The photo hit the tabloids before dawn.
Adrian Vega stood in his penthouse office, floor-to-ceiling windows framing the sleepless sprawl of Singapore. The newspaper lay open on his desk, a smear of color and lies: "Vega Reunites with Ex-Fiancée Cassandra Lim. Wife Left in the Background."
He stared at it for a long moment before folding the paper in half, crisp and precise, and dropping it into the trash.
He'd expected the leak.
He just hadn't expected the ache.
Elena had left the penthouse hours ago, quiet, deliberate. No confrontation, no tears. Just silence, the kind that echoed long after the sound was gone. He almost preferred her anger; at least anger meant there was still fire between them. But this... this calm withdrawal sliced deeper than rage ever could.
He turned toward the window, jaw tightening. He'd done this. Chosen this.
And he couldn't afford regret, not when the game had already begun.
Cassandra Lim was waiting in his private conference suite that morning, a dark silhouette against the skyline. She looked every inch the woman the world adored, polished, dangerous, impeccable.
"You owe me a proper explanation," she said without greeting. "Your people told me nothing."
Adrian poured himself a cup of coffee before replying. "You were seen with me last night. You know what the press will make of it."
"I don't mind scandal," Cassandra replied coolly. "But being used? That's another matter."
He looked at her then, eyes flat as glass. "Someone's targeting my wife."
She blinked, only once, but it was enough. "Elena?"
He nodded. "Anonymous messages. Photos that should've been private. Leaks to the media timed too precisely to be coincidence."
Cassandra folded her arms, her tone changing from offended to calculating. "And you think it's someone close to me?"
"I think whoever's behind it knows my past," he said. "Knows what will hurt most, and who I'd least expect to use."
Cassandra smiled faintly. "And so, you baited them. With me."
"It worked," he said simply. "The dinner was barely over before the photo appeared online. Someone's watching, someone inside our circle."
"Risky move," she said, arching a brow. "You didn't warn your wife."
He took a slow sip of coffee, his expression unreadable. "If Elena knew, she'd try to protect herself. And whoever's after her would know that I'm onto them."
"You're colder than I remember," Cassandra murmured. "Marriage didn't soften you after all."
He met her gaze, unflinching. "You mistake control for cruelty."
"And she? Does she know the difference?"
Adrian didn't answer. Instead, he walked to the window, watching the storm clouds gather over the harbor. "I don't care if the world thinks I'm the villain. As long as she's safe."
Cassandra tilted her head, studying him. "Funny. You used to say love was just a liability."
"It still is," he said quietly. "But she's mine to protect."
By noon, his assistant entered with a folder. "Sir, the investigators traced the leak."
Adrian took the file and flipped it open. Surveillance photos. Bank transactions. An internal memo from one of Vega Corporation's media consultants, a woman named Dana Lee.
Employed for five years. Access to internal schedules. Suspicious deposits from an offshore account over the last month.
"Who's behind her?" Adrian asked.
The assistant hesitated. "That's the problem, sir. The money trail stops in Zurich. Anonymous corporate trust. But one of the emails she sent mentions Cassandra Lim."
Cassandra raised a brow. "Me?"
Adrian scanned the printout. The email was short, too short. "Target confirmed. Use Cassandra as distraction."
His pulse slowed, the way it always did when anger cut too deep to show.
"Someone wanted you close to me," he said, looking at Cassandra. "To make Elena doubt me."
She frowned. "That doesn't make sense. Why?"
"Because Elena's the leverage," he said. "Whoever's doing this isn't after my reputation, they're after me."
That night, he found Elena in the living room, curled on the couch with a book she wasn't reading. Her hair was loose, her eyes distant, the look of someone trying too hard not to care.
"Still awake?" he asked softly.
She didn't look up. "Couldn't sleep. Apparently, I'm trending."
He sat across from her. "You shouldn't read what they write."
"Then maybe you shouldn't give them something to write about."
Her voice wasn't sharp, it was tired. That hurt more.
"Cassandra and I…" He stopped, searching for words that wouldn't sound like strategy. "She was never the point."
"Then what was?" she asked, finally looking at him. "Humiliation?"
"Protection."
She laughed once, bitter. "Is that what you call betrayal now?"
"Elena," he said, leaning forward, "someone's been watching you. Targeting you. The dinner was a setup, to draw them out."
She stared at him, disbelief flickering across her face. "You're serious."
"I wouldn't lie about this."
"Wouldn't you?" she whispered. "You've lied before, to yourself, if not to me."
He closed his eyes briefly. "I can take whatever they throw at me. But if they touch you…"
"Stop," she said, voice trembling. "Don't make this sound like care when it's just control."
Her words sliced clean, and for the first time in years, Adrian Vega had no immediate answer. He just watched her, the woman who had become both his shield and his weakness, standing there with fury and fear tangled in her eyes.
"You think this is control?" he said quietly. "It's the only way I know how to keep you alive."
Hours later, after she'd gone to bed, he stood on the balcony again, city lights flickering below like scattered embers. He dialed a number only a few people in the world had.
A gravelly voice answered. "You've got a problem, Vega?"
"Find out who's behind Dana Lee," Adrian said. "Quietly. No legal channels."
"You still playing knight for the wife?"
"Just do it."
He ended the call, pocketed his phone, and exhaled. The rain began again, a relentless whisper against the glass.
For a man who built empires out of control, he was beginning to realize the cruelest truth:
He could protect her from the world.
But not from himself.
The next morning, Cassandra's name trended again, only this time, the story wasn't about her reunion with Adrian Vega.
It was about the scandal inside Vega Corporation: leaked documents, manipulated accounts, and a whistleblower claiming that someone at the top was hiding money offshore.
When Adrian opened his encrypted inbox, a new message blinked in the center of the screen.
No sender.
No traceable IP.
Just three words:
"You can't save her."
Adrian's eyes hardened as he stared at the screen.
Whoever was behind this didn't just know his business secrets.
They knew his weakness…
and her name was Elena Vega.