"And? She heard. What's she going to do about it?"
He walked up to me and tilted my chin up with his fingers, looking down at me like I was something amusing.
"Right, Deidre?"
I slapped his hand away, forced my expression flat, and took one long breath.
"The kidnapping. That was you?"
"Yes."
"The drugs. Also you?"
"Yes."
"The videos, the trending list, the trolls ripping me apart—all you?"
He blinked, then let out a short, contemptuous laugh.
"All me."
Every answer came that easy, that bare—like hiding it from me had never even crossed his mind. A knife shoved straight into my chest. He didn't even care enough to lie anymore.
I lifted my face. My eyes were shot through with red. "But why me?"
"Why did it have to be me?"
The day Clyde proposed, I'd already decided to give up the career I'd spent over a decade clawing my way through.
And now, just like that, he'd knocked me right back to where I started—back to nothing.
Ground every last illusion and scrap of happiness I had into dust.
"Deidre, you do what you're told. No connections, no family to back you up. You'd scrape and fight just for a walk-on role. Honestly—you were the perfect pick."
He glanced down at Victoria as he said it,