The Hidden Empress Stripping Her Secrets After Divorce novel Chapter 119

"Mom! Stay back!" Christian snarled over his shoulder, instantly clocking her intent.

Penelope completely ignored him. She stepped right up beside Christian, planting her feet firmly to face the blinding flashes and the sea of black lenses. Her sudden appearance actually caused a momentary lull in the frantic shouting.

Penelope raised a single, commanding hand, signaling for silence. The front row of reporters reluctantly backed down slightly.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Penelope projected her voice clearly, adopting a deliberate, measured cadence. "Running into all of you here today is entirely unexpected. This is my son's private residence, and it should absolutely not be subjected to this kind of intrusion."

She paused, sweeping her gaze across the sea of journalists. Her tone shifted into one of exhausted, resigned candor. "However, since there is obviously immense public interest regarding Christian and Lyra, and to put a stop to any baseless rumors, I will offer a brief clarification as his mother."

Christian snapped his head toward her, his eyes blazing with shock and a furious warning to shut her mouth.

On the sofa, Lyra slowly spread two fingers apart, her heart hammering against her ribs as she peered through the gap.

Penelope's voice rang out, steady and utterly absolute. "Lyra Langford is someone my son cares deeply for. They share... a profound history that spans many years." She masterfully blurred the timeline, blurring the line between their past affair and the current situation. "As for their future together..."

She glanced at the livid, rigidly tense man beside her, then looked back at the "helpless" woman cowering on the sofa. Resolving herself, she raised her voice and dropped the bomb. "The Lancaster family is treating their relationship very seriously. What I can confirm for you today is that they are, in fact, preparing for an engagement. Once the date and details are finalized, we will issue an official press release."

Boom—!

The press corps erupted like a powder keg! Penelope Lancaster had just personally confirmed an impending engagement! This was the ultimate official scoop!

"Mrs. Lancaster, are you saying the engagement is already on the calendar?!"

"Will the wedding take place before the end of the year?!"

"Does Ms. Langford have the blessing of the entire Lancaster board?!"

Christian's face went completely deathly the moment the words left his mother's mouth. He stared at her in utter disbelief, his chest heaving as the veins in his temples pulsed erratically. An engagement?! When the hell had he ever agreed to that?! His mother had just hijacked the narrative, feeding a monumental lie to the press without a shred of his consent! This was nothing short of media blackmail!

"I strongly advise every single one of you to watch what you publish. The Lancaster Group's legal team is not for show."

"Any unverified claims, malicious speculation, or blatant distortion of the facts, regardless of which outlet prints it..." He paused, his eyes narrowing into deadly slits. "I will have my lawyers sue you into oblivion, one by one."

With that, he didn't spare another glance for anyone. He spun around, shoving past his panicked mother and a deeply conflicted Cyrus. He didn't even bother looking at Lyra shivering on the sofa as he marched across the living room toward the back corridor, heading straight for the private elevator that led down to the garage.

"Christian! Where are you going?!" Penelope shrieked after him.

Christian didn't miss a beat. His silhouette remained dangerously rigid as he vanished around the corner.

He left behind a suffocating, eerie silence. The journalists in the hallway exchanged nervous glances. Inside, Penelope was hyperventilating, Lyra was staring through her fingers with a dangerously dark gaze, and Cyrus stood rooted to the spot, his brow deeply furrowed in overwhelming dread.

The catastrophic storm that had begun with a simple morning knock seemed temporarily contained by Penelope's aggressive PR stunt and Christian's lethal warning. But the suffocating tension poisoning the air was the ultimate guarantee—a much deadlier hurricane was brewing just over the horizon.