PART 4 — The Mistress Who Ran to the Press
By midnight, Simone Rivers was supposed to be resting.
That was what the doctor ordered.
No stress. No confrontation. No more shocks. Warm fluids, elevated feet, quiet room, steady breathing. Julian’s townhouse on the Upper East Side had been prepared like a private sanctuary: white roses in crystal vases, blackout curtains, a nurse waiting discreetly down the hall, and two security men posted outside as if Simone were no longer a pregnant woman but a national secret.
But peace did not survive in the Rivers family.
Not when Tiffany Blake was still breathing lies into anyone willing to listen.
Simone had just changed into a soft gray robe when Julian entered the sitting room with his phone in his hand and a darkness in his eyes that told her the storm had followed them home.
“What happened?” she asked.
Julian looked toward the nurse, then back at Simone. “You should sit first.”
“I am tired of people telling me to sit before they tell me the truth.”
He accepted that.
Then he turned the phone toward her.
A headline glared back from a gossip site so aggressively bright it seemed to burn through the screen.
Billionaire Family War Explodes Midair: Pregnant Wife Removed After Private Jet Meltdown
Beneath it was a blurred image taken from the jet cabin.
Simone on the floor.
Tiffany standing above her.
Derek in the background.
Julian kneeling before Simone.
But the image had been cropped so carefully that it told the wrong story. Tiffany’s hand was hidden. Simone looked hysterical. Julian looked intimate. Derek looked betrayed.
Simone felt the blood drain from her face.
“They’re saying I caused a scene,” she whispered.
Julian’s jaw tightened. “They are saying more than that.”
He scrolled.
Simone read three lines before her stomach twisted.
Sources close to the Rivers family claim Simone Rivers has grown increasingly unstable during her pregnancy. Witnesses allege tension between Simone and Julian Rivers had been building for months. Tiffany Blake, described as a close family friend, was reportedly removed from the aircraft after trying to calm the situation.
Simone laughed once.
It came out broken.
“Family friend.”
Julian lowered the phone.
“Tiffany leaked it.”
“No,” Simone said quietly. “Derek did.”
Julian studied her.
She looked at the image again, at the angle, at the way Derek’s face appeared conveniently visible while Tiffany’s worst moment was hidden.
“Tiffany would have made herself look like the victim,” Simone said. “Derek made himself look betrayed.”
Julian said nothing, because she was right.
The mistress wanted power.
Derek wanted pity.
Together, they had created a lie clean enough for rich people to believe.
By morning, the story was everywhere.
Business channels whispered about instability inside Rivers Global. Social pages reposted Tiffany’s airport photo, showing her in the rain with ruined mascara and an expression of wounded nobility. Anonymous sources described Simone as jealous, hormonal, difficult, possessive. One influencer called Tiffany “a modern woman punished for refusing to bow to old-money wives.”
Simone watched it all from bed with one hand on her belly.
The baby moved slowly beneath her palm.
“Don’t listen,” the nurse said gently.
But Simone was done not listening.
She listened to every lie.
Every accusation.
Every polished sentence designed to make cruelty sound like concern.
By noon, Derek called.
Julian was in the hallway with the attorneys. Evelyn was downstairs speaking to the board chair. The nurse had stepped away to get tea.
Simone stared at the caller ID.
Then she answered.
For three seconds, neither of them spoke.
Then Derek exhaled as if he were the wounded one.
“Simone.”
She closed her eyes. “What do you want?”
“I want to fix this.”
“You mean you want me to deny the truth before it ruins you.”
“I want you to stop letting Julian use you.”
Her eyes opened.
There it was.
The new lie.
“Julian is not using me.”
Derek’s laugh was bitter. “You think he cares about you? He cares about the heir. He cares about controlling the trust. He cares about finally proving he was always better than me.”
“You did that for him.”
His voice sharpened. “You don’t know my brother.”
“No, Derek. I think I am finally learning who everyone is.”
Silence.
Then his voice softened in that familiar way he used when manipulation needed to dress itself as regret.
“I made mistakes. Tiffany was a mistake. But you and I are married. We can still protect our family.”
Simone looked down at her wedding ring.
It felt heavier than it ever had.
“Our family?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“The family you denied on an airport tarmac?”
Derek inhaled sharply. “I panicked.”
“You accused me of carrying another man’s child.”
“I was angry.”
“You let your mistress put her hands on me.”
“I said I was sorry.”
“No,” Simone said. “You said you were afraid.”
That landed.
Derek’s voice dropped.
“If you go to court, this gets ugly.”
“It already is ugly.”
“You don’t understand what these people will do. They will dig through your life, your family, your medical records. They will say you married me for money. They will say you trapped me. They will say you seduced Julian.”
Simone’s fingers tightened around the phone.
“And will you stop them?”
Derek said nothing.
The silence was so complete, she almost smiled.
“You are warning me about the fire you helped start.”
“I am warning you because I know how it burns.”
“No,” Simone whispered. “You are warning me because you are standing in it.”
She hung up.
That evening, Julian entered carrying a black folder.
Simone was sitting by the window, watching rain run down the glass.
“We found the SUV,” he said.
She turned.
“It went to a private medical building in New Jersey. Tiffany met Al-Kareem there. She stayed for forty-two minutes.”
Simone’s stomach tightened. “The genetic consultation.”
Julian opened the folder and placed a photograph on the table.
Tiffany leaving the building.
Beside her, a doctor with silver glasses.
Behind them, a woman Simone recognized from her fertility clinic.
Her former nurse.
Simone stood too quickly.
The room tilted.
Julian stepped forward, but Simone caught herself on the chair.
“That woman,” she said. “She handled my records.”
Julian looked down at the photograph.
“Are you sure?”
“She was there when Derek and I signed the consent forms.”
Julian’s face went cold.
The nurse returned with tea and stopped at the doorway, sensing the change in the room.
Simone picked up the photo with trembling fingers.
Tiffany had not merely stolen information.
She had reached into the most private part of Simone’s life.
Her marriage.
Her pregnancy.
Her unborn child.
Then Julian’s phone buzzed.
He read the message.
His expression hardened so fast Simone knew before he spoke that something worse had happened.
“What?” she asked.
Julian placed the phone face-up on the table.
A new headline had just gone live.
Tiffany Blake Claims She Has Proof of Rivers Heir Fraud
Below it was a quote from Tiffany.
Simone Rivers is not the only woman carrying a Rivers legacy.
Simone’s breath stopped.
Julian looked at her.
Then at the photograph.
Then back at the headline.
And for the first time since the jet, his voice lost its calm.
“She is not trying to destroy your marriage,” he said.
Simone whispered, “Then what is she trying to do?”
May you like
Julian’s eyes turned almost black.
“She is trying to replace your child.”
