Zaria was in her office when she watched the five minutes worth of slander before her lunch break was over.
"I knew that he had another woman. A woman's instics had never been wrong." Angela sighed, making Zaria want to drag her out of the phone and beat her up.
"I didn't want to say anything at first. You know, you can't nag a man if you still want your relationship to work. I tried my best to respect his wishes. I pretended not to know anything. But when I found out that the other woman was my best friend, that broke me into pieces. That's right. My former best friend, Natalie Sparks. He was cheating on me with her.
Don't ask me how come I never suspected them. Of course I didn't. I trusted her. I would cry to her whenever I couldn't hold myself anymore. I would never have expected that while she comforted me for being cheated on, she was the one rolling around in bed with my man. Then he broke it off with me to be with her. I was heartbroken. I was still in disbelief when I learnt that he proposed to her."
Zaria wanted to stop playing the video. However, there might have been hints so she continued.
Angela looked at a loss, as though she was only explaining this because everyone had forced her to. Her hair was a mess and her eyes swollen as though she had been crying.
"I told him I was pregnant as soon as I found out." She wiped her fake tears. "Not only did he ask me to get rid of it, but he also denied being the father. He accused me of playing around."
"Bitch!" Zaria yelled in anger.
"When Rosaly was born, I wanted nothing but for her to have a complete family, I had initially decided to stay away from that man but when I thought of my baby's future, I tried to talk to him about it. You probably guessed it. He wanted nothing to do with her. Which is why after trying to negotiate child support with him for five years, I decided to get the court involved. I want my child to get the best kind of life and I couldn't provide that on my own. I didn't expect the letter to get leaked."
"Of course you didn't." Zaria exited the video. She would go crazy if she continued listening to that woman's bullshit. She didn't need to listen more to know that Angela had painted her as the mistress who broke them up.
The thought made her frown. How would that be pulled off, exactly?
An email pinged in her computer and she got back to work. She would listen to the rest of it later.
Alas, the gossip raging in the company was enough for her to know what exactly Angela had said about her.
"It's the mistress." A female employee whispered to another, loud enough for Zaria to hear.
"Hush." Her colleague shushed her, but that didn't stop the gossip.
"So what if she hears me? If you don't want to be called out for being a mistress, then maybe don't open your legs for married men." The other rolled her eyes.
Zaria ignored them but it wasn't long before she heard yet another version.
"Didn't you hear what she said? She was so pitiful. Mr. Fort actually made her sleep with him just so he could donate blood to their daughter when she needed it the most. As if he had not tortured her enough, he started cheating on her with both Natalie and Zaria when they reconciled." A married female employee was furious.
Her companion, a guy from the IT department, looked at her like she was out of her mind. "Are you forgetting something? If he cheated on her with Zaria and Natalie, then she is a mistress too. He was engaged to Natalie. He was not cheating on her with Natalie but on Natalie with her and she allowed it. Moreover, she knew that they were engaged."
"But they had a daughter!" The woman was even angrier. "And what about Zaria? We have all been made to believe that she had insane capabilities when in fact, all she does is bend over the boss' desk!"
"Don't you know? Being beautiful is a talent. I'd totally want her if I were the boss."
Zaria shot them a glare and they shuffled out to head home. While she didn't care much for the gossip, what she dreaded was the direction where the matter was heading. Everyone was going to blame Desmond and hence, Preston and Fort Group might soon be on the receiving end of criticism. Maybe it didn't end at that. Maybe it was just the initial attack and there were more coming.
…
"Are you okay?" Ximena was sitting on her bed and as soon as she opened the door to her room, she met her halfway through the room and hugged her.
"I'''m fine. Why wouldn't I be?'
"Because Nathaniel is at work?" Ximena was worried about her. When Zaria sat down, she asked, "Do you perhaps need someone to raid Angela's home and beat the living daylights out of her? Because if you do, I will gladly fill that position."
"I don't think we need violence." Zaria laughed at her suggestion. Angela would be out of luck if she tried to cause any more trouble because this time, Ximena would not ask before attacking her.
"What do you plan on doing?" Ximena asked.
"I have no idea." She took out her phone to check how bad the situation was online. It was probably going to break her heart but she couldn't stay in the dark without knowing a thing, It would drive her crazier than Angela's video.
As expected, there was new development. This time, Angela had answered innumerable questions from "mommy fans" of Rosaly and made sure to paint her as the evil woman in all of them.. She didn't hesitate to lie about her threatening to make Rosaly's life a living hell.
Ximena was flabbergasted. "I don't understand. Isn't she scared the reporters will go digging and find she is lying?"
"There must be some twisted truth in everything she said." Zaria massaged her temples. Angela was not an idiot. There was someone supporting her, who was preventing the media from uncovering the truth and making them rely on her side of the story.
Everyone knew she was Theodore's daughter now. They would have bugged her for the truth if this was normal gossip. However, it was entirely a farce that was being controlled from behind the scenes.
Ximena grabbed her phone when Zaria went to take a shower and called Liam even though she had never thought she would ask him for help in this lifetime.
"This is about Zaria, right?'" He guessed, because he knew that she probably couldn't initiate a conversation with him and the only person she cared about was Zaria.
"How did you know? She teased.
"I know you better than I know anyone. What do you want me to do?" He asked.
"I'm guessing that if there is anyone who knows Angela well enough, it has to be you." She started.
She didn't need to explain her intention before he dropped the bummer.
"Xim, I'm in the most awkward position here. If I were to say anything against Angela, that might just make Zaria look bad. I have known her for less than a year, after all, and she is indeed in a relationship with Desmond. I can't speak up for both her and Natalie, and if I were to speak up for Natalie, Zaria would appear to be the mistress."
Ximena was exasperated. Angela had tied everyone down to her. Just how skilled was she in causing trouble?
"Don't worry. If Desmond speaks up, his words will definitely be more believable." He coaxed.
"And why the hell has he not spoken up yet?" She was disappointed.
"Maybe that's because he is trying to trap Angela? I don't know how he works either." He desperately wanted to move the topic back to them but he didn't get any such chance as she had already hung up.
___
Meanwhile, Natalie stared at the Creszone post made by Devonte and had mixed feelings.
Devonte had just made their former relationship public and revealed the fact that they had been dating in secret for over a decade, and her engagement with Desmond was a facade to keep her parents' noses out of her business.
What the hell was wrong with him? He was already in a difficult postion after the movie fiasco not too long ago and now he was involving himself with drama? Did he not care for his fame anymore?
It would not be surprising if fans and the media looked into his past and uncovered—and potentially twisted—the facts about their reloationship. She didn't have much to lose. At most, everyone would think of her as a two-timer but that was only until Desmond proved that their relationship was fake. On the other hand, he could lose fans if any of his words was misinterpareted.
She thought about it and gave him a voice call on Creszone.
He sounded pleasantly surprised when he answered it. "Natalie?"
"I don't need you to help me." She deadpanned.
Seconds spoke before he finally spoke again, his voice breaking. "It's the least I can do for you."
She blinked away the emotions threatening to surface.. "I don't need you to compensate me for what you did."
New novel 𝓬hapters are published on (f)reeweb(n)ovel.com