Chapter 49 Media Storm
The hooded figure was Amanda's mother, Patricia Chen.
Harper watched from her position as the elegant woman in her sixties lowered her hood, her expression cold and calculated. She'd met Patricia exactly once, at a charity function months ago. The woman had seemed harmless then. Grieving over her daughters' arrests. Sympathetic.
She'd been lying the entire time.
"Mrs. Chen," Sebastian said, his voice carefully controlled. "You're The Investor?"
"Not quite. But I represent their interests." Patricia's accent was refined, her posture perfect. "I'm here to deliver a message and an offer."
Harper moved closer, the security team flanking her. Patricia's eyes tracked her movement, a slight smile playing at her lips.
"Mrs. Colton. How lovely to see you again. I trust you enjoyed reading about your marriage in the news this morning?"
"You leaked the documents," Harper said.
"I provided the truth to the public. Your marriage is a sham. The people deserve to know." Patricia pulled out a tablet. "But that was just the beginning. In approximately thirty minutes, I'm releasing phase two."
She turned the tablet to show them a video file ready to upload. The thumbnail showed Harper and Sebastian in the Adriatic ballroom. The day Sebastian had proposed with his grandmother's ring.
"You've been surveilling us," Sebastian said quietly. "Even after Nicole was arrested."
"My granddaughter was careless. I'm not." Patricia tapped the screen. "This video shows you staging a fake proposal for publicity. It will destroy what's left of your credibility. But I'm willing to delay the release if you accept my terms."
"What terms?" Harper asked, though she already knew she wouldn't accept anything this woman offered.
"Sebastian steps down as CEO. You both sign over the Adriatic property to Hyland Development Corporation. You issue a joint statement admitting the marriage was fraudulent and announce immediate divorce proceedings." Patricia's smile widened. "Do this, and I will keep the video private. Refuse, and by tonight, the entire world will know you're still lying."
"The video won't show what you claim it shows," Sebastian said. "Because that proposal was real. We weren't staging anything."
"Doesn't matter. Context is everything, Mr. Colton. I'll edit it to see however I want. Add narration explaining how you're desperately trying to salvage a PR disaster. People will believe what I tell them to believe." Patricia checked her watch. "You have twenty-eight minutes to decide."
Harper felt rage building. "Why are you doing this? Your daughters made their own choices. We didn't force Amanda to betray Sebastian. We didn't force Nicole to plant cameras."
"You destroyed my family." Patricia's composure cracked slightly. "Amanda had a brilliant career until Sebastian married you. Nicole was building her future until your relationship made her desperate to help her sister. My daughters are in prison because of your selfish choices."
"Your daughters are in prison because they committed crimes," Sebastian countered. "Corporate espionage. Stalking. Attempted murder. Those were their decisions."
"Influenced by you! By this toxic marriage that corrupted everything it touched." Patricia's voice rose. "Richard promised me justice. James promised me revenge. They both failed. So I'm finishing what they started."
"You killed James," Harper realized. "The plane crashed. You sabotaged it."
Patricia's expression confirmed it before she spoke. "James was weak. He wanted to flee rather than see this through. I couldn't allow that." She composed herself. "Twenty-six minutes, Mrs. Colton. Your reputation or your hotel. Choose."
Sebastian pulled out his phone. "Detective Morrison needs to hear this."
"Go ahead. Call him. By the time police arrive, the video will be live and I'll be gone." Patricia smiled. "I've planned for every contingency. Unlike my daughters, I don't make mistakes."
Harper's mind raced. They couldn't let Patricia release that video. The media storm from the contract leak was already destroying them. Another scandal would be fatal.
But they also couldn't give her the Adriatic or Sebastian's position. That would mean everything they'd fought for was lost.
"There's a third option," Harper said suddenly. "We go live first. Tell our story before you can control the narrative."
Patricia laughed. "You think people will believe you over documented evidence?"
"Maybe not everyone. But enough." Harper turned to Sebastian. "Call your PR team. We're holding an emergency press conference. Right now. Before she can release anything."
"Harper, we're not prepared…"
"We don't need to be prepared. We need to be honest." Harper felt certainty settle over her. "No more hiding. No more letting other people tell our story. We put everything out there. The contract, the threats, the attacks. All of it."
Sebastian studied her face, then nodded. "Okay. We do it your way."
Patricia's smile faltered. "You're bluffing. You won't expose yourselves like that."
"Watch us." Sebastian was already dialing his PR director. "Pike Place Market. Fifteen minutes. Bring every media contact you have."
They moved quickly through the crowd, security clearing space near the iconic market sign. Patricia followed at a distance, her expression shifting from confidence to uncertainty.
Sebastian's PR team arrived with shocking speed, having been on standby. Within ten minutes, they'd assembled an impromptu press area. Reporters who'd been hounding them all morning rushed to set up cameras.
Harper stood beside Sebastian, facing a sea of press and curious onlookers. Her hands shook. This was insane. They were about to confess everything to the world.
But it was the only way to take control back from Patricia.
Sebastian spoke first, his voice steady despite the chaos. "Thank you for coming. Harper and I have a statement regarding the stories circulating about our marriage."
Cameras clicked. Phones recorded. The crowd pressed closer.
"The leaked documents are real," Sebastian continued. "Our marriage did begin as a contractual arrangement. Harper needed capital to save her family's hotel. I needed stability to satisfy my board. We negotiated terms and entered into a twelve-month agreement."
Murmurs rippled through the press. Harper saw Patricia in the crowd, furious but trapped by the gathering crowd.
"But what the documents don't show," Harper said, taking over, "is what happened after we signed them. We fell in love. Really, genuinely fell in love. The contract became irrelevant because we chose each other for real."
"Convenient story," a reporter called out.
"It's the truth," Sebastian replied. "And we can prove it. Over the past eight months, we've survived multiple attempts on our lives. Surveillance. Sabotage. Attacks coordinated by members of my own family who wanted to destroy us and take control of Harper's property for a development deal."
He pulled out his phone and projected images onto a portable screen his PR team had brought. Surveillance footage. Police reports. Evidence of the conspiracy.
The crowd went silent, watching the documentation unfold.
"The woman who leaked our private documents this morning," Harper continued, "is standing in this crowd right now. Patricia Chen, mother of two women currently in custody for corporate espionage and attempted murder. She's been orchestrating attacks against us to avenge her daughters and secure property my family has owned for generations."
Patricia tried to push through the crowd, but security had already surrounded her. Detective Morrison appeared, having been monitoring their location, with uniformed officers.
"Patricia Chen, you're under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder, blackmail, and theft of confidential documents," Morrison said, moving through the crowd.
Patricia's composure finally shattered. "You can't prove anything! Those files could have come from anyone!"
"We have your fingerprints on the briefcase taken from the lawyer's office," Morrison replied calmly. "And communications on James Hartwell's recovered phone linking you to his murder. You were sloppy, Mrs. Chen. Just like you accused your daughters of being."
As Patricia was led away in handcuffs, the reporters erupted with questions. Sebastian held up his hand for quiet.
"We'll answer everything. But first, I need to say something to my wife." He turned to Harper, ignoring the cameras. "I'm sorry you had to do this. Sorry your private life became public property. Sorry I couldn't protect you from any of it."
"We protected each other," Harper said. "That's what matters."
Sebastian kissed her in front of hundreds of witnesses and thousands more watching via livestream. When they broke apart, he turned back to the press.
"Now. Who has questions?"
They spent the next hour answering everything. Yes, the contract was real. Yes, they'd fallen in love anyway. Yes, multiple people had tried to destroy them. No, they weren't getting divorced. Yes, they were staying married. Really married.
Some reporters were skeptical. Others seemed genuinely moved by their story. But all of them got the truth, unfiltered and raw.
By the time they finished, Harper was exhausted. But she also felt lighter. No more secrets. No more hiding.
The truth was out. All of it.
They left Pike Place Market hand in hand, walking past cameras that had shifted from hostile to curious. The story would dominate news cycles for days. Some people would believe them. Others wouldn't.
But they'd taken control of their own narrative.
And for the first time in months, that felt like victory.
In the car, Sebastian pulled Harper close. "That was either brilliant or insane."
"Probably both." Harper leaned against him. "But Sebastian, it's really over now, right? Patricia was the last one. The Investor. There's no one else."
"Morrison seems to think so. With her in custody and everyone else already arrested, the conspiracy is finished."
Harper wanted to believe it. Wanted to think they could finally just live without threats or attacks or betrayals.
But as Sebastian's phone buzzed with a news alert, her stomach dropped.
The headline read: "Breaking: Colton Industries Board Calls Emergency Vote on CEO Position Following Marriage Scandal Admission."
The press conference had saved their reputation.
But it might have just cost Sebastian his company.