The Rose He Killed novel Chapter 61

Chapter 55: Exposed

Bella POV

+25 Points

The pounding on my hotel penthouse suite door woke me at six AM, violent and insistent. I stumbled out of bed, disoriented and terrified, my first thought that something had happened to Tom.

“Ms. Hart!” Maya’s voice came through the door, panicked and urgent. “Bella, open up now!”

I yanked open the door to find Maya standing there in her pajamas, her phone clutched in her hand and her face pale with shock.

“What’s wrong? Is Tom okay?” I looked past her, half expecting to see danger in the hallway.

“Tom’s fine, he’s still asleep, but Bella” Maya shoved her phone at me. “You need to see this. Now.”

The headline on the screen made my blood turn cold: BREAKING: Billionaire Caleb Black’s Secret Love Child – CEO Bella Hart Hid Heir for Years

Below it was a photo of Tom. My son. His face plastered across a gossip website for the entire world to see, his grey eyes highlighted in comparison to a photo of Caleb positioned right next to it.

“No,” I whispered, scrolling down with shaking hands. “No, no, no.”

The article was brutal, painting me as a vindictive ex-wife who’d kept Caleb’s son from him out of spite. Anonymous sources claimed I’d lied about having an abortion, that I’d hidden Tom deliberately to hurt Caleb, that I’d only revealed his existence when it became beneficial to my business empire.

“How did they” My voice broke. “Who leaked this? How did they get photos of Tom?”

“It’s everywhere,” Maya said, her voice tight. “Every gossip site, social media, it’s trending nationally. Bella, there are reporters in the lobby. The hotel is trying to keep them out, but there are dozens of them.”

I ran to the window and looked down at the street. News vans lined the block, cameras pointed at the hotel entrance, reporters with microphones clustered on the sidewalk. As I watched, more arrived, the crowd growing by the minute.

“They’re hunting us,” I said, my mind racing. “Maya, we need to get Tom out of here before he wakes up and sees this. We need”

My phone started ringing, the sound shrill in the quiet suite. Jennifer’s name flashed on the screen, then disappeared as another call came in, then another. Within seconds, my phone was a constant stream of incoming calls, texts, notifications.

I silenced it with shaking hands, but Maya’s phone immediately started ringing too.

“Don’t answer it,” I said. “Don’t answer anything until we figure out what to do.”

“Mommy?” Tom’s sleepy voice came from his bedroom, and my heart stopped. “Why is it so loud? Are we going somewhere?”

I looked at Maya in panic. Tom couldn’t see the news, couldn’t know that his face was splashed across every website in the country, couldn’t understand why strangers were suddenly interested in him.

Chapter 55 Epesed

+25 Points

“Stay with him.” I said quickly. “Keep him in his room, put on a movie, anything. Just keep him away from windows and don’t let him see any screens.”

Maya nodded and hurried to Tom’s room. I heard her cheerful voice telling him they were having a special indoor day with cartoons and pancakes.

I sank onto the couch, my hands shaking as I scrolled through the headlines on my phone.

“Iron Empress Exposed: Bella Hart’s Heartless Deception”

“Black Heir Scandal: Did CEO Weaponize Her Own Child?”

“Caleb Black’s Hidden Son: The Truth Behind the Three-Year Lie”

The comments were even worse. Thousands of people who didn’t know me, didn’t know our story, passing judgment on my choices. Calling me cruel, manipulative, vindictive. Saying Tom deserved better than a mother who would use him as a weapon.

My phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number: This is what you get for thinking you could keep secrets. Everyone knows what you are now. -J

Jade. Of course it was Jade. She’d done this. She’d leaked the story, exposed Tom to the world, weaponized my son for her petty revenge.

Another text came through, this time from Caleb: Are you seeing this? Don’t go outside. I’m sending security to the hotel. We need to talk. NOW.

Before I could respond, there was another knock on the door, this one calmer but still urgent.

‘Ms. Hart, it’s hotel security,” a voice called. “We have a situation in the lobby. You need to stay in your room until we can secure the building.”

I opened the door to find two security guards looking stressed and overwhelmed. “What’s happening?” I asked, though I already knew.

‘There are approximately forty reporters downstairs demanding access to your floor,” the larger guard said. “We’ve locked down the elevators, but ma’am, they’re not leaving. And some of them are trying to find other ways up.”

‘How long can you keep them out?” I asked.

“Not long,” he admitted. “Hotel management is discussing options, but Ms. Hart, these people are aggressive. They’re offering money to staff for information, trying to bribe guests to let them access upper floors. This is beyond what we can handle.”

My phone rang again, this time from Jennifer. I answered, my voice tight. “Bella, where are you?” Jennifer demanded. “Please tell me you’re not at that hotel penthouse.”

“I’m at the hotel with Tom,” I said. “Jennifer, they have photos of him. Someone leaked everything.”

“I know, I’ve been watching it unfold for the past hour,” Jennifer said. “Bella, you need to get out of there now. The media is treating this like the scandal of the decade. They’re going to camp outside that hotel until they get footage of you and Tom.”

+25 Points

“We can’t leave.” I said, looking toward Tom’s room where I could hear cartoon music playing. “There are reporters everywhere. If we try to walk out, they’ll swarm us. Tom will be terrified.”

“Then you need help, Jennifer said. “Bella, I know you don’t want to hear this, but you need to call Caleb. He has the resources to get you out safely, to protect Tom from this circus.”

“I can’t”

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