Fuck.

How did this happen?

The day started off so normal. Her panties were sitting in my pocket, we were text-flirting back and forth, and then out of nowhere, a bomb was dropped.

It destroyed everything.

Titan gave me the benefit of the doubt to get things cleared up with the reporter. She was pissed beyond reason, but she had the logic to hear me out. She still had enough affection for me to give me a little bit of room to make my case.

But all that went out the window when she saw the files sitting in my bottom drawer.

There was no coming back from that.

It was incriminating as hell. It was the smoking gun, the physical proof that I’d snooped around in her business. When I said I got the information but never looked at it, even I could barely believe myself. There was no way a smart woman like Tatum Titan would buy it.

I was in such deep shit.

I didn’t know what to do.

I didn’t know where to begin.

How did I fix this?

I started at the New York Times. I walked into the building and asked for Jared Newman. After waiting for nearly forty-five minutes, I was finally taken to his office. This guy was just a faceless name, but I wanted to murder him right in front of dozens of witnesses. “Why did you name me as the source in your article?” I didn’t introduce myself or make small talk. Getting myself vindicated was the only chance I had to get Titan back.

He looked at me over his desk, slightly timid by the ferocity in my gaze. He looked like a typical reporter, wearing a light blue collared shirt with glasses. He was in his early forties, his eyes beginning to crinkle around the corners. “Because you were the source—and you told me I could name you.”

“When?” I hissed. “You and I have never spoken. We’ve never even emailed each other. Who did you speak to?”

“You,” he said in a bored voice. “At least, that’s what I was told at the time.”

“Did this happen over the phone?” I should take a seat but I couldn’t. I was far too maniacal not to stand. There was so much adrenaline, so much destruction inside my veins. I wanted to trash his office the way I just trashed mine.

“Yes.”

“When? I want all the details.”

“Three days ago. You called at four in the afternoon, said you were Diesel Hunt, and told me your story. Told me to name you as the source. You sent me a packet of documents from the police department to prove your story.”

Someone was out to get me. But who? “Don’t you have a process to actually check your sources before you name them? I never called you. I never sent anything. Someone else impersonated me. I’m being framed here.”

“Framed?” he asked. “You aren’t being accused of a crime.”

“Tatum Titan is my business partner. She thinks I threw her under the bus when I didn’t. This has to be cleared up.”

Jared shrugged like he didn’t know what to do. “All the information checked out, and the papers said they were from you. The damage has been done. The story is all over the news. What am I supposed to do? I can’t write another article just to say the source was unknown, not you.”

“Damn right, you can.”

“No one is going to read it. And we aren’t going to print our mistake.”

“Don’t you think there’s a story in this mysterious person who went through all of this?” I pressed. “Don’t you think there’s a story to tell there?”

“Give me evidence, and I’ll look into it. So far, you haven’t given me any proof that it wasn’t you that I spoke to. Now that you’re taking heat, maybe you’ve changed your mind about the whole thing. You want me to clear your name when you still did the crime.”

I had to remind myself murder was illegal. I couldn’t kill this guy without spending the rest of my life in jail.

“The best I can do is call Tatum Titan and explain to her that there’s a possibility someone posed as you when they gave me this information.”

“It’s gotta be better than that.” I could pay anyone to call her and pretend to be a reporter. That won’t mean shit to Titan.

He shrugged again. “Then there’s nothing else I can do. Unless you provide substantial evidence that your suspicion is right, I can’t print anything else.”

“You know what you could do?” I clenched my jaw as I stared at him. “You can make sure you get the right source next time. What is this? A high school newspaper?” I stormed out of his office and tried to break the door when I slammed it.

I was exactly where I started—at the bottom.

---

When I reached her building, there were a dozen reporters outside. Like zookeepers waiting for a wild animal to emerge, they had their nets and cages ready. They wanted to swarm Titan the second she made an appearance and bombard her with questions she didn’t want to answer.

Ridiculous.

Being seen walking into her building would just give them something new to print, so I returned to the back seat of my car and called her.

No answer.

“Fuck.” I tried again.

No answer.

I rested my head against the dark leather and closed my eyes, feeling the sinking sensation inside my chest. I felt weaker than I ever had. My entire life was a mess, and I didn’t know how to fix it. Titan wouldn’t speak to me, and I knew it would be an uphill battle just to get her to listen to me for one minute.

I didn’t know what to do.

If it were me, I wouldn’t even return to my penthouse. She must know about the reporters huddled outside. She probably checked in to a hotel room or was staying with someone.

That thought made me think of Thorn.

She was probably with him.

I had Thorn’s number, so I called him. I didn’t expect the conversation to go well. I didn’t even expect to get what I wanted. But I had to start somewhere.

It rang three times before he answered. When he spoke, he sounded more menacing than I’d ever heard him. Our mutual jealousy over one another seemed like high school drama compared to the threat in his tone. “The only reason you are alive right now is because I haven’t figured out how to get away with murder.”

I didn’t doubt him, not when he’d actually killed someone once before. But the threat meant nothing to me when all I cared about was Titan. “I didn’t do it, Thorn.”

“Give it up, jackass.”

“I didn’t,” I repeated. “I just went down to the Times and—”

“I don’t care. Titan doesn’t care. The only reason why I answered the phone is so I can give you our stance on the situation. You are officially our biggest nemesis. You are marked as our enemy. And you’re about to find out what we do to our enemies.”

“Thorn—”

“Titan will meet you at Stratosphere tomorrow morning. You’ll come to an agreement on what to do with the company. In the meantime, don’t bother either one of us. You’ve done enough.”

Click.