The Hidden Empress Stripping Her Secrets After Divorce novel Chapter 194

Christian Lancaster walked out of the hospital building just as the sky turned completely dark.

The cool autumn wind rushed against his face, and he stood on the steps, taking a deep breath. The air was a mix of the hospital's signature antiseptic scent and the faint smell of city life from the distant streets. He patted his pocket, pulled out a pack of cigarettes, and lit one.

The flame of the lighter danced in the darkness for a second before the wind snuffed it out. He tried again, barely managing to get it lit.

The red cherry of the cigarette glowed and faded in the dark.

His phone vibrated incessantly in his pocket. It had started while he was still inside and hadn't stopped since. He pulled it out and glanced at the screen—seventeen missed calls, eight unread messages. The display was a cluster of names: his mother, his father, Preston, several board members, and a few business associates he was moderately close to.

The most recent incoming call was from "Mom."

Christian stared at the name for a few seconds. His finger hovered over the accept button, but ultimately, he didn't press it.

The phone rang for thirty straight seconds before automatically disconnecting. A few seconds later, a text popped up: "Christian, pick up! Where the hell are you?! Have you seen the news?! The old men on the board are tearing the place apart looking for you! Get back to the office NOW!!"

The frantic rage and commanding tone bled through the screen.

Christian's lips twitched in a bitter smirk. He muted the phone and shoved it back into his pocket.

Halfway through his cigarette, he suddenly found the whole situation utterly laughable.

When did it all start? It felt like the exact moment Lyra returned with that boy, and Evelyn asked for a divorce, his life had just gone into a sheer freefall. Headline after headline, endless scandals, the board breathing down his neck every other day, and even his mother hounding him constantly.

What about before?

It wasn't like he hadn't had scandals before. During his first few years taking over the Lancaster empire, he had been young, arrogant, and constantly surrounded by women, giving the media plenty of fodder. But it had never been this messy. Negative press was always killed quickly, the board had stayed relatively polite, and though his mother nagged, she never relentlessly bombarded him like this.

He had never stopped to wonder why.

Now... it was starting to make sense.

Those easily suppressed headlines, the storms that never truly broke, the messes that vanished before he even realized they were there... Was there an invisible hand handling it all?

Evelyn's hand?

The realization made his chest seize violently.

The ash fell onto his leather shoes. He glanced down, then viciously stamped the cigarette out.

He didn't want to think about it.

The more he thought, the more suffocated he felt.

"Here he comes!" Blake waved the moment he saw him, then shouted at a waitress. "Bring us another bottle of whiskey, the good stuff!"

Christian sank into the sofa, loosened his tie, grabbed a freshly poured glass of liquor from the table, and downed it in one shot.

The burning liquid scorched its way down his throat, making him wince.

"Pace yourself." Grant handed him a glass of ice water. "What happened? You look like hell."

Christian ignored the water and poured himself another drink.

Blake and Grant exchanged a look, both sensing that something was deeply wrong.

"Is this about the Lyra situation?" Blake asked carefully. "I saw the articles online. It's pretty brutal. But honestly... are those photos real?"

Christian didn't answer. He just downed another glass.

"So they are real," Grant sighed heavily. "Christian, not gonna lie, you handled this horribly. The second Lyra came back, you should have run a full background check on her time abroad. Now look what's happened. The dirt is out, and you don't even have an angle to spin it."

"How am I supposed to spin it?" Christian finally spoke, his voice gravelly. "The photos are real, the kid is mine. And her explanation... actually makes perfect sense."

"Perfect sense?" Blake raised an eyebrow. "A single mom roughs it abroad for four years, gets passed around by different men, and then comes back with a kid expecting you to take her in—and that makes perfect sense? Christian, since when are you this gullible?"