Page 131 of Pretend To Be Mine

I turned my phone off and closed my eyes. Obviously, New York was off the table. There was no way I was standing on that stage and smiling while everyone whispered about the woman who tried to scheme her way into the Blackwell family.

But I had signed a contract. I’d made a commitment. So I’d go back to New York. I’d play my part one last time if they asked me to.

And then I’d walk away from Adrian Blackwell and this whole impossible dream forever.

Even if it killed me.

43

ADRIAN

Iwalked back through the empty hallways, avoiding everyone. I could hear the party in the distance. I was not about to show my face in there. I had no idea how bad it was. It felt like I was in a car without brakes rolling downhill. Everything was falling apart.

And now this.

I pushed open the door into what felt like a war room. Dash’s makeshift production office had become our hideout. Shit was hitting the fan, and just like every other time things had gotten bad, we all pulled together.

“How did Clara get this information?” Briggs asked. “Who had access to the specific terms of the arrangement?”

“Just us,” Sebastian said, leaning against the desk with his arms crossed. “The family and Annika. That’s it.”

“Then one of us talked.” I said flatly, still reeling from watching Elizabeth leave. “Someone told Clara or told someone who told Clara.”

“None of us would do that.” Dash was scrolling through social media, his lips twisting into a snarl with each swipe. “Adrian, we’re family. We’d never do that. It’s not just you and Elizabeth that are getting dragged through the mud. This will blow back on all of us. We didn’t do this. “

“Then explain it.” I was barely holding it together.

“Could it have been overheard?” Sebastian suggested, though he didn’t sound convinced. “A waiter at dinner, someone backstage.”

“No.” I shook my head. “Clara’s information is too specific. Too accurate.”

Mom put down her phone. The way she did it was just a little too controlled. It was the kind of move she did when she was trying to look calm, but she was anything but. Like the time Sebastian burned down the wooden playset in the backyard because he was pretending to live in a cabin and needed a fire. She crossed her legs, folded her hands, and placed them in her lap.

We all watched her. All of us waited for her to tell us what she found out. And because the woman raised four boys, she had a sixth, seventh, and eighth sense.

“What is it?” I asked.

Mom’s expression told me everything I needed to know before she even opened her mouth. Whatever she had discovered was bad. Really bad.

“I just got off the phone with Simone at Vogue,” she said quietly. “They’re running a feature. About all of us.”

“A feature could be good,” Dash said, though his tone suggested he didn’t believe it. “Fashion of Love Week has been a success.”

“It’s not that kind of feature.” Mom’s voice was calm, but I could hear the steel underneath. “They’re planning an exposé. ‘The Real Blackwell Brothers.’ They’re going after all of you. Personal lives, past relationships, business decisions. Everything.”

The room went silent.

I felt my stomach drop. “How personal?”

“Very.” She looked at each of us in turn. “Simone wouldn’t give me specifics, but she warned me that they have sources. People willing to talk about things we’d all rather keep private.”

“Fuck.” Sebastian ran his hand through his hair. “They’re going nuclear.”

I knew what he meant. We all had things we didn’t want public. Relationships that had ended badly. Business deals that had been messy. Moments of poor judgment that we’d buried under years of careful reputation management. Nothing illegal, nothing truly scandalous in the grand scheme of things, but enough to damage us. Enough to make us look like the entitled, reckless rich boys the media loved to tear down.

We had always managed to keep a good relationship with editors in all the best magazines. They left us alone for the most part. But clearly, it was game on. They were coming for us.

“They’re using the Clara situation as the entry point,” Mom continued. “The fake engagement gives them justification to dig into everything else. If Adrian was willing to fake a relationship for publicity, what else might the Blackwell brothers be hiding?”