From Desk to Altar: The CEO's Irresistible Bargain

Charlotte was too wired to sleep after being woken up by the noise, so she started scrolling through her phone, checking out what folks were saying online.

People didn't really know her and were treating the whole thing like some juicy piece of gossip from the rich and famous, just tuning in for the entertainment.

Somebody found some old pics of Charlotte from back when she was moonlighting and people kind of admired her for her hustle and looks. Yeah, maybe it wasn't cool to string along two rich guys, but if you're going to mess up, might as well mess up with the well-off, right? The guys getting hurt were rich too, so no big deal.

Since a lot of people are quick to hate the rich, they didn't really go hard on Charlotte. They had their fun with the gossip and moved on.

That sort of talk wasn't really going to hurt anyone.

After browsing for a while, Charlotte felt sleepy again and decided to go back to bed.

When she woke up the next morning and checked her phone, it was bombarded with notifications. #CharlotteHungryForPower, #Charlotte Ditches Dad

She clicked and found an interview with Robert.

He was crying, saying that Charlotte had ditched him and her bother, once she got cozy with Thomas.

When they tried to reach out to her, she just chewed them out and kicked them out.

The backdrop of a rundown house, messy clothes, and barely any food painted a pretty convincing picture.

Following that interview, #Charlotte Thomas Odd Couple# shot up the trending list.

Some 'insider' was dishing that Charlotte and Thomas were in a sketchy relationship, basically saying Charlotte was flirting her way to the top.

And to top it off, Sophia, who got canned for bullying at work, was now saying that Charlotte, who didn't have much more than a community college degree, managed to become Liam's right-hand woman, hinting that there was something fishy about their relationship.

Suddenly, Charlotte was smack in the middle of a media storm, getting trashed by everyone.

Whether the stories were true or not, they blew up online.

People were bashing Charlotte, with her pictures edited to look like some villain, her number leaked, and getting bombarded with hate calls.

Even the yard where she was staying, the Parker family's place, got outed, with paparazzi camping out.

It seemed like everything was piling on to keep Charlotte down.

No matter what she tried, flipping the script on the public's bad vibes seemed impossible.

She turned off her phone, finally getting a break from the poisonous calls, stood in front of the mirror, and let out a long breath.

She was up against a knockout punch, and even though she had a video ready to clear up some stuff with Vincent, it wouldn't fix everything.

If she couldn't clear it all up at once, the chatter would never stop-it'd just get louder, making her look even more suspect.

"Charlotte." Downstairs, Dylan was also reading the news, but seeing her poker face, he thought she was stressing, "I know some people in the media, I can ask them to pull the news..." "No need," Charlotte says, still keeping her cool.

Dylan's puzzled, "You still waiting on Liam to sweep in and fix this? The rumors have been flying all night. What's he done about it?"

"He's pulling a late one at work."

"Working late? Is he too busy to catch wind of this mess? Don't forget, he's in the middle of this too. You think Parker Group's PR team is sitting on their hands?"

Dylan found it funny how naive Charlotte was, "He just doesn't care, that's all."

Gossip could bug Charlotte, but Liam wasn't bothered at all.

Charlotte sat down at the breakfast table like she didn't hear anything and started eating her breakfast super slowly.

"Charlotte!" Dylan was surprisingly more worked up than she was, "If we don't sort out this mess, you'll be tagged as a whore for life!"

"I'm not."

"Well, you gotta let people know that! If you do nothing, no one's going to get your side!"

"They will, eventually."

Dylan, always smiling, turned stone-cold serious. He couldn't stand her not getting it, so he stopped trying to deal with Charlotte and began handling the rumors himself. Charlotte popped out her SIM card and browsed through the news while munching on her meal.

The backlash was serious. People could overlook her trying to snag a rich guy - that didn't affect them. But messing with someone's family and 'seducing' a married man, not to mention ditching her dad and little bro - that's where they drew the line.

Some even said she should just die.

But a few sensible folks wanted to hear her out, thinking she was just being thrown under the bus in some rich family drama.

Charlotte got a bunch of "thinking of you" messages, mainly from old coworkers who couldn't believe she'd do such a thing. They all wanted her to clear the air fast. Charlotte did nothing.

Only after breakfast did she get a text from Henry, telling her to swing by the Parker Group because the PR folks had a press conference ready for her to set the record straight. Set the record straight?

Would that even make a difference now?

She was worried that the minute she cleared up her name, Chloe would pop up pregnant, sticking Charlotte with even more shame.

Chloe was Liam's girl. If she says something, it would just make any PR clean-up from the Parker Group look like a bad joke, and it would make Charlotte and Liam's thing seem more legit. They had a ton of ways to keep Charlotte from coming back from this PR nightmare.

"Let's just ride it out a bit longer," that's what Charlotte told Henry.

She didn't want to show up to the press conference, so there really wasn't a point in having one.

The Parker Group kept mum.

Dylan had no clue what Charlotte was planning, and he didn't clear the air either.

Vincent and Thomas also kept quiet, just like Charlotte wanted.

So, it was a weird mix, the media was going wild, but the people at the heart of it all were just keeping their mouths shut.

It was like the whole scandal was just some silly kids' game.

Only Charlotte knew that this quiet was just the calm before the storm.