Ninety-Nine Engagements, One Betrayal

Dayna POV:

The world, for a split second, went silent. The chat stream on the live feed, usually a chaotic torrent of emojis and comments, froze. Then, like a dam breaking, it exploded. A deluge of shocked exclamations, bewildered questions, and frantic speculation.

The camera, still trained on me, suddenly swung away, frantically searching for Brooks. It found him. His face, usually a mask of calm, was utterly devoid of composure. His jaw was slack, his eyes wide with a mixture of shock and dawning horror. The cool, collected tech mogul was gone, replaced by a man whose world had just imploded on live television.

Everleigh, standing beside him, her delicate features contorted in a furious snarl, lunged towards the camera. "You bitch! You ruined everything!" she shrieked, her carefully constructed facade crumbling. "You're just jealous!"

Brooks, still reeling, tried to compose himself, his hand reaching for the camera. "That's not true! Dayna, what are you saying? We're not divorced!" His voice was a desperate, hollow whisper.

I didn't wait. With a click, I ended the call. The feed cut out, leaving him to face the wreckage. My mission was accomplished.

Brooks, I later learned, was left standing alone, a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead, his carefully constructed image shattered. He managed to pull himself together, addressing the stunned media with a forced calm, denying everything, claiming it was a misunderstanding, a jealous outburst from a troubled wife. But the damage was done. The whispers had turned into a roar.

Everleigh's re-engagement, the one they had tried so hard to salvage, was immediately and irrevocably called off. The Sterling family, furious and humiliated, promptly severed all ties. She was bundled into a car, weeping hysterically, her carefully coiffed hair now a tangled mess.

"She ruined us, Brooks! She ruined everything!" Everleigh wailed, clutching his arm in the back seat. "She's just jealous! She always hated me! She hated that you loved me more! She even hated Ava! She's the one who impersonated Ava, not me! She wanted to destroy her legacy!"

Brooks, his head pounding, felt a surge of unfamiliar irritation. Everleigh's incessant whining, her exaggerated claims, her relentless self-pity. It was grating. A stark contrast to the quiet dignity Dayna had maintained in her final, devastating act.

"Everleigh, enough!" he snapped, his voice sharp.

She flinched, startled by his tone. "Brooks? What's wrong? Why are you shouting at me?"

He closed his eyes, taking a deep, shaky breath. He had to maintain control. For his sake. For the family's sake. For her sake. "Nothing, Everleigh. Just... calm down."

He compared her frantic, piercing complaints to Dayna's steady, unwavering voice, the one that had just declared their divorce to the world. Dayna, who, even in her anger, had maintained a chilling composure. Everleigh's shrill voice, once a sign of her "fragility" that he felt compelled to protect, now felt like a relentless drill on his eardrums.

He found himself wondering, for the first time, if maybe, just maybe, Everleigh wasn't as delicate as he had always believed. And if maybe, just maybe, Dayna wasn't as dramatic.

He opened the car door. "I need some air. I'm going to the office."

"What? No, Brooks! Don't leave me!" Everleigh cried, clinging to his arm. "You're going to go after her, aren't you? You're going to try and win her back!"

He sighed, his patience wearing thin. "Dayna is your sister-in-law, Everleigh. Or, she was." The past tense tasted bitter on his tongue. "I need to deal with the fallout from this. The company, the family. It's a mess."

"But she's lying!" Everleigh insisted, stomping her foot. "She's always been jealous! She's always wanted to take everything from me!"

He slammed the car door shut, the sound echoing in the silent street. He needed to get away from her. Away from the suffocating demands, the endless drama. He needed to think. He needed to fix this.

He spent the rest of the night at the office, battling the online firestorm, trying to mitigate the damage to his company's reputation. It was a losing battle. The stock market had already reacted, a significant dip reflecting the public's outrage.

Around 3 AM, his assistant, Jenkins, approached him, looking haggard. "Sir, the board is demanding an emergency meeting. Your grandfather is furious. And... the media is having a field day."

Brooks rubbed his temples. "Any word from Dayna?"

Jenkins shook his head. "No, sir. Nothing. Her phone is off. No activity on social media. She's completely vanished."