Lana’s POV
The newspaper headline seared itself into me like fire:
Billionaire’s Bride or Someone Else’s Mistress?
The photo was worse than I could’ve imagined—me and Artemis, lips tangled, my hands fisted in his jacket. A snapshot of the night Devonte had tricked me, a ghost dragged into the light to haunt me all over again.
Julian had tried to cover it with his hand, his calm voice cutting through Elli’s rage, but it was useless. The ink was already in my skin, the shame already in my veins. Elli Weiss’s eyes had cut me open in front of the breakfast table.
This family will not be disgraced by some woman’s scandal.
I couldn’t breathe. My fork clattered to the plate, appetite gone, dignity shredded. The air in the dining room was too sharp, too suffocating. Julian reached for me, hi
