 

By the time I got to the last photo, my hands were shaking. 

It was the one from the night I confessed to her. The night she looked at me like I was a stranger. The night she told me she loved Chard. 

I stared at it for a long time. Then I deleted it. 

Tears slipped down my face before I could stop them. I wiped them away quickly, but more came. 

I had nothing left. No shares. No reputation. Not even Lora.I dropped the phone on the floor and buried my face in my hands. 

For the first time in years, I had no plan. No next move. No idea what to do.I was completely alone and the worst part was, I had no one to blame but myself.