The headlines were not subtle.
I stood on the park steps and read the first one twice, just to make sure I had understood it correctly. I had. Former Associate Returns to Blackwood Empire with Child of Disputed Paternity. I clicked through. The article was three hundred words of implication dressed as journalism, full of phrases like “sources close to the family” and “questions remain” and “unconfirmed by Blackwood representatives.” There were photographs. Old ones, from the marriage, reframed in the worst possible light.
The implication was not subtle either. Unfaithful wife. Disputed child. A woman who had cheated during her marriage and was now using a boy of questionable paternity to claw her way back into a billionaire’s empire. That was the story. Three hundred words and four photo
