She Threw Red Wine on Me and Claimed Her Fiancé Owned My Family’s Luxury Resort—Until One Phone Call Exposed the Biggest Betrayal in the Sterling Empire / Chapter 14 / 20

Chapter 14 - The Viper ReturnsBefore we could even dispatch a secure team to retrieve the key from Julian’s apartment, a new fire erupted, deliberately set to burn my credibility to ashes.

I was sitting in the Denver airport VIP lounge, waiting for our flight back to New York, when Liam dropped his tablet onto the glass table in front of me.

"You need to see this," he said, his jaw clenched tightly.

I looked at the screen. It was a live broadcast of a prime-time syndicated gossip and news show. Sitting in the plush guest chair, wearing a perfectly tailored white suit designed to make her look like an innocent angel, was Victoria—Julian’s ex-fiancé. The woman who had thrown the Pinot Noir.

"...It was absolutely terrifying," Victoria was saying, dabbing at a dry eye with a tissue. "Elena Sterling just snapped. She came into the resort like a dictator. Julian was a dedicated employee, and she fired him out of pure jealousy because he wouldn't comply with her illegal demands. And then... she pushed him."

My blood pressure skyrocketed. "She’s insane!" I hissed at the screen.

The television host leaned in, looking deeply concerned. "You're saying the CEO of Sterling Hospitality attempted to murder your fiancé?"

"Yes!" Victoria cried, her acting worthy of an Oscar. "Thomas Sterling tried to stop her, but Elena framed him! She’s trying to steal the company from her own family. Julian is in critical condition, and I am fearing for my life!"

I shoved the tablet away. "Volkov. This is Volkov's doing."

"Without a doubt," Liam agreed, pulling out his phone. "Volkov found her. He paid her off to run this smear campaign. If public opinion turns against you, the board will panic, the stock will plummet, and you’ll be forced to step down. It creates the perfect chaos for Volkov to seize the Aspen property in the legal confusion."

"We have to shut her down," I said, my mind racing. "A defamation lawsuit will take months. By then, the damage is done."

"We don't need a lawsuit," Liam said, his eyes glittering with a ruthless light. "We need a bigger microphone. And we need to destroy her credibility instantly."

"How?"

Liam dialed a number on his phone. "My sister runs the largest PR and crisis management firm in Manhattan. She also happens to own the network that Victoria is currently broadcasting on."

Within twenty minutes, Liam’s machinery was in motion. We didn't issue a defensive press release. We went on the offensive.

Using the security footage from the Aspen lodge—which clearly showed Victoria assaulting me with the wine, and her arrogant demeanor—Liam’s team leaked the video to every major social media outlet. We coupled it with the audio recording of Thomas pushing Julian, completely exonerating me.

But I took it one step further.

I called Marcus Tate, the concierge at Aspen, and had him pull Victoria's billing records. She had charged over forty thousand dollars of luxury goods to the company account. We released the receipts.

By the time our jet landed in New York, Victoria’s narrative had violently imploded. The internet had branded her a gold-digging fraud, and the television network had publicly retracted the interview, facing massive backlash. The viper had been defanged.