POV: Sloane
When the first headline appeared, I didn’t move. I just stared at it on my phone, reading my name beside Gabriel’s. It said we were lovers. It said he was the reason for my success. My stomach twisted as I scrolled through the lines, each one dragging my name through the mud. I whispered that I should have seen this coming.
Calls began flooding in within minutes. Maddy’s voice came through first, tight and sharp. She said the tabloids were linking me with Gabriel and that Adrian’s lawyer was already using it. “They’ll claim you’re distracted,” she said. I gripped the phone, asking who leaked the photos. She said the reporter worked for a magazine that Adrian had donated to last month.
I laughed softly, the sound empty. It was always the same game. He couldn’t win in court,
