Chapter 259
Aria’s POV
I was just checking my phone when Aiden caught sight of the message flashing across my screen.
“I’ll contact Lucas,” he said, his face betraying nothing as he turned away.
I nodded, quickly typing back to Lillian: *Aiden’s already contacting his secretary p>
Her response came immediately: *This restaurant owner must be a complete idiot! Publishing our photos like that? They’re literally begging to be sued p>
The irony wasn’t lost on me. Aiden and I had just been discussing how the restaurant had blurred our faces in their post, and now they’d gone and revealed us completely. Honestly, I wasn’t particularly concerned about being exposed. In fact, they’d just handed us evidence on a silver platter.
I navigated back to their social media account to investigate further and quickly figured out their motivation. Someone had commented that while our outfits looked expensive, we must be ugly underneath to behave so “disgustingly.” The restaurant owner, probably thinking they could generate more outrage traffic, had posted unblurred photos of Lillian and me with the caption: “They’re actually quite attractive p>
That was just five minutes ago. I tapped to expand the comments section and saw that people had already recognized me.
“Take this down NOW. That’s Aria Jones and her friend. Are you seriously accusing Aria of trying to scam you over a few hundred dollars? Are you for real p>
“OMG that’s Aria! My Aria would need to scam your pathetic establishment? The handbag she’s carrying costs over $30,000 p>
“Is this what passes for marketing these days? Aria Jones is a concert pianist, for God’s sake. She doesn’t need your chump change. This is beyond ridiculous p>
I took screenshots of these comments, preserving the evidence. When I switched back to capture more, I noticed they’d already deleted our unblurred photos.
The restaurant had clearly intended to play victim while harvesting traffic and attention. They’d certainly succeeded in generating buzz-our photos were already being shared on T r. The situation had spiraled beyond simple damage control.
Fortunately, the motorboat racing competition had just concluded recently, and my fans—more numerous than I’d realized immediately recognized me and rallied to my defense on social media.
All Lillian and I had wanted was a simple weekend lunch. Now we were trending. Unbelievable.
The restaurant finally panicked when they realized I wasn’t just some random customer but someone with a public following. They issued an apology, though it was hardly satisfactory-still trying to deflect blame by claiming they were “gun-shy” from previous scammers.
Their half-hearted apology meant nothing to Aiden. Just as their statement went live, Carter Group’s official account posted: “Heard our CEO’s wife is scamming restaurants p>
Aiden immediately tagged me in a repost. The story exploded, impossible to contain.
I hadn’t expected Aiden to bring Carter Group’s official channels into this, but once he did, the whole situation crystallized for everyone. After all, why would the wife of
a CEO bother scamming a restaurant out of a few hundred dollars?
The comments were brutal:
“This whole thing is absurd. Even before I knew who she was, I could tell from her clothes alone that she’s obviously wealthy. That bag probably cost more than the restaurant makes in a week. Accusing her of scamming is literally laughable p>
“Joke of the year: Carter Group CEO’s wife scams restaurant for pocket change! Even fiction writers couldn’t come up with something this ridiculous p>
“Carter Group could buy that trendy restaurant with pocket change! Why would the CEO’s wife need to scam anyone? Are these restaurant owners braindead p>
As Carter Group threw its weight behind the story, more customers began coming forward:
“My group of six ate there during opening week. Three of us got sick afterward. I was the worst-ended up in the ER with blood pressure so low they couldn’t measure it. When we contacted the restaurant they. blamed our weak stomachs’ and only refunded the meal cost. Here’s our receipt [image attached p>
“Went there Wednesday with my husband. Spent the entire night in the bathroom afterward. My husband only had mild symptoms, so I didn’t initially suspect the food. But their service was terrible, and the ingredients were noticeably not fresh p>
“Ate there Friday. I didn’t eat much because I wasn’t very hungry, so I was okay. My friend, though, was sick for three days, only getting through it with medication. We didn’t think much of it until we saw this supposed ‘scamming video, Now it makes sense why so many people got sick after eating there. Thank you to the Carter Group CEO’s wife for speaking up p>
More and more customers shared similar experiences, and by afternoon, the New York Health Department had stepped in. The restaurant was shut down pending investigation.
The situation had resolved itself without Aiden or me needing to do anything more. I raised an eyebrow suddenly understanding why the restaurant had posted that video in the first place. They were trying to create public pressure to get health officials to lift their impending closure.
Well, that backfired spectacularly.
The restaurant had gone silent, even deleting their original accusatory video.
I heard footsteps and looked up. Aiden walked in with a glass of water.
“I’ve had Lucas contact our lawyers,” he said, handing me the glass. “They’ve collected all the evidence from tonight. The cease and desist letter will be delivered to the restaurant tomorrow p>
I smiled, taking the water from him. “Thank you, Aiden p>
He looked at me with those intense dark eyes, a meaningful expression on his face.
I nearly choked on my water, understanding his implication immediately. My face heated up.
Setting the glass on the nightstand, I shifted closer to him, met his gaze briefly, then quickly leaned in to plant a kiss on his cheek.