Chapter 4

Mid-speech, a commotion erupted in the audience.

"Whispering" was too soft a word for it.

Everyone was trying to restrain themselves, but the shock of the gossip was too overwhelming, making voices involuntarily rise.

It turned out my haters had leaked a video of me, heavily pregnant, from six years ago.

That was shortly after Ashton and I broke up.

I’d intended to numb myself with work, but before starting the new project, I suddenly discovered I was pregnant.

After that, I dropped out of the show and disappeared from the public eye for a whole year.

The video was from the surveillance cameras of my old apartment complex.

I forgot what I was going out for that day.

But I wasn't wearing a mask, so my face was clearly visible.

As I walked off stage with my trophy, Brenda and Chloe immediately rushed over, trying to escort me out of the venue.

But it was too late. Reporters swarmed forward.

Cameras and microphones were practically shoved into my face, everyone asking the same question:

"Ms. Skylar, who is the father of the child?"

I was trapped in the crowd, unable to move.

A short distance away, no one dared approach Ashton.

If Ashton and I were still together, maybe the reporters would have been a little more polite.

I saw Ashton's face filled with shock, his fingertips, resting on the armrest, unconsciously clenched tight.

He knew who the father was.

That’s why he, usually so composed and aloof, was so visibly flustered in front of everyone for the first time.

I didn't answer the reporters directly. Instead, I smiled and denied, "I don't have a child."