“You don’t believe in divorce, do you?”
Shaun chuckled.
“What?”
“I think divorce is necessary if two people can’t make it work somehow. With you, no, I don’t believe in divorce. I will find some way to make to make it work for us. That’s how adamant I am about us. That’s how much I love you. I will fight for us every step of the way.”
“Every step?” she asked.
“Yes.”
His cell phone started to beep, and Shaun groaned. “It’s Bruce’s ringtone. I’ve got to pick it up.” He kissed her lips and eased out of his woman, grabbing his cell phone from the bed.
“What’s the matter?” he asked. “I’m on my honeymoon.”
Shaun had arranged it so that he could spare a week with Addie before she had to go to a couple of interviews, and he had to continue running the corporation.
“You better check the news over here, Shaun. It’s bad. I don’t know who it is, but it’s bad news.”
He frowned and grabbed his laptop. “I take it you mean American news?”
“Yes.”
Shaun had no choice but to carry his laptop with him at all times in case there was an emergency. While he was on the phone to Bruce, Addie had tensed up, and was watching him as he loaded up the internet.
It didn’t take him long to find what was being posted everywhere.
In big, bold letters, Arranged Marriage For … Greed?
Addie gasped as a picture of them on their wedding day was marked with the word, “Fake”.
He was so pissed off. “What do you know?” he asked.
“Someone has leaked out a business contract between you and Addie that includes marriage as part of a business contract. It is a vulgar representation of the company, Shaun. The press is all over the place. You’ve got to come back.”
Cursing, he hung up the phone, and looked through several more headlines. There were press reports, along with many other scandalous claims.
“Who do you think did this?”
Shaun opened his cell phone and dialed one of his old buddies who happened to work in one of the broadcasting companies. After ten minutes of catching up, Shaun was livid.
“It was my mother,” he said.
Before he got a chance to say anything else, Addie’s phone rang. She grabbed it, and accepted the call from Paula, putting her on speaker phone.
“Hi, Paula, you’re on speaker,” Addie said.
“I take it you’ve both seen the press?”
“Yes,” Shaun said. Addie was biting her lip and looking nervous. “How bad is it?”
“It depends how you look at it. It’s bad because you’ve got a lot of followers, especially with Addie’s book, and they’re all looking at your marriage now. I’ve checked the website, and there’s been a lot of questions about where you’ve been, and what exactly you’ve been doing, Shaun.”
“I told you my marriage was complicated, Paula. I didn’t keep it a secret from you.”
“I know, honey, and I’ve been told by my bosses to handle this.”
“You think this can be handled?” Shaun asked.
“Well, you can leave it, and let people think the worst, or you can come out, and tell the truth. You’re together now, right? You’re on your honeymoon, so why don’t you fly back home, and do a press conference? Do you even know who leaked this damn story?”
“Yes, my mother did,” Shaun said. “Don’t worry, I’ll be handling her.”
He was going to make sure that his parents never got the chance to hurt them again. After they finished talking with Paula, Shaun handled the return flights home, and offered his friend who’d given him the name of the person who sold the story, the first opportunity to hear their side of the story.
“We fly out tonight, and tomorrow, we’ll be doing our press release. There won’t be any script, just me, you, and the camera.”
Addie ran fingers through her hair. “Is it me, or does it sound all messed up?”
“It’s messed up, but don’t worry. I’ll handle my parents. I promise.”