Chapter 131: The Bombshell

The morning was deceptively quiet. Malia sat in her office, a steaming cup of coffee untouched on her desk. Her assistant, Lauren, had already buzzed in twice to say there was an urgent matter she needed to address, but Malia waved her off, determined to finish reviewing a critical report.

Then the first email came in.

At first, she thought it was just another routine media inquiry. But as she scrolled through the attached links, her blood ran cold. The subject line alone was damning: "EXPOSED: The True Face of Nixus Cain."

An hour later, Malia was in the conference room with her PR team, the air thick with tension.

"It's everywhere," Lauren said, pacing the room. She held up her phone, where dozens of notifications from major news outlets flashed across the screen. "The headlines are relentless. They're calling him a fraud, a corporate thief, a—"

"Enough," Malia snapped, her voice sharper than she intended.