Sham Marriage Quit Real Heiress Strikes Back novel Chapter 77

"What?"

HR's eyes widened.

Spreading rumors about Lydia and Mr. Kingsley? Velmora Media had zero tolerance for gossip like that. Casual chatter in private was one thing, but getting caught was another story entirely.

And Elena did not strike her as someone who stirred drama.

"Elena, is that true?"

HR turned to her.

Elena looked at Luna, who could barely hide the smugness on her face, then at Lydia, whose expression had already gone stiff.

"It wasn't me. I don't have time for that." She was calm and steady.

She repeated, word for word, what Luna had said that morning. The more HR listened, the darker her expression became.

No one here was new to the workplace. Whether Luna's comments were coincidence or deliberate was obvious.

"I'll escalate this," HR said firmly. "Luna, we work in media. You should understand how dangerous loose talk can be."

She did not let Luna off easy.

Luna panicked. "Fine, punish me if you want, but what about Elena spreading rumors about Lydia? That just gets ignored?"

Lydia clearly did not want Luna fired either.

If anyone was going down, she wanted Elena included.

"Elena's comments have already affected me," Lydia said to HR. "Our department doesn't need employees like that."

Elena's gaze shifted to Luna. "You're accusing me. Do you have proof?"

Luna hesitated for half a second, then forced confidence into her voice. "Everyone in the office knows you don't get along with Lydia. If someone wanted to sabotage her, who else would it be?"

"Then let's pull the internal chat logs," Elena said evenly, turning to HR.

Luna blinked. "What chat logs...?"

A flicker of panic crossed her face.

Lisa was about to speak, but Elena shot her a brief look, and she held back.

Elena said, "Large companies archive internal communications. If this was circulated inside the company, there will be records, server logs, message history, something. I'd appreciate it if HR could pull the data so we can clear this up. If it turns out I spread anything, I'll resign myself."

Luna felt a cold sweat break across her back.

She was only an intern and had just learned that internal messaging platforms were backed up on company servers. If HR actually reviewed the logs, every private message she had sent to colleagues would surface.

Lisa glanced at Luna's pale expression and immediately understood who had really started the rumor.

"I can request access," HR said, pretending to step away. "It takes some paperwork, but everything is backed up."

She added a caption.

"Five years married, and you still know exactly what I like."

Less than five minutes later, Nathan called.

"What's up?"

Elena asked innocently.

Nathan rarely checked Instagram. If he called this fast, Camille had definitely seen it and complained.

"What made you suddenly post that?"

He sounded exhausted, rubbing his temples on the other end.

"I was just happy. In five years, you've barely ever bought me breakfast. Is it wrong to post about it? Are you upset?"

Nathan quickly replied, "Of course not. Post whatever you want."

"By the way, I'm thinking about staying at the Hart house for a few days."

There was a brief silence.

"Why all of a sudden?"