But the comnts... Jesus Christ, the comnts were brutal.
"This is Lin Yueling. Shuyin’s HALF-SISTER. And he’s been with her this whole ti his ’beloved fiancée’ was in prison."
"So he destroys one sister’s life and imdiately hooks up with the other? This is absolutely sick."
"He frad Shuyin, sent her to prison, and was sleeping with her sister the entire ti. This man is a sociopath."
"Lin Yueling knew her sister was in prison and still got together with her fiancé? What kind of family is this?"
"The betrayal... Shuyin was rotting in a cell for cris she didn’t commit while her sister was living in luxury with her man. I can’t even process this."
"Both of them deserve whatever’s coming. Absolute trash human beings."
"I hope karma destroys them both. Slowly. Painfully."
Lu Zeyan felt bile rising in his throat, burning and acidic.
"Zeyan?" Yueling’s voice pulled him back from the edge of panic. "Are you listening? What do we do?"
"I’ll handle it," he said automatically, his voice chanical, running on autopilot because his conscious mind had temporarily shut down. "I’ll handle the situation. Just... stay inside. Don’t talk to anyone. Don’t post anything online. Don’t even look at social dia. I’ll take care of this."
"But how? How can you...."
"I said I’ll handle it." His tone went sharp, brooking no argunt, reverting to the command voice that had served him so well in business. "I have a press conference in a few hours. I’ll address everything then. Just stay quiet until then."
"A press conference? Zeyan, what are you going to....."
He hung up.
For a long mont, he just sat there, staring at the photos on his screen. In the evidence of his betrayal displayed for millions to see, dissected, analyzed, and condemned. At the comnts calling for his head, for Yueling’s head, for investigations and arrests and justice served cold.
Then he slowly turned to look at Shuyin.
She was standing a few feet away, her jade eyes watching him with an expression he couldn’t quite read. Concern? Sadness? Sothing else entirely?
"That was her," he said flatly, stating the obvious because his brain couldn’t manage anything more complex. "Your sister."
"I heard." Shuyin’s voice was quiet, carefully neutral, giving nothing away.
"This is bad." Lu Zeyan dragged both hands through his hair, completely destroying the careful styling from that morning. "This is really, really bad. If people find out she’s pregnant...."
"They won’t," Shuyin cut in with surprising certainty. "Not from these photos at least. She’s not showing."
"Yet. She’s six months along. She’ll start showing obviously soon, and then...." He couldn’t even finish the thought.
"If people find out he’d gotten his ex-fiancée’s sister pregnant while that ex-fiancée was in prison for cris he’d committed...
He’d be finished. Completely destroyed."
"I can fix this," Shuyin said suddenly.
Lu Zeyan’s head snapped up. "What?"
"I can fix this. The situation with Yueling." She moved closer, her expression earnest, almost pleading. "I can convince the public that she’s innocent in all this. That she didn’t know what you were doing to . That she fell in love with you after I was already convicted. That she’s not a villain, just... soone who fell in love at the wrong ti."
"You’d do that?" he whispered.
"For you, yes." Her jade eyes were steady. "And... to protect your child."
She hesitated. "But I... I need sothing in return."
A chill spread through his chest. "What do you need?"
"Security," she said softly. "A villa. Transferred to my na. And... a billion yuan."
The number hit him like a punch. "What?"
"I know it’s a lot...."
"A billion yuan?" His voice rose. "You’re asking for a billion yuan to not destroy your sister’s reputation?"
"Not to not destroy it," she corrected. "To actively save it. To stand in front of caras and defend her. To use my own suffering to protect her and your child."
She looked him dead in the eyes. "Right now, I have nothing, Zeyan. Nothing. I need security. I need protection."
"You’re extorting ," he said, unable to stop the words.
Shuyin broke.
Her face crumpled, tears spilling instantly. "How can you say that? How can you even think that? I just got out of prison!"
Her voice cracked. "I lost everything. And you’re accusing of orchestrating this?"
She sobbed harder. "I don’t even have a phone! How would I leak anything?"
He felt guilt tightening around his throat.
"You think I want a billion yuan because I want to bleed you dry?" she whispered. "I want a billion yuan because my life is destroyed. Because I need sothing to rebuild with."
Lu Zeyan swallowed hard. She wasn’t wrong.
"You’re right," he finally said. "I’m sorry."
"The villa and the money," she said softly. "I need them before the press conference."
"Fine," he said. "I’ll arrange it."
Shuyin’s tears dried almost instantly, her composure returning like the flick of a switch.
Lu Zeyan stared at her, unsettled.
Who was she?
Not the woman he’d once known.
Sothing far sharper. Far colder. Far more dangerous.
"Let’s get to work," she said.
And as the PR team returned and the countdown to the press conference ticked down...
Shuyin stood beside him, jade eyes faintly glowing, a small knowing smile on her lips.
One billion yuan richer.
One step closer to destroying him completely.
And he didn’t even realize it.
The office had beco a battlefield, and everyone in it knew they were fighting for survival.
Lu Zeyan’s PR director, Wang Jing, was the kind of woman who looked like she could negotiate with terrorists and co out ahead. Sharp-faced, sharp-tongued, wearing a power suit that probably cost more than most people’s cars, she’d taken over his conference table like a conquering general claiming new territory.
Laptops and tablets littered every surface, assistants typing like their lives depended on it, which, given the stock price plumting outside, maybe they did.
"Okay, listen up!" Wang Jing clapped her hands once, sharp and commanding. Every head in the room snapped toward her.
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