Chapter 520:

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He wanted to argue. The instinct to lock her away in this fortress until every threat was neutralized was a powerful, primal urge. But he saw the logic in her words, the unshakeable strength in her eyes. He was a king, but she was a queen, not a princess to be hidden in a tower.

“Fine,” he conceded, his jaw tight. “But Juan follows in a shadow car. Two blocks back, no suits, no sirens. If you so much as trip, he moves in. No arguments. And you check in every hour.”

“Deal,” she said, a small smile touching her lips.

She found a simple, elegant pantsuit in one of the guest closets, a contingency he had clearly planned for. Before she left, she leaned over the bed and pressed a soft, lingering kiss to his forehead.

“I’ll be back tonight,” she whispered.

At that exact moment, in a Westchester mansion, Katharine Montgomery was on an encrypted burner phone.

𝖡𝖾 𝘵h𝘦 𝘧ir𝘀t 𝘵о 𝗋e𝗮𝘥 𝗼n g𝗮𝘭𝗇о𝘷e𝘭ѕ.com

“Are you sure about the source?” the gossip editor on the other end asked, his voice slick with avarice.

“The source is impeccable,” Katharine purred. “I’m giving you the biggest story of the year. A story that will ruin Allison Montgomery for good. Be at the entrance to the Montgomery Group tower at nine a.m. And bring your best photographer.”

Allison drove back to the city in a nondescript Lexus sedan, feeling calm and focused. She parked in a public garage across the street and walked toward her office building, the rhythmic tap of her heels muffled by the city’s roar.

She was halfway across the open plaza in front of the main entrance when the world exploded.

They came from everywhere. From behind planters, from parked cars, from the coffee shop on the corner. Dozens of them. Reporters, photographers, cameramen. A pack of wolves sensing blood.

They swarmed her in seconds, forming a tight, suffocating circle.

The world dissolved into a blinding, disorienting strobe of camera flashes. Microphones and recording devices were shoved in her face.

“Ms. Montgomery! What is your comment on the shooting of Adam Kensington?”

“Is it true the attack was related to a business deal you were involved in?”

“Sources say you conspired with Mr. Kensington’s enemies to orchestrate the attack! Is that true, Ms. Montgomery?”

“Did you try to have your husband killed to take control of his assets?”

The questions were a barrage of poison-tipped arrows, each one more vicious, more insane than the last. The circle closed in, tighter than before. Allison stood her ground, jostled from every side, refusing to let the panic show on her face. She didn’t freeze; she squared her shoulders and lifted her chin, a lone pillar of forced calm amidst the screaming accusations.

“Ms. Montgomery. Did you try to have your husband killed to take control of his assets?”

The question cut through the roar like a blade. Allison’s world, which had dissolved into a blinding strobe of camera flashes, snapped abruptly back into focus. Her heart gave a single, violent lurch.

They knew. The news of Adam’s shooting had leaked, and been twisted into a weapon aimed directly at her.

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