My Boss's Hidden Heir (Elara and Marcus) novel Chapter 69

5 vouchers

Marcus dropped his phone on the table in front of her like it was evidence in a crime scene. “Look at this.”

Elara picked it up with shaking hands, and the moment her eyes focused on the screen, she froze.

It was a picture of her and Mimi coming out of the hospital. The image was grainy, clearly taken from a distance, but it was unmistakably them. Elara in her striped dress, Mimi beside her, both of them walking toward the parking lot.

But that wasn’t the bad part. No, not all.

Underneath the photo was her full name: *Elara Vance-Thorne.* And beneath that, in bold letters, was a headline that made her stomach drop: *BREAKING: Marcus Thorne’s New Wife Spotted Leaving Hospital with Pregnancy Confirmation.*

The article included screenshots. Her pregnancy test results, the ultrasound images. Information about how far along she was. Details that should have been private, protected by doctor-patient confidentiality, were now posted across some gossip blogs for the entire world to see.

How did they even get this? How did someone get hold of her medical records?

Shit.

Elara dropped the phone back on the table like it had burned her hand. Marcus picked it up immediately, his jaw tightened, so tight she could see the muscle twitching.

He scrolled through the comments section, and with each swipe, his expression grew darker. The light that had been in his eyes just moments ago was completely gone now, replaced by something else, maybe hatred?

Elara could see some of the comments from where she sat, and each one was worse than the last.

*Wait, they got married in Santorini like three weeks ago. The math doesn’t add up.*

*She’s eight weeks pregnant? That means she got pregnant BEFORE the wedding. Was this a shotgun marriage?*

*Are we sure it’s even his baby? She could be trapping him.*

*Gold digger alert. She probably got pregnant on purpose to lock down the billionaire.*

*Is she cheating on him? Someone do the math because this doesn’t make sense.*

The comments kept coming, each one adding more fuel to the fire. Speculations and accusations from strangers on the internet, dissecting her life and making assumptions about things they knew nothing about.

Marcus’s face was getting redder with each comment he read. His hands gripped the phone so hard she thought he might crack the screen.

“Marcus, please,” Elara said, her voice barely above a whisper. “Let’s go.”

15:05 Thu, May 7 T

Chapter 69

5 vouchers

She could feel the eyes of the staff and waiters on her now, people who had been smiling and recording her joy just an hour ago were now watching this nightmare unfold. Some of them were probably already checking their own phones, reading the same article, forming their own opinions.

Marcus stood abruptly, the chair scraping loudly against the floor. “Add it to my tab,” he said to the nearest waiter, his voice clipped and cold.

Then he walked out.

Elara scrambled to follow him, nearly tripping over her own heels in her rush to keep up. By the time she made it outside, the valet had already brought Marcus’s car around. The beautiful champagne Mercedes he’d just given her sat abandoned in the parking lot, forgotten. That was the least of her problems right now.

For the first time since she’d known him, Marcus didn’t open her door. He got into the driver’s seat, started the engine, and sat there with his hands gripping the steering wheel.

Elara ran around to the passenger side, yanked open the door, and climbed in. She was still fumbling with her seatbelt when the car moved forward.

15:05 Thu, May 7 T…

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