By the third incident, he had tried to refuse, but in the end, his financial


    desperation had won out.


    "Do you have the chat logs?" Lionel asked.


    Ben nodded, quickly pulling up his conversation history with Sandra and handing the phone over.


    As Lionel scrolled through the messages, his expression grew darker with each passing second. He took out his own phone and photographed the screen.


    "If there is a next time, you know what the consequences will be." He stood, looking down at the photographer with a cold, menacing re.


    Ben nodded frantically. "I understand, Mr. Rosenberg. I promise, I will never do anything like this again. I''ll delete her contact information right now!"


    He fumbled with his phone, deleting Sandra''s number in front of Lionel. Once it was done, he scurried out of the café as if his life depended on it.


    Back in his car, Lionel stared at the photos on his phone, a storm of anger and confusion brewing inside him. If Hannah hadn''t pointed out that man, he would have never uncovered this. He would have never known what Sandra was doing behind his back.


    After a moment of grim contemtion, he mmed the car into gear and sped toward the hospital.


    In her VIP hospital room, Sandra was trying toe up with an excuse to call Lionel. It had been hours since the incident went viral, but he hadn''t called to check on her. Normally, he was the first to call whenever her name appeared in the news. Was he just too busy this time to notice?


    As she was debating what to do, there was a knock on the door.


    "Come in," she said, putting her phone down. Her face lit up when Lionel walked in. “Lionel! I was starting to think you were too busy to visit me today."


    Looking at her gentle, smiling face, Lionel found it hard to reconcile the woman before him with the maniptive person revealed in the text messages.


    "Lionel, you..." Sandra began, but stopped when she noticed his dark expression. "Is something wrong? You look terrible."


    He walked over, unlocked his phone, and held it out to her without a word.


    "Is this a surprise for me?" she asked, taking the phone, her mind racing with images of expensive jewelry. But when she saw the screen, the color drained from her face.


    "What is this?" Lionel''s voice was devoid of all warmth, and his eyes


    held a new, chilling suspicion.


    "Sandra, don''t tell me this is fak


    ve already spoken to the


    photographer. He told me


    ove


    everything. I want a straight answer from you."


    "I..." Sandra stammered, unable to form a coherent sentence.


    “Do you have any idea how many times Hannah and I fought because of those articles?" he said, his voiceged with self-loathing And never once suspected that you were the one behind it all."


    The thought of the bitter arguments he''d had with Hannah, all while being yed for a fool made him want to go back and p phimself. On the drive over, he had tried to


    understand why she would do it, but he couldn''te up with a single reason.


    "I had no choice!" Sandra finally burst out, clutching the bedsheets as tears streamed down her face. "I know it was wrong, but I didn''t want to do it! I was desperate!"