Burn the Marriage, Keep the Crown

Abby finished her explanation in one breath.

The moment the footage came out, she refused to believe Serena would hit Rosa for no reason. So, she quickly made a backup copy of the security video. Sure enough, after watching, it was clear Rosa was at fault. Abby had already edited the whole clip and was just waiting for Serena to call.

Serena, for her part, hadn't expected Abby to have everything ready so quickly. She'd thought she might need to do some convincing.

"Thank you, Abby," she said.

"It's the least I could do. I've already sent it to you-go ahead and post it," Abby replied.

"Got it."

Serena hung up. She hadn't even had time to open Abby's message before her phone rang again-this time, it was Gabrielle.

She picked up. "Serena! Oh my God, William was incredible!"

Serena blinked, confused. "Wait, what are you talking about?"

Gabrielle groaned. "Seriously, Serena, you need to ditch that ancient cell service of yours-you're missing all the drama, and it's your own scandal!" She laughed, then continued, "A mystery account just dropped evidence on Instagram that Rosa paid for fake accounts to smear you. All those self-righteous internet warriors have gone totally silent."

"Then, someone else leaked a video of you talking with the audience before the show started. Everyone's doing a complete 180. I'm dying-I can't wait to message those trolls I argued with and ask if their faces hurt from all that backpedaling!"

Serena let out a helpless laugh and let Gabrielle get back to her online sparring before finally opening the app herself.noveldrama

Gabrielle wasn't exaggerating her phone was sluggish as ever, but it was clear: someone had posted proof of Rosa buying bots to attack her, and a video of Serena calmly answering audience questions before the show. Even Mr. Wilkes' comment—“The next generation is impressive”—had made the rounds.

With Mr. Wilkes vouching for her, no one was doubting Serena anymore. Now, all the anger was aimed at Rosa, with people demanding the museum fire her.

The museum acted fast. Within minutes, an official statement announcing Rosa's dismissal was posted online, as if they'd had it drafted and ready to go.

Still...

Serena scrolled and scrolled, but she couldn't spot anything that clearly pointed to William's involvement behind the scenes.

When Gabrielle messaged her again, Serena finally asked, "Do you really think William was behind this?"

Gabrielle practically cackled. "Come on, it's obvious! Nobody else could have turned things around this fast. Unless someone's clueless, it's clear there was help. Besides Mr. Grayson, who else cares this much about your business?"

For a split second, Serena thought of Aaron. But she quickly dismissed the idea. She was overthinking it-after all, that afternoon, Aaron had made her apologize to Cynthia Lynwood. He wouldn't help her out now.

Which really only left William.

"Hey," Gabrielle suddenly dropped her voice, sounding conspiratorial. "Mr. William clearly cares about you. Are you "

"I told you, William and I are just friends. Don't read into it," Serena cut her off.

"Fine, fine, you're friends. But, Serena, he just did you a huge favor. Don't you think you ought to thank him—maybe take him out to dinner or something?"

Serena brushed off the suggestion, but could feel her heart pounding After hanging up, she hesitated for a long moment, then finally opened William's contact and typed out a message:

*Hey, are you free sometime soon?*

But as soon as she sent it, she panicked and tried to retract it.

Right at that moment, his reply popped up:

*I'm free.*

Serena: "..."

William: ".