The room was deathly silent.
Ella stood frozen behind the half-open door, heart thudding like a war drum.
Across the city, screens flickered to life.
Every news outlet. Every gossip page. Even the stock market headlines took a backseat.
Because Leon Hart—former golden CEO, international darling, now disgraced and disheveled—was live.
And he was about to burn everything down.
No PR team. No lawyers. Just him.
Raw.
Unfiltered.
Ready to confess.
Ella's breath caught in her throat.
This wasn't a press conference.
It was a funeral.
He wasn't here to rebuild his image.
He was here to bury the man he used to be.
And somehow, that terrified her more than all his past sins combined.
Because if he burned, her name would burn with him.
And there would be no turning back.
No more hiding in silence.
No more pretending she was fine.
Leon sat before the camera like a man facing judgment—not from a court, but from the ghost of every woman he'd ever broken.
His voice was gravel, low and unshaking.
"I'm not the victim in this story," he said. "I was the villain. And I need you to know what I did."
His words sliced through the digital world like a scalpel—clean, cold, lethal.
"I locked her away."
Gasps exploded across the comment streams.
"I broke her career. I used my influence to erase her."
Pause.
"I called it love. It wasn't. It was control."
Ella's knees gave out.
She sank to the floor, heart in her throat, tears finally spilling as her name exploded across the live chat in a flood of shock, sympathy… and apologies.
Leon looked directly into the lens.
"I don't ask for forgiveness," he said. "But I'll spend the rest of my life protecting her voice."
A beat.
"And if you hate anyone… hate me."
He reached forward—
And ended the broadcast.
The screen went black.
And just like that—
The world finally saw who the real monster was.