y's

. Then, the shock melted, and his lips slowly

, stepping toward me

oid of the love that used to

r and carrying over the sudden hush. "What

tanding just behind me. His expression darken

back. He turned his loving, pained gaze

the cameras. "We'll fix everything. As for the wedding, we can fix the date. You c

u be so sure I'd ever

was the deal. This was never about love. So stop telling everyone your lies." I tu

y girlfriend," he hissed, forgetting t

past tense hang in the air. "But I found out I was dat

ded in a roar o

. "I'm right here. If you all want to know what really

d. "Miss Sinclair, are you saying there's more to the story?

hame. His act was completely gone, replace

ut. I'm not the girl he used to manipulate. I'm not the pawn he could co

n't just 'run away.' I explicitly ended my ties with the Anderson family, right in f

press conference. Unless, of course, the goal was to paint me as the villain before I had a ch

s a low, desperate hiss. "Can we please talk about this in priva

tretched, trying to grab my arm,

stumbled back, a strangled gasp tearing from my throat. This was

with a revulsion so deep it made me s

a collective, shar

terror, and every single reporter saw it. The cameras went wild,

why did you re

threat

ed to g

fast, "That's all," I said, my voice sha

he cheated with!" one of t

ing frozen, his face a mask of pale, murderous

urve of my lips, but I ke

n. "Let's just say... it was someone

en one, the sharp-eyed woman from before, sh

a, your hal

st s

eld that smile, letting the silence b

teps, Matteo was there. His big, powerful arm wrapped around my waist like a steel band

d; he simply moved, and they pa

nd the door slammed shut before th

tel, leaving a hurricane of baffled

the chaos, my hea

the more enterta