Thorns Grow After Betrayal (Celeste and Chester) novel Chapter 193

"Huh? Then why are the rescue teams still going in, one after another? Joanna's not in trouble, is she?"

"My friend saw Joanna at the hospital. Mr. Fordham was there too, so it can't be her."

"You guys don't know, do you? There was another woman who got taken along with them—supposedly one of the Fordham family's nannies. The kidnapper made Mr. Fordham choose between the two women. You can guess how that turned out. I heard she was quite the looker—probably got raped and dumped in the ocean. The Fordhams must've sent out such a massive search just to save face. But it's been ages now and there's still no sign of her. For all we know, the sharks have already torn her to pieces."

The paparazzo sounded so convinced that the others couldn't help but nod along.

Scandals in this crowd were always wilder than fiction.

"Hey, hey, look! Isn't that Mr. Fordham's car? He stopped!" someone shouted.

A black car pulled up just outside the circle of reporters.

Chester, radiating fury, strode straight toward the guy spouting "the truth" and landed a brutal punch square on his face.

The man's glasses went flying.

"Watch your mouth! That's my wife!" Chester roared.

For a heartbeat, the whole crowd was stunned.

Everyone in Portside City knew Chester had twins—a boy and a girl—but there'd never been any word about a marriage.

Some had whispered that the twins were the secret children he and Joanna had after quietly dropping out of the public eye.

But Joanna was in the hospital right now, and the woman they'd just been gossiping about was the one lost at sea…

A collective gasp swept through the crowd.

What a bombshell!

The slanderous reporter, dazed from the blow, quickly shook off the shock. When he realized Chester wasn't holding back, survival instinct kicked in and he started to fight back.

"Screw you! The whole city knows you and Joanna have been tangled up for years—the only thing missing is a sex tape! Who the hell are you pretending for? Your wife? Your wife's probably fish food by now!"

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