One Kiss, the Billionaire's Bride novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: The Leak

Bryony woke to two hundred and fourteen messages and a photograph of her own hand.

It was her hand on her stomach, through the bakery window, taken last Tuesday when she had cramps from a missed lunch.

DRAPER BRIDE PREGNANT. BAKER TRAPPED BILLIONAIRE.

Under it, a woman she had never met called her a gold digger with a plan.

She read it twice in the gray light of Cordelia's house.

Then she dropped the phone on the quilt and said, to the ceiling, "I'm not pregnant."

Holbrook was already awake beside her, sitting against the headboard, still in last night's shirt.

"I know," he said. "I'm going to prove it's Lyle."

"How?"

"Get dressed. He wants a public fight. We're going to give him one."

The Draper Grand lobby had a chandelier the size of a car and a crowd under it.

Reporters packed the marble from the doors to the front desk, and their cameras came up as one when Bryony walked in with her chin high.

Holbrook took her hand.

Lyle stood at the foot of the grand staircase with four board members behind him, and a lawyer holding a leather portfolio.

"Cousin," Lyle said, smiling for the cameras. "Thank you for coming. I know how hard this is."

"Say what you came to say."

"The board is deeply concerned. This morning's news is a scandal for the company. Under our morals clause, a CEO whose marriage is a fraud may be removed."

"The marriage isn't a fraud."

"A baker who traps a billionaire with a pregnancy?"

"She's not pregnant," Holbrook said.

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