Chapter 7 - Poison in the Press
Peace, however, was something Richard could not tolerate.
A week later, the city's premier tabloid paper ran a scathing front-page headline: From Gold Digger to Corporate Pawn: The Downfall of Eleanor Brooks. The article was full of anonymous quotes from Richard’s inner circle, painting Eleanor as an opportunistic housewife who had milked her former husband dry and was now leveraging her charms to secure an unearned vanity project at Vance Enterprises.
Eleanor sat at her desk at the foundation, staring at the print edition with pale cheeks. The whispers in the hallway outside her glass office were palpable.
The door opened sharply. Harrison walked in, an icy storm brewing in his eyes.
"Don't read it," he commanded gently, reaching out and closing the newspaper before she could reread the second paragraph.
"The board members are already calling, aren't they?" Eleanor asked, her voice tight. "Richard has friends in the banking syndicates. He wants to drag your company down just to prove I’m worthless."
Harrison pulled a chair up to her desk, sitting close enough that she could smell cedarwood and coffee. "Eleanor, I don't give a damn about Richard’s friends or his petty slander. What I care about is the youth exhibition center opening in three weeks. Can you run it?"
"Of course I can," she snapped, a flash of fire sparking through her despair. "My budget is sound, the artists are contracted, and the kids have already built their installations."
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"Then let him bark at shadows," Harrison said firmly. "I don't defend my team with public statements. We defend our work with results. Put your energy into the children, Eleanor. I will handle the wolves."
For the first time, Eleanor didn't feel like a solitary shield taking blows for someone else; she felt protected, standing beside a partner who treated her dignity as non-negotiable.
