LOVE BEYOND THE SCANDALS

CHAPTER 1

The Woman He Refused to Defend

Elara

“You’re shaking.”

I said nothing, but forced a smile at the woman beside me. “It’s the champagne that I took. I barely drink, that's why it's reacting this way.”

She laughed politely at my response, the kind of laugh people used at events like this, very soft, too rehearsed,and also forgettable within seconds. Her eyes drifted past me almost immediately, toward the stage, and it landed where the Kingsley Group logo was shining behind a wall of lights.

Tonight was supposed to be perfect as had planned. Tonight was supposed to be mine, for me alone.

“Elara,” Sebastian had called all of a sudden, leaning closer to me. “Are you okay?”

I turned to face him instantly, because that was what I always did all this years, placing him first. I looked for him first when we go out. Always did that even when I was in discomfort. My fiance, my partner was my everything. The man I had devoted my time, and loved quietly for four years, long before the press got the slightest idea that he existed, before they learned how to spell his name.

“I’m fine,” I whispered back. “Just overwhelmed with everything.”

He smiled back at me, the calm, billionaire kind of smile that reassured investors and boards and nations that they were in good hands. Then he slwent ahead to squeeze my hand, just like he had always done.

“You’ve done so well, and earned this night,” he said. “We both have, standing beside each other.”

The applause that followed was deafening as the host returned to the microphone.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” the man began all smiles, “tonight we are here to celebrate not just the success of Kingsley Group, but also, the beautiful union of two brilliant minds...our CEO, Sebastian Kingsley, and his fiancee, the beautiful Elara Monroe.”

As the words left his mouth, cameras flashed from different angles just to capture the beautiful moment.

I straightened instinctively, proud of who we had become in four years.

This was it. The very moment I had laid quietly and imagined during sleepless nights, during endless hours of meetings, during the years I labored like a slave behind the scenes while others took credit.l, remaining invisible when I was the brain box behind the success of the company.

“Smile,” Sebastian murmured beside me.

I did as he said, though my mind was still reflecting on our journey together.

Then I heard it, the one that broke me.

“She sold company secrets to rival companies.”

The words were loud enough that it was sharper than the music, and poisonous.

I stiffened on hearing that, not even sure I heard right.

“What?” I whispered back.

Sebastian didn’t hear me, not even my change in facial expression. He was busy nodding at whatever some of the board members were saying, listening to investors, at men who never knew i existed even though I had written half the strategies, that gave