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Picking up the paper again, I found the caption. “Sources say this new woman…”
“Go on,” she urged.
“I just need a second to translate this in my head, as some words don’t translate well.”
“Translate them badly. Don’t worry about it.”
“Sources say this new woman has appeared from thin air. No one knows who she is but she’s been spotted with Mr. Crawford in America and now here in our very own city. We wish her well, but…” I cleared my throat. “As we recall of our handsome billionaire, this Crawford doesn’t keep a woman around for very long.”
Grace’s face fell, her smile gone. “Don’t listen to this trash. They don’t know me. And they definitely don’t know us. Those other women—”
“Luke, I don’t care about those other women. Or what that newspaper says. What do they mean about spotted in America?”
I wasn’t sure. Those weren’t the words that had bothered me. I would call Ryan after this and ensure he called this tabloid and warned them about making disparaging comments about me or my relationships.
Looking up from the paper, I noticed Grace on her phone. She gasped and turned her screen toward me. “Omar sent me this last night.”
It was a photo of us leaving Mario’s restaurant, but then next to that photo was a grainy shot of us on the bleachers. It wasn’t clear, but, it was obvious where my head was and that the girl with short black hair was the same one on my arm earlier. Fuck.
Grace’s hand trembled and the screen shook. “Oh my god, Luke. Everyone is going to see this.”
“No, they’re not.”
“If Omar sent it to me, it’s already out there. I’m a senior accountant. People respect me at work. How can I face them on Monday after this?”
I rubbed her arms and pulled her closer, but she pulled away.
“This is a disaster. I’m up for a promotion and if they see this—"
“I’m going to handle it. I’m calling Ryan right now. We have agreements in place. I promise you they will take down that picture within the hour.”
When she continued to stare at it, I rubbed her back until she relented and dropped her head to my chest. “I will take care of this.”
She nodded, and my heart wanted to reach out and hold her from the inside, too. I fucked up, but I would fix this. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I dialed Ryan’s number.
“Ryan, you need to take care of this,” I said as soon as he answered.
“What are you talking about, Luke?” he asked.
“I’m sending you a picture.” Grace passed me her phone, and I forwarded the photo to Ryan.
“Shit,” he said shortly after. “Those bastards.”
“I want you to tell them I’ll sue for every last dime they own if they do not take down those photos from their website. Do you hear me? I will fucking sue them and then I will hunt them down.”
“Calm down, Luke. We have agreements in place. I don’t know how this happened, but I’ll get it taken down.”
“Make sure that you do.”
“Luke?”
“Yeah?”
“The next time you want to go down… um, memory lane. Do it behind closed doors, huh?” he chuckled and it was the laugh that got under my skin.
“Fuck off, Ryan. I don’t need a lecture right now.” I pressed the red button to end the call.
After throwing both of our phones onto the mattress, I squeezed Grace tighter in my arms. “That picture will go away. I promise. In the meantime, try to eat something.”
