Page 36 of What Comes Around

His smile softened. “She turned me down, so I figured I’d try again publicly. Ashley, if you see this, I’d really like that drink.”

The clip ended and immediately restarted.

I stared at my phone, eyes wide, nearly dropping the damn thing. Then I scrolled.

The comments were already feral.

“WHO IS ASHLEY”

“internet do your thing”

“omg he’s in love already”

“Knox Sinclair analyst??? insider tea”

“she said NO to HIM???”

I kept scrolling.

People were tagging Sinclair Enterprises. Tagging Knox. Tagging every business page connected to the company.

I exited the app.

My coffee had gone cold in my hand when my phone buzzed again.

Amy.

“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!”

I ignored it, already assessing the online damage.

With no personal accounts to absorb the impact, the attention had only one direction to go.

Sinclair’s pages were already drowning in comments.

“who is ashley”

“drop her @”

“is she your employee??”

“leo just exposed her workplace omg”

“give us ashley”

Someone tagged a business photo where I stood blurred in the background.

Now the comments multiplied.

“FOUND HER”

“this her???”

“she’s pretty omg”

Amy didn’t bother texting again. She called.

I answered on the third ring.