Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 147415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 737(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 491(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 737(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 491(@300wpm)
17
A Little Betrayal (Shepherd)
Rain splatters the windows of the car as Destiny stares blindly at the glass divider.
I tell the driver, Carl, to just drive us around while we think.
Doesn’t matter where. We just need to get the hell away from that shit show in the restaurant.
“Hey.” I touch her hand. It’s ice-cold and she jerks back, almost like she’s forgotten I’m here, her eyes shiny and blank. “We will fix this, Dess. I promise.”
“What does fixing it even look like?” she whispers.
“We’re going to take Adriana Cerva for everything she has.” I pull her into my arms, and she rests her forehead against the crook of my shoulder.
Her heavy breath goes right through me as she exhales.
Fuck.
It’s an effort to stay calm, but for her, I manage.
Tilting her head up, I kiss her softly.
It’s for me as much as it is for her.
Her eyes are all misty blue today. I miss the green in them. I never noticed just how much vibrant green she has until it’s missing.
More than anything, I want to wrap her in my arms until she forgets this pile of bullshit.
“Dess.” I cup the back of her head and pull her in for another kiss.
Gentle, gentle.
We’re not fucking in the back of this car, no matter how much my cock likes the idea.
After a second, she softens and her mouth moves against mine. But soon, she moves back again and looks at me.
“What if someone sees us?”
“The windows are tinted, sweetheart.”
Her smile doesn’t reach her eyes. “So you can have hot sex in the back seats?”
“Don’t tempt me.” I brush a knuckle along her chin. “Tell me you’ll be okay. Where’s my bright girl?”
“Yeah. I will be. But they won’t give up, Shepherd. I just know it.”
“No,” I agree, hating it like hell.
“And I froze up back there. I didn’t know what to say. She wants to ruin me, and for what? All because Meghan lost out on the Young Influencers slot? Because she smells blood in the water and thinks you’re dumb enough to be blackmailed? It’s insanity.”
Before I can answer, my phone vibrates.
So does Destiny’s at the same time.
I immediately regret looking at the screen.
My alerts are going off like screeching bats with another damn video of Meghan Tea’s, already raking in the views. It’s only been up for less than an hour.
This shit had to be pre-recorded.
The girl who couldn’t say a word in the restaurant suddenly has more energy than a hyperactive lab. Destiny’s eyes gleam with unshed tears as she watches Meghan talk about ‘wild new developments.’
She slings a crapload of new accusations about the forced nature of our relationship. Glimpses of the explicit photographs her mother threw at us flash across the screen.
Plus, plenty of edited clips with Vanessa Dumas talking about how I used her. What else?
My rage is fucking nuclear.
Not for myself, no, but for Destiny.
Sure, I can sue them into the ground for defamation—and I absolutely will.
I can wring them dry until they’re begging for mercy.
They’re doing this the messiest way imaginable, so I’m sure the case would be a slam dunk.
But the damage is being done to Destiny’s reputation every second this open sewer keeps flowing. Their only edge, and the one thing I can never take back.
I’m sure that’s the point.
Everything legal moves at a crawl, no matter how talented your lawyers are.
Even if we take them to court and win, they’ll keep piping this out for days, weeks, however long they have before they’re hit with a gag order, and even then, they could keep using minions.
The public at large will lap it up as long as it keeps coming.
This society loves its filth whenever it involves the rich and famous, and the only thing they love more is when it’s thrown to them like Komodo dragons with a slab of beef.
To hell with my reputation.
That was half shot to shit with Vanessa’s accusations. I can weather the storm.
But this bright young girl, who wants nothing more than to help endangered marine life... why the fuck does she have to suffer?
Because she fell into my orbit.
Because I signed on to Miss Cho’s scheme against my better judgment, but she’s also not to blame.
Destiny is being savaged because I let myself think I needed someone else to save me.
Another woman hurt, and I can’t stop it fast enough.
Just like Serena.
She might not die or provoke a scorned lover into shooting me, but she’ll have to live with closed doors, harassment, hideous insinuations, plus every goddamned dickhead in a position of power treating her like an earthworm because of these lies.
Goddamn.
I really am poison ivy.
It’s hard to look at her as she sits curled across my lap, nestled in my arms.
At least I can still give her comfort, for now, despite the way it makes me feel like a tool.