Chapter 357: Hot Gossip!

The next morning, Sienna and Zachary enjoyed a quiet and serene morning together in the living room.

Zachary was watching the business news on television. At the same time, Sienna lay comfortably on his lap and scrolled through her group chat with Ava and Mia. The peaceful morning felt soothing after everything that had happened the night before. For a while, neither of them seemed interested in doing anything else.

Only the two of them were in the huge house. Skylar was busy at the stables. The quiet surroundings made the moment feel even more private, and the only sound in the room was the television as Zachary followed the business report while occasionally glancing down at his wife.

A few moments later, Sienna suddenly gasped as she opened the news link Ava had sent her.

“Oh, my God!”

She sat up quickly and turned toward Zachary, who looked at her with confusion. The sudden change in her expression caught his attention; he turned off the television to focus entirely on her.

“What’s wrong? Why do you look so shocked?” he asked worriedly.

Sienna opened her mouth, ready to say something, but no words came out. She was still too stunned by the gossip article she had just read. Instead, she lowered her eyes to her phone again and stared at the headline on the screen.

[Jessica Simmons Spent the Night With a Chaebol Heir at the Imperial Hotel]

The headline itself shocked her, but what really caught her attention was the photograph attached to the article. The man standing beside Jessica—the chaebol heir—had his face blurred, yet Sienna recognized him immediately.

She stared at the picture again, trying to make sure she was not mistaken. Then she noticed Ava’s message underneath the news link.

“Sienna, please tell me if that man is Riley?” — Ava.

Sienna silently sighed. Not only had she guessed that the man was Riley, but Ava had apparently come to the same conclusion.

‘So Riley actually has a relationship with Jessica? Wow, this is really dramatic. Why did he never tell us? Did he know that Jessica was actually Zachary’s ex-girlfriend?’

At this moment, too many questions suddenly filled Sienna’s mind.

Sienna was so absorbed in her thoughts that she completely forgot Zachary was still watching her with a confused expression.

He reached over and gently took the phone from her hand. That was enough to bring Sienna back to reality.

She immediately looked at her husband. Her heart began beating faster as she watched him read the same news story that had left her speechless moments earlier. Zachary’s expression slowly changed as he read, and when a deep frown appeared on his forehead, Sienna knew that he was just as surprised as she had been.

Although she was already almost certain that the man photographed leaving the hotel room with Jessica was Riley, she still wanted to hear it from Zachary.

“Zach, is that man Riley?”

Zachary did not answer immediately. He seemed determined to finish reading the entire article before saying anything. Once he reached the end, he handed the phone back to Sienna and nodded.

“Hmmm…Yes, I think that may be Riley, at least based on the article’s description,” he said calmly after a few seconds of thinking. “It says the man was staying in one of the rooms on the top floor of the Imperial Hotel. You work at the Imperial, so you should know that the top floor is reserved exclusively for members of the Sterling family.”

Sienna’s eyes widened slightly. She knew that, of course, but the top floor was not accessible to ordinary guests, which made the news even more confusing.

“But how did the paparazzi get there?” she asked, her brows drawing together.

Zachary remained quiet.

Sienna didn’t spend much time thinking about it. Her attention soon shifted back to Jessica Simmons.

She had never imagined that Jessica had also been at the Imperial Hotel the previous night. More importantly, Jessica had somehow reached the top floor, which meant she had been dangerously close to crossing paths with Zachary.

A thought suddenly struck her.

‘Wait! Zach, did you meet Jessica last night?’ She wanted to ask him directly, but before she could form the question properly, another thought came to her, and the words that escaped her mouth were different.

“So you met Riley last night at the gala dinner?”

“Yes,” Zachary answered calmly. “He attended the gala dinner as the CEO of Sterling Tech.”

Sienna became quiet.

For a moment, she struggled to process everything. Riley had been at the same gala dinner as Zachary, and Jessica had apparently been at the Imperial Hotel that same night. Paparazzi had captured them leaving the presidential suite early in the morning. And now, the two of them were suddenly the main subjects of a gossip story.

“Zach, did you know Riley and Jessica were that close?” she asked carefully. “I mean, the news says they’re dating.”

“No. I had no idea,” Zachary answered without hesitation.

His expression became more serious, and his eyes fixed on Sienna as he continued, “And I don’t want to know anything about their relationship either.”

Sienna looked at him for a moment before a small smile appeared on her lips. She understood exactly why he did not want to discuss Jessica Simmons.

“All right,” she said softly. “I won’t ask anymore.”

Zachary looked at her for a moment before his expression softened. “Hmm-mm.”

Sienna smiled and leaned back against him. She was not interested in discussing Jessica or questioning Zachary about his past. She was simply shocked that Riley was involved in such a scandal and that someone she knew was suddenly the center of attention everywhere.

‘At least his face is blurred,’ she thought. ‘Only the people close to Riley will know it’s really him. Outsiders won’t recognize that blurred face as him.’

That thought gave her some comfort. She believed Riley would be all right once the attention died down.

Sienna had no idea just how wrong she was.

Just as she had worried, the scandal involving Jessica Simmons and the mysterious man at the Imperial Hotel quickly became one of the biggest trending topics of the entire weekend. The blurred photograph spread across social media, gossip sites, and entertainment forums, with people speculating endlessly about the identity of the man beside Jessica.

Hi, PurpleLight here!

I’m back with a brand-new book, and this time, we’re diving into the world of fantasy! And trust me, there’s plenty to look forward to in this story.

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TWO handsome men, of course!

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Happy reading, everyone! And don’t forget to tell me what you think in the comments. I’d love to hear from you!