Betrayed By My Fiancé, I Married His Most Powerful Enemy

Chapter 7: My Scumbag Ex

Of course not.

The timing was completely wrong. I did not want Liam to know that I have started my plans. I needed him to still trust me and Caspian seemed to understand this without my saying it. He reached over and simply handed me the phone. I accepted it and did not step away from him.I swiped the answer button right there, in front of him, with nothing to hide.

"Valerie, where are you?"

"Liam.. you called. I found somewhere to stay away from the reporters," I said lightly, adding a shiver to my voice. "It is quite out of the way."

"So you have not seen what Nicole has been doing?" Liam asked, his patience clearly strained.

"No! I have been out of touch out here. I could not stand the cruel comments online. What happened?"

"Thanks to your manager, Xova is in complete chaos. Come back home. I am organizing a public statement and Valerie, I need you to come and clear Xova’s name."

A public statement . Of course he did. Another perfectly wrapped opportunity to load everything onto my shoulders and walk away clean. Did he really believe I was still that person? Did he think Five years of watching him build his empire on my back had taught me nothing at all, did I look that naive to him?

I hung up the moment the call ended. Caspian unfolded himself from the sofa, crossed the room and pulled me gently to his side. "I have already saved my number in your phone. Any time you need me, call. Let me know what you want to do."

"Thank you, Caspian."

He tilted his head. "That is not what you should be calling me." He did not release me. "Call me something else or I will not let you go."

I went warm all the way to my ears. "H... hubby," I managed, barely above a whisper.

The smile that crossed his face was real and quiet and rare, the kind that looked like it did not get much use. "Come on. I will drop you near his home. And remember what you promised. Do not get too close to another man."

I knew exactly what he meant. Liam was charming and could spin a situation quickly. I had to be careful.

..

Caspian had dropped me off a few minutes ago and I took my time to get to Liam’s apartment. Coming back here after what happened two days ago felt strange.

I walked straight to Liam’s home office and pushed open the door.

"You are back," he said, turning around. The anger behind his eyes was barely contained and poorly dressed up as professionalism.

"Tell me what happened," I said innocently.

"Are you seriously telling me you know nothing about what Nicole released?" He threw the printed news articles onto the table in front of me. "If she was not acting on your orders, why would she have the nerve to do any of this?"

"Liam." I let my voice go soft and a little wounded, the voice I had spent five years perfecting without realizing I was doing it. "We are about to get married. Why would I do something that pushes you away?" tears started forming in my eyes and I let a small tremor work its way in at the edges.

"Then explain the Crown’s Star bracelet. You placed it on your ankle on purpose. You knew the biggest difference between you and Amara is your legs."

I held his gaze and thought of every time I had taken the blame. Every time he had looked at me with that exact expression and I had believed it meant love. I had been wrong every single time and I had never once stopped believing it. That said more about me than I was comfortable admitting.

"I had no other way to wear it," I said carefully. "It was too large for my wrist. You know Amara and I are not the same size. Her assistant was right there and saw the whole thing. You can ask him yourself."

"I already did. He says you made the call on your own."

"Liam." I let my voice drop just enough. "I am your fiancée. The woman who has given five years of her career to building yours. five years of four AM call times, of starving myself into sample sizes that were never meant for my body, of smiling for cameras under another woman’s name and handing every dollar back to you without asking a single question." I paused and let that sit between us. "And you are standing there choosing his word over mine."

Something crossed his face. He looked guilty for a second "That is not what this is about," he said.

"Then what is it about? Because from where I am standing it looks like you are about to use me as a shield again. The same way you have been using me since the day we signed those contracts." I let my voice crack just slightly, perfectly timed, perfectly controlled. "Tell me something honestly, Liam. Am I your fiancée or am I just the most convenient person in the room when things go wrong?"

"Valerie, that is not fair."

"Is it not? Because I have spent five years being fair. I have spent five years being patient and understanding and grateful for whatever scraps of attention you threw my way while you built a career on my back. Look at me, I cannot be a model again cos I am past my prime, who would want me again" I looked at him with eyes full of tears I did not have to manufacture because underneath all the strategy, some of it was still real. "So tell me. When you picture your wife, who do you see? Because sometimes I wonder if you even remember my name when I am not standing directly in front of you."

He opened his mouth. Closed it.

"Yesterday was supposed to be our wedding day, the previous day was our anniversary " I said quietly. "Did you even remember that?"

The silence that followed told me everything.

"What is done is done," he said finally, and his voice had gone flat and businesslike the way it always did when he was done pretending to have feelings he did not. "HF has announced they are suing Xova and the public mood is getting worse by the hour. Someone has to take responsibility." His posture shifted into the one I knew too well, standing tall above me, looking down, the particular stance of a man who had convinced himself that making decisions for other people without consulting them was the same thing as leadership. "You are going to be my wife. I do not want my wife damaging my career. For the sake of the company you need to go online and tell the public that your manager acted alone, that it had nothing to do with Xova."

"So let me make sure I understand this correctly," I said. "You want me to publicly admit fault for something I did not do, to protect a company that has never once protected me, because I am about to become your wife." I looked at him steadily. "Is that what marriage to you looks like, Liam? Because I want to be very clear on what I am agreeing to."

He caught himself. Something that almost looked like guilt crossed his face and he reached for me. I stepped back.

"Valerie, I lost my temper. I went too far. Just this once. Once we are married all of these will go away, I promise."

I nodded slowly. "I will do it. Not because I am admitting fault. But because I want to protect your career." I paused. "There will not be a next time."

"There will not. I promise."

Liam believed what he always believed, that I would forgive everything, fall back into line and eventually come back to him grateful for the opportunity. He turned back to his desk to brief me on the script for that afternoon’s instagram post and I looked at his back with eyes that had gone completely empty.

He had no idea what I had in store for him.

After we were done, I stepped out of his office and called Nicole immediately

"Nicole, Liam is going to use me as a shield this afternoon."

"Ha!" Her voice was light and sharp and absolutely delighted. "Tell me exactly what you want me to do."

"At three o’clock I will make a public apology online and take the blame, I will give them everything they want. And the moment I finish, I need you to anonymously release the photos of Liam and Amara at the hospital to the blogs. Every single one. I need all top blogs to have a copy of those materials"

"Already working on it," she said, and I could hear her grinning through the phone. "Exposed! Xova’s CEO Has Multiple Affairs: The Biggest Cheating Scandal in the Industry!"

I laughed, a real laugh, quiet and genuinely surprised by it. "I am sorry for dragging you into all of this Nicole."

"Valerie," she said, and her voice went warm and fierce at the same time, "as long as you have decided to start fresh, I will help you get to the top again no matter what. I will get you back on those runways and Fashion Week" She paused for emphasis. "I will help you become an international supermodel."