I took a deep breath, eyes already stinging, and looked at Clyde.
"You're really going to make me do this."
"Aren't you afraid I'll go off-script on camera?"
He smiled and pinched my cheek.
"Your brother goes to school right here in Sterling City. Your parents are coming next month—I already bought their plane tickets for them. So tell me, Deidre. What kind of daughter do you want them to find when they get here?"
I swallowed every word I had left.
The livestream began.
Ten minutes in, two million viewers had poured into the room.
The comments flew so fast they blurred, and eighty percent of them were tearing me apart.
"Deidre Morton—get OUT of Sterling City!"
"Shameless tramp! If she hadn't crawled into his bed herself, Young Mr. Gilbert would never have looked twice at a nobody like her!"
"Victoria is the one who actually matches him. Too bad this scheming woman got there first. Hope Clyde kicks her to the curb!"
…
I ignored all of it and gave the camera a composed smile.
"Hi, everyone. I'm Deidre Morton."
"I'm here today to publicly address some of the recent rumors circulating about me online."
First line of the script: admit the videos were real, say I was young and didn't know better.