Page 136 of The Donor’s Dilemma

“To discredit me,” Theo said. “If they spin a narrative that I’m taking advantage of you; if I’m disgraced; if I can’t be trusted, I lose my job. I won’t be meeting with Petra. I won’t be leaving this apartment.” Another thought landed, colder still. “If the Roses take this the wrong way… I might have to leave Havenshire.”

“It isn't even a local paper,” Verity said, staring at the front page. “It’s county-wide.”

Theo had already noticed and didn’t want to think about what it would do to his reputation, to Ashhaven, to his city. He said nothing.

Jesse looked up from his phone. “The story’s everywhere,” he said. “A couple of papers have run it as a sweet little love story, two people falling in love across the donor divide. Most of them haven’t. They’re pretty scathing about both of you.”

“Both of us?” Verity asked.

“Stonehaven’s written one about how you can’t be trusted and you manipulate people for personal gain.”

“That’s my old paper,” Verity murmured, leaning over to see. “I suppose they’re holding a grudge.”

“Jesse,” Theo said. “What do you know?”

“Nothing.”

“Bullshit.”

Jesse was silent, an answer in itself. He knew more than he was letting on.

“It’s okay,” Verity said, and Theo looked at her. “If all of these papers are running contradictory stories, no one will know what to believe.” She held up one of the other articles on Jesse’s phone. A photo, a surveillance camera still, him helping her out of a car at SubRosa, her smiling up at him. “This one says we make a cute couple. I’ll take that.” She set it down and looked at the two of them. “We’ve got two days until Petra arrives.”

Theo nodded.

“Well then,” Verity said, with the particular look that meant her brain was already three steps ahead. “This has given me an idea.”

An hour later and everyone had their jobs.

Theo was making phone calls, demanding to know why Talbot happened to be at City Hall when he caught Verity sneaking out. Considering what she’d just stolen, he was all but certain it was a setup. Falsified documents planted and retrieved within a matter of minutes. The only question he needed answering was whether he went on a tip off, or whether he was aware of the role he played. Theo leaned towards the latter, with the day-commissioner playing a game he didn’t understand.

While Theo made call after call, Jesse was out, finding out what he could about the nose-ringed, man-bunned donor who had planted the documents in Harris’s office. They searched the register for him but came up short, so Jesse went to see what he could find.

And Verity… Well, Verity was in her natural habitat, writing. She’d been clattering away at his laptop since the plan had been agreed, an array of emotions crossing her face as she typed, as if living the words she wrote. Every now and then she’d pause, asking questions, wanting her facts to be undeniable.

Theo didn’t want to distract her, but her very presence was stealing his attention. Turning her head, she stared off into the distance searching for words, messy hair framing her face as her eyes roamed the room before landing on him. She rose her eyebrows in question when he didn’t look away.

“You’ve got messages,” he said, waving the phone at her.

“Anything I want to hear?” she asked.

“Only a few have dropped out,” he told her, sitting beside her at the island and checking her list of vendors for the Ostara Festival. Most people truly didn’t realise what was going on in their city and were excited to continue with preparations. Theo crossed three names off the list before wrapping his arms around Verity, breathing in her hair. She rocked side to side, burrowing into him and Theo relished the peace.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” Verity said, and Theo stilled. “You know the source? The one that gave Harris the reports?”

Theo hummed in answer.

“I know who it is,” she said. “I think I’m the one the spooked her.”

He stayed still, holding her. That must have been a week ago, and only now she was telling him? She promised no more secrets, but how much had she already hidden from him?

“I only realised it was her after… Harris caught us, we’ve barely had a moment alone since,” she said. “I…” she paused and Theo moved to lean against the counter looking at her. He tucked a stray hair behind her ear, hoping that she would continue without him pushing. “I didn’t want to mention her in front of Jesse.”

“Ah.” It made sense, Theo knew how people took his brother, he knew what his brother was like. It was no wonder Verity was apprehensive. If he wasn’t Theo’s brother, he wasn’t sure he’d fully trust him either. “I understand,” he said, and Verity visibly relaxed.

“Do you think you could check on her? She knows to lie low but…”

“I’ll have a look into it but I’m not sure what I can do,” he said. The documents had come from Stonehaven, it was far from his jurisdiction, but he’d do what he could.