Unmasked My CEO Ex-Husband’s Regret novel Chapter 165

The disaster struck at The Ridgefield Plant.

It was a brand-new facility. The contractors had cut corners during construction, leading to a sudden structural collapse while the crew was on site, severely injuring two workers.

Immediately following the accident, Leo Hammond had rushed to the site. He managed the fallout by soothing the workers, distributing compensation, and holding the shady contractors legally accountable.

Everything had been handled flawlessly. Construction had resumed, the dust had settled, and operations had returned to normal.

Yet, somehow, a full month later, the incident had been leaked online.

It started as a small post on Reddit. By this morning, a mere few hours later, it had been picked up by massive influencers on Twitter. In less than an hour, it exploded into a PR nightmare.

The calculated rollout and the terrifying speed at which the story went viral made it blatantly obvious that someone powerful was pulling the strings from the shadows.

Ark Solutions hadn't stepped on anyone's toes recently. Their only real rival was a subsidiary of Vance Dynamics.

Both companies were gearing up to bid on a lucrative government project. While cutthroat tactics were expected behind closed doors, it had never devolved into open hostility. Given the ties between the Vance and Beckett families, they always maintained a polite, professional facade in public.

Julian had never expected them to launch a sudden, devastating strike, using the factory collapse and weaponizing public outrage to force Ark Solutions into a corner.

He had been doing damage control from the second he stepped into the office. He desperately wanted to believe Vance Dynamics wasn't behind this, but the sheer ferocity of the media smear campaign felt far too targeted. He couldn't help but suspect the worst.

Determined to stop the situation from spiraling completely out of control, Julian immediately reached out to Sebastian, hoping to resolve the issue quietly before the media caught wind of a corporate war.

But he couldn't get through to him.

Julian found himself questioning everything. Was Sebastian genuinely oblivious, or had he ordered the hit himself?

But why would he do that?

It made zero sense.

By 1:00 PM, after hours of relentless, adrenaline-fueled crisis management without a drop of water or a bite of food, Julian's stomach finally started to violently protest.

He set his phone down, popped open the takeout container his assistant had left on his desk, and choked down a few spoonfuls of soup to keep himself from passing out. Then he snatched his phone back up.

He debated whether he should call directly or leave another text. Just then, a notification popped up at the top of his screen. It was Sebastian.

Sebastian: [I was in a video conference.]

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify