Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 147415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 737(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 491(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 737(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 491(@300wpm)
It feels like forever ago.
At the time, I was sure she’d be a top contender thanks to her reach alone, even if she’s as charming as a drunken rattlesnake.
Instead, they chose me.
“As y’all know, I missed out,” she says with a fake pout. Probably so everyone notices the subtle gradient from her wine-colored lip liner to the soft pink in the middle. “And who was the lucky winner? Destiny Lancaster! Yes, that Dessy, daughter of hardass hottie Cole and his coffee empire. You know I love my Wired Cup.” She pauses to hold up a cup of coffee with a familiar logo with the most punchable look on her face. “And doesn’t Dessy love to be Miss Invisibility?”
A picture of my face and channel appears beside her from my Insta link. I’m smiling with Mol, somewhere on Mount Rainier about a month ago.
Holy hell, no.
Molly whines and licks my face. It’s like she knows how screwed we are.
I dig my fingers into her fur. “It’s okay, girl. Don’t get upset for my sake...”
It’s almost worse that she can’t understand why I’m upsetting her.
“You might notice,” Meghan continues, “our Destiny doesn’t have the same platform as some folks in this industry. That’s whatever. That’s fine. Everyone has to start somewhere, right?” Her smug little smile looks painted on her face. “But well, let’s be real—it was a pretty big surprise when she got selected.”
“Jealous bitchface.” I glower at the screen.
“I mean, let’s think about it for a second. Home Shepherd wanted publicity, sure, and they wanted someone they could train, so they picked someone who doesn’t have the experience or the exposure they wanted. Weird, right?”
The only weird thing I see is that smirk under your overdone makeup, I think grimly.
But the video keeps going.
“Unless,” Meghan says in that lazy drawl that makes me want to scratch out her eyes. “Unless dearest Destiny did something awfully juicy to gain the CEO’s favor.”
A picture of Shepherd appears now from his corporate profile. He’s his usual handsome, stern self in a charcoal suit with the light catching his glacial-blue eyes.
Again, she smiles too wide for her face. “I mean, it adds up. Simple math. When you look like a model and you come from a rich family—well, you can find the answer too, can’t you?”
I don’t know how I avoid throwing my phone.
This is nasty, salacious stuff.
People might have thought the same crap privately for all I know, but now that she’s aired it in the open, everyone will think I went and fucked my way into my conservation money.
Worse, they’ll think that a rich, powerful man like Shepherd Foster would totally screw a hot girl nearly half his age who threw herself at him for favors.
Especially after what happened with Vanessa Dumas, piggybacking on the very scandal he’s tried so hard to bury.
I barely notice she’s still talking, wishing she’d shut up.
“...but maybe you think good-girl Destiny would never do something so spicy,” Meghan says maliciously.“Oh, I thought so, too. I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt when she’s all about cute animals and she rocks that whole do-gooder vibe. But, well, there’s that pesky evidence—and this evidence doesn’t lie.”
New pictures flick across the screen that stop my heart.
Pictures of us together.
Kayaking.
Cooking.
Smiling and laughing through various stages of our trip.
They’re all aerial shots, so it must be drone footage, but how? Who?
Did someone hack the drone Shepherd brought along for our otter tracking?
I shake my head, trying to force answers into place that don’t fit.
It really doesn’t make sense.
Virtually no one knew we were going on the trip. I made a note not to tell anyone at the office, and I think Hannah Cho is the only one who knew there.
I can’t imagine her backstabbing him like this when she’s been a loyal soldier forever.
Even Lena, who looked after Molly this weekend, didn’t know what I was away doing. It’s common enough that she doesn’t ask many questions.
I exhale a shaky breath as the pictures flick past.
I’m just waiting for a series of X-rated pics to turn up, but miraculously, they never do.
If it wasn’t for the night and the tree cover, there’d probably be way more damning photos. This is just proof we were out there alone, close and intimate.
And that final shot that’s half-obscured by some brush, but not enough to hide the fact that we’re kissing...
Oh, God.
Dread crawls up my throat, coppery and bitter.
I wrap my arms around Molly and press my face into her furry chest as a darker thought hits me.
There’s no obvious suspect with the right motive and access.
That means Shepherd will think I did this.
That’s the bottom line.
The only explanation that makes sense, at least to him. No one else knew.
How could he not assume I lied to this face, and this was all a treacherous stunt to ruin his reputation for clout? Another character assassination.