Chapter Ten: Choose Me Again
814 Words
It had been three days since the photo.
Three days of silence. Three days of overthinking.
Three days since Emery had felt like herself.
She’d ignored Luca’s texts. Avoided his truck. Dodged the rink.
Not because she didn’t care.
But because caring hurt.
She told herself she just needed time. Clarity. Space.
But when Natalie burst into their room, breathless and wild-eyed, all of that shattered.
“You need to see this,” she gasped, holding up her phone.
A video was playing.
The sorority basement. Loud music. Flashing lights.
Brielle—laughing in the background.
And in the foreground?
Emery.
Only it wasn’t. Not really.
It was a deepfake. A disturbingly accurate one.
Emery—fake Emery—sitting on a guy’s lap, drink in hand, whispering in his ear while his hand slid up her thigh. A timestamp from two weeks ago.
“Oh my God,” Emery whispered.
“It’s blowing up,” Natalie said. “People think it’s real. Brielle already sent it to campus security.”
“She made this?”
“Or paid someone to. Doesn’t matter—it looks real.”
Panic surged like acid through Emery’s throat. “They’ll think I lied about everything.”
Natalie grabbed her arm. “You need to go to Luca.”
“I can’t—”
“Yes, you can. Because no one else has the power to bury this but him.”
⸻
By the time Emery reached the Caldwell family estate, the sun was setting over glass walls and a security gate she still wasn’t used to walking through.
Luca met her at the door, eyes bloodshot, like he hadn’t slept in days. His tie was loosened, his jacket gone. Behind him, the quiet hum of a private meeting echoed through the house—his father’s voice, sharp and cold.
“I didn’t think you’d come,” he said.
“I didn’t think I would either,” she admitted.
He stepped aside, and she walked past him.
Straight into chaos.
Because sitting in the living room, legs crossed, perfect posture, fake smile?
The girl from the photo.
Liv.
“Emery,” she said sweetly. “We haven’t met, but I feel like I know you.”
Emery blinked. “What the hell is this?”
Luca looked like he wanted to throw something. “I didn’t know she’d be here. My dad called her—he’s trying to control the narrative.”
“Oh, so now we’re a narrative,” Emery snapped.
Liv stood. “Look, I’m not here to cause drama—”
“Then why show up now?”
“Because your name’s tied to his, and they’re scrubbing everything before the draft. That includes cleaning up his past.”
Emery felt like the floor was moving. “What does that mean?”
Luca’s jaw clenched. “It means they’re rewriting history.”
“Your family’s trying to make me look like the problem,” she said slowly. “To cover your image?”
“No,” Luca said immediately. “I’m trying to protect you. They’re playing dirty and I didn’t know how to stop them—”
“You should’ve told me.”
“I didn’t want to lose you.”
“Then why do I feel like I already have?”
⸻
She stormed out. Didn’t wait for him to follow.
But he did.
He chased her into the courtyard, grabbed her wrist, spun her to face him.
“I love you, Emery.”
She blinked, frozen.
“I know I’ve screwed up. I know I should’ve told you about Liv, and the photo, and what my family’s doing. But this world—this name—it’s poison. I’ve spent my whole life trying to make it mean something different.”
She stared at him. “Then choose me. Not them.”
“I already did.”
“Then prove it.”
⸻
That night, Luca did something no Caldwell ever had.
He walked into his father’s private meeting.
And he blew it up.
In front of investors, scouts, and media handlers, he slammed a press release on the table.
“Effective immediately, I’m stepping back from the Caldwell Foundation.
I will not represent or associate with any PR campaign that erases the truth.
If the league wants me, they get me as I am. If not—fine.
But I won’t sell out the only thing in my life that’s ever been real.”
Silence. Shock. Cameras.
And somewhere across campus, Emery watched it unfold on a livestream someone leaked to the student forums.
He did it.
He chose her.
But before she could even react, her phone rang.
Natalie. Breathless again.
“Emery. You need to come back. Now.”
“Why?”
“Because Brielle was expelled.”
“What?”
“And someone just broke into your dorm.”
- Writer
