Reporters were pestering me left and right, and new articles were surfacing on the internet. My worst nightmare was becoming a reality, and I prayed people wouldn’t dig any deeper. I could live with the scar the public was painting on me, as much as it killed me, but I couldn’t let this ruin Thorn.

Not when he was the only person in the world I could trust.

He deserved better.

I stayed at his penthouse because I couldn’t go back to mine. Reporters camped out there overnight, waiting for the chance to interview me. Even getting a glimpse of me on camera was good publicity for them. Just when my image had reached new heights, it came crashing down all over again.

I was livid with Hunt, so angry that I didn’t have a chance to feel the heartbreak that was bound to follow. Above all else, I felt so goddamn stupid. He lured me right into the trap, and I fell for it.

How could I let this happen?

How I could I trust him so easily?

Thorn hung up the phone and tossed it on the table, not caring about the livelihood of his device. He sighed and massaged his wrist, a habit he’d had for years. He needed to do something with his hands when he was angry, to concentrate on something so he wouldn’t explode.

I didn’t ask about the conversation because I heard every single word. Hunt continued to proclaim he was innocent even though the writing was on the wall. He’d already made a fool of us once, and now he was trying to do it again.

Not gonna happen.

My glass was firmly in my grasp, the ice cubes getting the surface cold. I set it down because it was empty. I was too depressed for another drink—and that was a first for me. “Thorn…I’m so sorry.” I closed my eyes, so ashamed that I couldn’t look at him. “I never wanted this to happen to you. I never should have told him…”

“Titan.”

I didn’t open my eyes.

“Titan,” he repeated.

I took a deep breath before I looked at him, squaring my shoulders and appearing as strong as possible.

Thorn flashed me his merciless stare. “Don’t apologize to me. Tatum Titan doesn’t apologize to anyone.”

“But I’m not Tatum Titan right now. I’m just Tatum when I’m with you. I could handle this so much better if it affected only me. But I know how bad this could be for you.”

“It’s going to be fine,” he said confidently. “There’s not enough evidence to pin anything on me. Even if Hunt is trying to incriminate me, he doesn’t have any evidence. He only has what you said. Even if he recorded you, he can’t use it in a court of law. And if a jury ever were to ask you what happened that night, I know you would cover for me. There’s nothing to be worried about.”

I suspected this wasn’t over. I suspected this nightmare was only beginning.

“This is how we’re going to handle this,” Thorn said. “You’re gonna go on about your life with your head held high. You aren’t going to stop going to work. You are only going to take one interview, one that really matters. You aren’t going to lie about what happened. But you’re gonna make everyone feel like shit for ever asking you about it.”

The last thing I wanted to do was talk about it. Now everyone was painting me as a domestic violence victim. I used to be a symbol of strength for women everywhere. I didn’t put up with bullshit, ever. I held my head high. Knowing I ever let someone defeat me emotionally and physically was devastating to everyone. How could I be a champion to the world?

“You’re going to change the narrative,” Thorn said. “You’re gonna come out on top. Don’t worry about it.”

“I don’t know about that…everyone is judging me as we speak.”

“And we’re gonna make them feel like shit for doing it. You’re going to prove to everyone how strong you are. You’re going to prove to everyone that you can still come out on top even when you start at the bottom. If anything, this is going to make you an even bigger role model, Titan. You’ll see.”

“I hope so…” Even if we could bury this, it didn’t change the biggest issue in my life. My business partner betrayed me. The man I fell in love with never loved me. His only interest in me was to destroy me. It was only a matter of time before he told the world about our arrangement, that my relationship with Thorn was nothing but a big hoax. He was going to destroy my reputation. He was going to burn me alive.

I wanted to kill him.

“You had Hunt sign an NDA, right?” Thorn asked.

I closed my eyes.

Thorn knew the answer. “Shit.”

“He refused to sign it…said we didn’t need it.”

“Fuck, this nightmare just keeps getting worse.”

Now I knew why he didn’t sign it. Now I knew it was his goal all along.

“You’re meeting him tomorrow. Buy him out even if he price-gouges you. Just get rid of him. You want me to be there?”

I put on a brave face, but I was broken underneath. It would be so much easier to let Thorn handle this. But I couldn’t let Hunt know he ruined me. I couldn’t give him the satisfaction of victory. I’d been demolished a lot in my life, but I always put the pieces back together and built myself back up. This would be no different. I would look him in the eye, wear my hardest expression, and show him he didn’t make a single dent in my hard exterior. “No. I can handle it.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes.” I was Tatum Titan. Nothing could destroy me. I could do this.

---

I was purposely late, wasting Hunt’s time intentionally.

The elevator doors opened, and I walked onto the floor where our four assistants sat. They all looked at me differently, every single one of them having read the article from top to bottom.

I was going to get this look a lot, so I had to deal with it. “Morning, ladies.” I walked by them and into the conference room, my stilettos tapping against the floor as I walked absolutely straight. My posture was perfect, my outfit was sophisticated, and I wore a slight smile like today was just like every other day.

Hunt stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, his hands in his pockets. His ass looked tight in his slacks, and his jacket fit over his broad shoulders precisely. Slim in the hips and broad across the back, he was the same masculine man he was before.

But I refused to feel anything.

My stilettos announced my presence.

Hunt spun around and looked at me with those mocha-colored eyes, the ones that used to stare at me when we were in bed together. He still wore that look of devastation, like this was all as much of a surprise to him as it was to me. “Tatum—”

“I prefer Titan, Mr. Hunt.” I took a seat at the head of the table and opened my folder. “Please take a seat so we can get started.” I didn’t look up as I organized my things, treating him like any other client I had to deal with. I’d dealt with assholes all my life, and I did it with the kind of poise that only annoyed them more. Hunt was no different.

He moved swiftly across the room and dropped into the chair on my right. He leaned forward, invading my space with his magnetic field. “I talked to the reporter, and he said he spoke with me over the phone. Apparently, ‘I’ mailed him the police reports, and that was why—”

“I’m here to discuss business, Mr. Hunt. Nothing else.” I pulled the first page from my folder and placed it in front of him. “This is my offer.”

“Your offer for what?” He didn’t look down at the paper sitting on the mahogany table. His eyes were glued to my face, where they stayed without deviation. The only thing he seemed to care about was me. Not business. Not numbers.

“I’m buying you out. Stratosphere will be a Titan property.”

He pushed the paper back without looking at it. “Forget business for a second.”

“Business is the only commonality between us.” I slid the paper back toward him. “I have no interest in discussing anything else. I don’t care for an explanation, an apology, or a justification. It is what it is, and I’d like to move forward.”

“We aren’t moving forward.” He lowered his voice, his tone turning deadly. Every time I tried to control the situation, his aggression rose a few degrees. His magnetic field increased, affecting me and everything else in the building. He was a stronger opponent than all the others I’d faced. He got between my legs, made me fall in love with him like I didn’t have a choice, and now he was still affecting me with his raw masculinity. I could smell testosterone in the air—because it was his cologne. “I didn’t squeal to the New York Times, but I’m still trying to get sufficient proof for you. The reporter said the person called him on the phone. That’s why he assumed it was me. I know that folder in my desk was incriminating. I don’t blame you for assuming I betrayed you. I’d assume the same thing—”

“Then let it go. You got me. Good job.” I finally raised my head and met his gaze, doing my best not to give the slightest reaction. I didn’t show my rage or my heartbreak. Like I was speaking to a wall, I showed him the same indifference.

“Titan, it wasn’t me. I had my PI get that information for me nearly two months ago. I admit I was going to read it. I wanted to know everything about you. I wanted to know why you were the way you were. But I didn’t read it because I knew it was wrong. I respected you way too much to pry into your private life. When you were ready, I knew you would tell me. And that’s what I did. I know that’s hard to believe—”

“And I don’t.”

He sighed in agitation, like I was the one being difficult. “You have to believe me, Titan. Because if you don’t, you’re going to have a bigger problem on your hands. There’s obviously someone out there who has it out for you. If they’re framing me, then they know we’re together. And if they know we’re together, then there’s another scandal coming your way. We have to figure out who it is—together.”

When I listened to the sincerity in his voice, the obvious care in his tone, it made me want to believe him. My life would be so much easier if he were telling the truth. Being with Hunt was pure happiness. I’d never smiled so much. I’d never felt so at ease. Having that brutally taken away from me was just as bad as the actual betrayal. But all the evidence was stacked against him.

“You’re the smartest woman I know. Why would I do this? You’re my business partner. When you look bad, I look bad.”

“I’m your competition. So is Thorn.”

“And you don’t think marrying you fixes my problem?” he asked incredulously. “Once our assets are combined, I’ll be launched to the very top of the list—as will you. It doesn’t make any sense for me to betray you like this.”

“You could get rid of Thorn.”

“Again, once you’re my wife, he’ll bite the dust. Doesn’t add up either.”

“You’ve had it out for me since the beginning. You wanted to buy that publishing house from me.”

“As an investment,” he argued. “That was all. Nothing else.”

This wouldn’t go anywhere. He would just tell me more lies, and I would just ignore them. “I’m tired of talking about this—”

“Too damn bad. We’re gonna talk about this until we figure it out.” He slammed his hand on the table. “I’m not losing you, Titan. It’s the first time in my life I actually feel like a whole person. I’m happy, and I’m not letting that go. I finally found a woman who makes me feel something, gives me a reason to work harder and be better. I’m not letting you go. And more importantly, there is someone out there that wants to hurt you. I can’t let that happen. I need to protect you.”

“I don’t need your protection, Mr. Hunt—”

“Don’t call me that.” He leaned closer toward me, his eyes burning into mine. “I should have told you this sooner, but I kept forgetting in light of everything else going on in our lives. One night, I left your penthouse and saw Bruce Carol walk out. To my knowledge, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t live there.”

A lot of other successful businesspeople lived in Tribeca. It’s possible he was visiting someone. “There’s a lot more evidence against you than Bruce Carol right now.”

“A month later, I saw him again. He got into a blacked-out car and drove off.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“He’s pissed at the way we destroyed him, and he’s out to hurt both of us.”

I held his expression while keeping my composure, but a tiny seed of doubt had been planted in the lining of my stomach. What scared me most was the fact that I wanted to trust Hunt even though the past taught me not to. Now, I didn’t know what to think. Maybe Hunt hadn’t seen Bruce Carol at all. Maybe he was just making that up to trick me. I didn’t know what to think—and that scared me.

Hunt hardly blinked as he looked at me. “He could be watching us in your penthouse somehow. And now he’s using all of this against us. It makes sense, Titan. It’s the only thing that makes sense since I didn’t do this. He’s probably going to drop something else soon. He’s probably going to tell everyone about us. We have to be prepared.”

I couldn’t listen to this anymore. His sweet words were getting into my heart. “If you told me the reporter got the information wrong, I might have believed you. I could go down there and hear him out. But the fact that the paperwork was in your drawer…”

He bowed his head and sighed.

“I just don’t trust you. I don’t trust anything you say. It sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me.”

“Baby—”

“Don’t ever call me that again.”

He closed his eyes like I’d just backhanded him.

“I was a fool for letting you in. I was a fool for thinking a relationship with someone else would ever work. I’m done being made into a fool.”

“I’ve never betrayed you. I’ve always had your back, Titan. I’m nothing but loyal.”

“You need to figure out what loyalty means—because you obviously don’t know.” I grabbed the paper and pushed it back at him. “Now let’s get this squared away so I never have to see you again.”

The masculine sigh he exhaled was full of restrained rage. He turned his gaze to the paper where my offer was written in red ink. “No.”

“That offer is already generous.”

“There’s no amount you could offer to make me sell.” He ripped the page into pieces and tossed them onto the table. “The company has had no chance to grow. This place could easily be worth billions in a few years. I’m not selling a company that I believe in.”

“Then name a price.”

“I said there’s no amount that will entice me.” He straightened in his chair, his shoulders broad like a beam. It was one of my favorite features, the way he carried so much power in his body. When his arms were wrapped around me, I never felt safer. “We’re staying partners, Titan.”

“Then I’ll sell.”

“We both know that’s not going to happen. I’m not giving you a dime. The only way you can walk away is if you leave empty-handed. And we know that’s not going to happen after everything you invested.”

So he was going to make this as difficult as possible.

“I’m not going anywhere. Neither are you. We’re in this together.”

This was the exact reason why I didn’t go into business with anyone. I hated another person having power over me. They always abused it. I was tempted to walk away from this company, but I knew it would be a big success. And I didn’t want to walk away from all the money I’d already invested into it. He was leaving me with no choice.

I pulled the paper away and presented the next one.

Hunt glanced at it, giving me a quizzical expression. “What is this?”

“Payment for your silence.”

He eyed it again before he turned his furrowed eyebrows on me. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

I pushed the NDA toward him. “Sign this, and you walk away with five million dollars.” I could pay someone else a much smaller fee, but since Hunt was insanely wealthy, that was the smallest price that would entice him.

He didn’t look at the paper again, staring at me like he hated me. He shook his head slightly, his jaw clenched.

“We never had a relationship. I don’t have arrangements. We’re business associates, and that’s all.” I could live down this scandal in a few months. But if Hunt went public with this, it would ruin my reputation. The world would think I was a cheating freak.

He grabbed the pen off the table and added his signature.

I was relieved he signed it, but also hurt. All Hunt cared about was money. He probably sold my story to the newspaper because he was paid millions for it. If only he’d come to me first, I could have doubled the price.

After he added his signature, he crossed out the line in the contract that stated he would receive five million dollars. He scratched it out and wrote a zero on top. He pushed it back and slammed the pen down. “I don’t want your money. I’ve never wanted your money. I just want you.”

My hand trembled slightly, and I did my best to hide it.

His eyes were glued to mine. “I didn’t sell your secret. And I would never sell any of your secrets.” He pushed the paper back with a forceful shove. “It wasn’t me, Titan. I’ll say it as many times as it takes.”

I placed the paper in my folder. “We’re done here.”

“Like hell, we are.” His hand grabbed my wrist. He squeezed it, but he didn’t apply as much pressure as he usually did.

I couldn’t let the touch linger. I couldn’t let him play me—again. I yanked my hand away. “Don’t ever touch me again, Hunt. If you do, I’ll give you my signature right hook. And trust me, it hurts like hell.” I left the table and walked away.

“Titan.”

I kept walking.

“You know me, Titan. I would never do that to you. Just take some time to think about it.”

I got to the door but didn’t turn around.

“I’m not giving up on you.”

My body wanted to freeze before I crossed the threshold, but I refused. When Hunt broke my heart, I gave up on love for good. It was over for me. I was grateful I had an arrangement that I could rely on. “I’m marrying Thorn.”

“Over my dead body.”

I looked at him over my shoulder, holding his gaze with steady eyes. “Then you’re gonna die young.”