Dusk Snow Hides All Return (Rowan and Adrienne) novel Chapter 16

Adrienne felt a bad feeling her chest. “Said what?”

Her assistant paused, clearly choosing her words. “It’s… cryptic, but the whole thing hints that Mr. Ashford – the elder one jealous of him, set him up multiple times, even hurt himself to frame him. He also said Mr. Rowan heartlessly abandoned his parents to go abroad–calling him a failure as a son and left the elderly couple crying themselves to sleep every night – calling it a betrayal. And now… the post is gaining traction. A lot of people are laying into him. Into Mr. Rowan.”

Adrienne’s face went as dark as a gathering storm.

She hung up and logged straight into the social media platform.

Sure enough, Desmond’s carefully crafted manipulative social media post was hanging at the tail end of the trending topics.

The writing was saccharine, calculated. Loaded with implications.

He wrote about coming back to the Ashford Family, about how hard he’d tried to earn Rowan’s forgiveness, only to get set up and hurt by him over and over again – from the Walk–in Freezer, to the car accident, to the injuries all over his body.

He wrote about how Rowan selfishly bailed on the country, abandoning their aging, heartbroken parents. Every line was designed to paint himself as kind and selfless, while Rowan came off as jealous, vicious, and cold – the ungrateful traitor.

The comments section was a cesspool.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe the true Ashford heir is like this! That’s so messed up!”

“Poor Desmond. Bullied like that and still so sweet.”

“He treats his own parents like that? Who needs a son like that?”

“Rowan Ashford, get out of the Ashford Family! You don’t deserve to be their son!”

Adrienne read through the garbage. Her temples were pounding. The rage in her chest felt like it was about to burn through her ribs.

Desmond! How dare he!

She dialed him back immediately.

The ringing went on forever before he finally picked up. Desmond’s voice came through with a soft, wounded edge. “Addie? Is that-”

“Take it down.” Adrienne’s voice came out as cold as ice. Zero warmth.

“Love me?” Adrienne cut him off. Her voice was thick with disgust and contempt. “What you love is me, or the spot next to me as my husband? You know exactly which one. Desmond, it took Rowan walking out of my life–it took me falling apart – for me to finally see that what I had with you was never love. I mistook our history, being childhood sweethearts, for something it never was. And now? Now even that history makes me sick.”

She paused. Then, biting off every word, crystal clear, “This is my final warning. Right now. Immediately. Delete that piece of garbage post. Then publicly apologize to Rowan and take back every lie you told. Otherwise, I will have zero problem using the full weight of the Merritt Family to send you and every single person who helped spread those rumors – exactly where you all belong. Give you some real time to reflect.”

She didn’t give Desmond another second to argue. She hung up, clean.

–

Then she called her assistant right back. Her voice was iron. “Two things. One kill the traction on Desmond’s post as fast as you can. Every related tag, shut it down. Two – release an official statement. Under my name. No, scratch that under both Merritt Holdings‘ official name and mine personally, as Adrienne Merritt.”

Half an hour later, a severely worded, officially stamped statement dropped simultaneously from Merritt Holdings‘ official account and Adrienne’s personal account. The internet lit up.

The statement read:

“Ms. Merritt hereby issues a formal statement: All recent online rumors and malicious speculation targeting Mr. Rowan Ashford are fabrications spread by parties with ulterior motives. Merritt Holdings‘ Legal Department and my personal legal team have gathered full evidence and will be pursuing litigation against all responsible parties. There will be no leniency.”

The second it hit, the internet exploded.

The same people who’d just been tearing Rowan apart froze mid–sentence. The narrative flipped on a dime.