Page 132 of Face Off With Fate

I told her.

About the photographs. About Lauren.

About how her future father-in-law was tangled up in all of it.

She looked away, and the muscle in her jaw ticked.

“That fucking asshole. What if you don’t give her the exclusive?” she asked, eyes finding me again.

“She still runs it.” My voice snagged. “And we both get dragged through the mud.”

Ari leaned forward, elbows on her knees. “What kind of damage are we actually talking about? Realistically. Like…maybe this blows over. Maybe it won’t be that bad and you just do nothing.”

I shook my head before she even finished. “A story about him sleeping with his publicist. The publicist who was actively running a fake relationship campaign for him.” I pressed my thumbnail into the seam of the pillow. “Even if nobody cares about us, or about Itzel. His job was already on thin ice before any of this. A scandal this bad⁠—”

I swallowed, needing a moment. “They’re not going to stand by him.” The words were barely above a whisper.

“Shit.” Ari’s eyelids fell closed, the gravity of the situation hitting her.

“And Itzel,” I continued. “I have to think about her, too. She didn’t sign up for any of this. If I take the offer, I can at least try to minimize the damage to her.”

The apartment was silent again.

“What does Monroe know?”

I looked down at the pillow in my lap.

“Nothing.”

“Graciella.” Ari’s voice was careful. “He needs to know about this.”

“I know.” The words were sharp. “I know he needs to know. I just—” I pressed my lips together. “I need to figure out what I’m going to say to him first. What I’m going to do…”

Ari studied me for a long moment. “Is this really a decision you should make on your own?” She tilted her head. “I mean, this affects him, too. Don’t you think he deserves a say?”

I didn’t answer, picking at that same pillow seam.

“Gracie.”

“My job,” I said finally, “was to protect his career. That was the whole point of why he hired me.” A humorless laugh fell out. “Fuck. I fucked that up for him, too, because he never even wanted to hire me. I shoved my way into his life and then didn’t protect shit. That damn story should be about how I’m the villain in his life.”

“That’s not⁠—”

“It’s true.” I looked up at her. “I’m the reason this is happening. I’m the reason his job is on the line, again, that Gol—” I choked on the words. “That his daughter will be affected, and one of my best friends is getting dragged into something she never asked for, and⁠—”

My throat tightened, and I looked back at my hands. I couldn’t handle seeing judgment in Ari’s eyes for what I was about to say. “I don’t know how to sit across from him and tell him that…if I want to tell him that.”

“Well, what do you want?”

Ari’s words landed, heavy and uncomfortable.

I pulled my knees up to my chest and stared at the glass of the window. The faint reflection of my face was distorted in the aged pane, but clear enough to read the pain etched on my features.

I didn’t know.

FORTY-FOUR

MONROE