One Night Stand, Eight Surprises: Pampered by My CEO Husband --- - Chapter 70: Chapter 70

The camera flash was like a bullet.
Damien didn’t see the man coming—just heard Lily scream. Her hands flew to her eyes, blinded. Noah shrieked.
Then Arielle spun, clutching the children, shielding them.
But Damien… Damien snapped.
He charged.
The paparazzo fell backwards as Damien’s fist connected with his jaw. Cameras clattered to the pavement. Bystanders gasped. Some filmed. Some didn’t dare.
Two security guards wrestled Damien away. His chest heaved, his eyes wild.
“You point a lens at my daughter again,” he growled, “and I’ll do worse.”
A siren wailed in the distance.
Arielle clutched the children and looked at him—shock and heartbreak in her eyes.
The arrest was swift.
Two officers read him his rights. He didn’t resist.
Arielle tried to intervene. “He was protecting our kids!”
One officer gave her a pitying look. “Ma’am, there are protocols. We’ll sort it out.”
Noah ran after the squad car.
“Daddy!”
It nearly undid her.
The next few hours were chaos.
The tabloids that once smeared them now feasted again—on mugshots, on the ‘explosive CEO’ headlines.
Arielle sat in the lawyer’s office, her hands trembling around a cup of tea she couldn’t drink.
“It’s assault,” the lawyer said bluntly. “Even if it was provoked.”
“He threatened my child,” Arielle hissed.
“And we’ll use that. But press is press. They’ll spin it to look like Damien’s losing control.”
Inside the holding cell, Damien sat alone.
He wasn’t sorry.
He thought of Lily’s scream. Of Noah’s fear.
And he thought of every time he’d stood still when he should’ve acted.
Not this time.
This time, he’d acted.
Even if the world judged him for it.
He was released on bail by evening.
Arielle met him at the station. Her eyes were tired. Her makeup, worn.
She didn’t say a word. Just walked to him and buried her face in his chest.
“Are the kids okay?” he asked.
“They’re shaken. But safe.”
He exhaled, holding her tighter.
“I don’t regret it,” he murmured.
“I know.”
“But I hate what it’s done to you.”
She looked up. “It didn’t break me. It reminded me why I married you.”
The next morning, they issued a statement:
"Mr. Laurent defended his minor children from an aggressive paparazzo violating court-mandated distance laws. Legal steps will follow. Our family asks for privacy and accountability."
Damien added a personal note:
"You mess with my children, you answer to me. Full stop."
That night, after the kids fell asleep in their bed, Damien and Arielle sat in silence on the couch.
“He might have had a better way to handle it,” she whispered.
“Maybe.”
“But you’re human. And you’re a father first.”
Damien took her hand.
And for the first time in days, he let the tears fall.