Everything was a deal until divorce novel Chapter 43

Chapter 43 Truth Drop

Dorian lifted his hand and waved Lucien over. “Unfold the test results, let them get their photos.”

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page clearly

Lucien opened the report and held it up, making sure it faced the cameras, and the showed the lab name, the certification info, and the date, which was the third day after the incident in the video.

At the bottom, the bold conclusion jumped out so hard nobody could miss it, Not a biological match.

The reporters completely lost it, cameras firing like crazy as everyone fought to get the cleanest

shot.

Dorian watched the frenzy with a faint, almost amused curve to his mouth, then he said, “If you can’t get a clear picture, don’t panic, Buzznet will post the full report later.”

That only made the room louder, and questions started flying from every direction.

“So if the baby isn’t yours, whose is it, and why would Vivienne try to pin it on you?”

“No wonder she staged the whole miscarriage story, she knew the second that baby was born and tested, the lie would blow up in her face.”

Dorian tugged open two buttons on his shirt like he had all the time in the world, then he leaned toward the mic and said, “That’s a good question, and you’re about to get the answer.”

He picked up a USB drive, plugged it into the projector Lucien had already set up, and his expression turned even colder as he said, “Look at the screen.”

Everyone turned. A video started playing.

It was a hotel room with bright overhead lighting, then the audio hit first, messy and unmistakable, the kind that made people freeze in their seats because it felt way too private to be watching.

When the image came into focus, it was explicit, a light–skinned woman and a dark–skinned man, moving like they weren’t even worried about being seen, and it felt less like evidence and more like someone had forced the entire room into a live peep show.

Then the woman turned her face toward the camera. It was Vivienne.

In the bottom corner, a timestamp showed the date, and it was from three years ago. The livestream comments detonated instantly.

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Chapter 43 Truth Drop

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“Oh my God, Vivienne slept with some other guy, so the baby wasn’t even Dorian’s, she was trying to pin it on him.”

“Are you kidding me, that is disgusting, how do you even try to trap someone like that.”

“So much for the innocent sweetheart image, that whole act just went up in flames.”

“And this wasn’t some accident either, they were really into it, like full–on, no hesitation, definitely consensual.”

“Wait, so we dragged the wrong person this whole time?”

“Arden, I’m sorry, I went after you and I was wrong.”

“Vivienne needs to be done, get her off every screen.”

“Vivienne, you seriously had Dorian right there, the guy everyone wants, and you still went behind his back, got pregnant, and tried to dump it on him, the audacity is unreal.”

Dorian didn’t waste another second letting the room spiral, he hit pause, stepped back to the microphone, and spoke straight into the cameras like he was cutting through everything with one clean line.

“I’m apologizing to someone today,” he said, voice steady. “Arden, I was wrong, three years ago I let Vivienne play me, and I blamed you, I’m sorry.”

It was blunt, direct, and coming from Dorian, the kind of public apology people would clip,

about all night, so it immediately blew repost, and

online. argue

up

By the time he stood up and walked out, the headlines had already started trending.

“Dorian apologizes to Arden.” “Vivienne’s baby wasn’t Dorian’s.” “Arden was innocent.”

He went back to his office, poured a glass of water, and took one slow sip, but his phone was already buzzing nonstop.

The group chat with his friends had turned into a war zone.

Cassian texted, “You really apologized on camera, do you think Arden’s gonna forgive you?”

Damon texted, “Hard to say.”

Theo texted, “You knew the baby wasn’t yours, but you still defended Vivienne at your birthday party, what was wrong with you.”

Cassian texted, “Yeah, and you told Arden to stop making a scene, so what was the plan.”

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Chapter 43 Truth Drop

Damon texted, “Were you trying to push her into divorcing you.”

Cassian texted, “If that was the goal, why not let her keep believing you didn’t care, that would’ve gotten you

divorced way faster.”

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Theo texted, “Exactly, this whole press conference feels like you did extra work for no reason.”

Dorian glanced at the messages and didn’t respond, but the question kept sticking in his head

anyway.

He had wanted a divorce, hadn’t he, and when Caleb told him to just let Arden go, why hadn’t he done it.

His mind went back to those three nights he’d slept with Arden in his arms, and how she carried this faint, clean scent that reminded him of the girl he’d met at the hotel in Northmere, the one memory that always calmed his chest down enough for him to actually sleep.

Arden had that same kind of softness in her eyes too, clear and untouched, the kind that made

you

think she still believed the world could be good, even after everything.

Dorian didn’t know if that was the reason, but he knew he’d spent years trying to find that girl again, and she had vanished like she’d never existed at all.

Another notification popped up, and this one was from Celine.

She had been blowing up his phone all day, defending Arden like it was personal, and that was what made it weird, because Celine didn’t like people easily.

She was the only daughter in the Vale family, raised like royalty, spoiled, fearless, and impossible to please, and most people who tried to get close to her got ignored the second she got bored.

But she liked Arden, and she protected Arden without hesitation.

Dorian stared at the screen for a beat, then finally typed back, “Shouldn’t you be studying, instead of obsessing over my life?”

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