He might even... demand her shares as a wager. A chill ran down Aurora''s spine at the thought. Wasn''t that exactly what Leonard had done to Ste?


    If she acted rashly and fell into his trap, she could imagine Joshua using his status as the head of the Gardner family to pressure her and the Williams family. A bodyguard was easy to deal with, but a family head was another matter entirely.


    Aurora took a deep breath. "I''m sorry, Father. This all happened so suddenly, and my mind is a mess. When Joshua confessed, I let my emotions get the better of me and assumed it was really him."


    In other words, she had no proof it was Joshua. Could she im he had manipted Simone? Simone''s phone call made it clear she believed Joshua was sending her a gift out of guilt over the Dawnlight incident. Could she say he spread the rumors? The source of the gossip hadn''t been found.


    At this point, Aurora was ny percent certain Joshua was behind it all. Though he publicly imed it was a joke, he was essentially ying with his cards on the table. His confession had been real, and the retraction was just to spite her. For the first time, a thought crossed Aurora''s mind: had Ste felt this same burning hatred when Leonard destroyed her precious hands? Was Joshua now destroying what she held most dear-her reputation?


    ...


    In truth, Jake and Harold never expected the news to spiral out of control like this. They were used to fights and schemes, but they had never dealt with such outrageous rumors. Their original n was simply to confirm that Leonard and Aurora had spent the night in a hotel room effectively tying them together. With Leonard''s position unstable and Joshua coborating with Hand Lerman, Leonard was likely to lose his standing as family head, rendering him useless to Aurora. Once married, Aurora would have to cut ties with her other admirers, stripping her of her


    support system and eliminating any threat to Ste.


    But who could have predicted the rumors would be so sordid? Jake had tried


    to argue with some people he overheard gossiping, only to be used of being one of Aurora''s lovers himself. He retreated in defeat.


    When Harold found him, Jake was drinking his sorrows away at a bar. "It''s over," Jake mumbled. "I''vepletely botched the job Mr. Gardner gave me. With Aurora''s reputation in tatters, will Leonard still marry her? And Sellers no matter how much he likes her, the Burton family would never let a woman with such a tarnished name marry into their family."


    As the saying goes, bad news has wings. Once Jake saw which way the wind was blowing, he tried to have people rify the situation, but it was no use. The rumors had taken on a life of their own, far beyond his control.


    Harold, who had seen his fair share


    In


    of human nature, was also at a loss. The "evidence" they had provided was meant to prove Aurora and Leonard were in a room together while Setters caught them How did that morph into Aurora being promiscuous? For the first time, things had gotten out of their control.


    While the two of them racked their brains for a solution at the bar, the Williams family was grappling with an equally massive headache caused by Joshua''s unpredictable tactics.