Kate's phone started buzzing for about the twentieth time since arriving at her parents’ house to hide out. She was about to shut it off when she saw Drew's name and photo on the screen.

"Hello?" Kate said tentatively, not knowing what to expect from this call. Did he believe the gossip about her? Did he think she was only after him for his money, no better than Gwen?

Drew sighed, relief evident in his voice as he spoke. "I'm glad you picked up. How are you doing? I feel terrible about what's happening right now."

"I'm fine," she lied. She was a mess.

It had been like a nightmare when she got to work this morning and Oliver had asked her if she'd seen the latest trending story on social media. How had they gotten those photos of them? She still couldn't believe that her face was plastered all over the Internet next to Drew's. And who was the insider who'd told the reporter all those private details about her life? She couldn't think of anyone that would have said anything about her divorce, not that many people even knew about it. She'd only told her family and Drew. Had Nolan said something? Or his new girlfriend? She realized she had no idea who Nolan had told about it, or what he had said. It made sense that he would have told everyone outright lies about the situation to save face for himself.

What a disaster this was!

"How was your conversation with Gwen? When Alexis sent me home, she said something about you calling her."

"Gwen took it pretty well after I told her I knew about Dion."

"Of course." She waited for him to continue.

"I, uh…" Her stomach shrunk when he hesitated. Something was up, but she had no clue what it could be. He and Gwen wouldn't get back together, would they? He cleared his throat and continued. "Gwen suggested we stage an engagement, and when I told Alexis about it, she was all over it. Alexis is hoping to film it in Antigua next week."

What? Her stomach compressed so much it could probably turn coal into a diamond.

"And how do you feel about that?" She held her breath, not sure she wanted to hear his answer.

"I can see why Gwen and Alexis are excited about the idea."

"Yes, but how do you feel about it?"

The line was quiet for a moment before Drew finally said, "I'm not excited about it. But I think it could be worth it in the end. I mean, it’s not like I'll really be engaged, so I won't have to pretend in front of Gwen anymore. And I see it as a way to get the paparazzi off your back. I'm pretty sure they'll leave you alone after they find out nothing was going on between us."

A pang knifed at Kate's heart. Nothing was going on between them? She'd thought something might be going on. At least, after that kiss last night and their plans to run away, she'd really hoped something was changing.

"Wait, did I say something wrong?" Drew asked when she stayed quiet.

Kate swallowed and faked a happy tone. "Nope. I'm glad you've figured out a way to make everyone happy. I hope it all goes really well."

Her phone started beeping with another call from a number she didn't recognize.

"Hey, my sister is calling me. I probably better answer it," she lied to get off the phone. She couldn't continue this conversation much longer before her voice would start breaking down. She could already feel more tears stinging at the back of her eyes, and a sob building in her throat.

"Okay," Drew said. Kate thought he sounded worried, and maybe a little confused. "Again, I'm really sorry about all this. Apparently, it's hazardous for anyone to be seen with me right now. I hope you have a better day."

"Mmm-hmm," she managed to say before hanging up. Then she put her phone in airplane mode. She couldn't handle any more people that day.

* * *

Where did they get all these old photos from? Who would give these out? Kate wondered the next day, as she scrolled through another article about her and Drew's supposed affair. She had always hoped to see one of her stories make headlines—she'd just assumed it would be one she wrote, not one about her. But such was the life in Hollywood—you never really knew which story would sell.

But how had they found out so much about her and Drew's past? Somehow, the celebrity gossip sites had found photos of Kate and Drew from years ago. One was a snapshot taken from Drew and Aiden's high school graduation. In the original photo, Kate had stood between the two boys with their arms around each other. In the past, every time she'd looked at it, she would think, the three musketeers. But online, someone had completely cropped Aiden out of the picture, making it look like it was just Drew and Kate posing together.

How had they gotten that photo? The only people with a copy of that particular snapshot were Drew, Aiden, and herself. Maybe her parents too, but they would never sell them to a tabloid. Drew wouldn't have sold her out either. And neither of them had put those up on social media. And of course, Aiden hadn't leaked them.

Then something occurred to Kate. She quickly did a search on her browser to look at Aiden's old social media accounts. Sure enough, after minutes of scrolling, she found all of their old photos, and they were now being viewed by the whole country.

It was amazing what kinds of stories could be fabricated from a handful of photos.

The current story on the screen questioned whether Drew and Kate had been in on the whole thing together from the start: Speculations about whether Drew had become the bachelor just so Kate could get into the business; how they had been dating secretly for years; and how her marriage to Nolan had only been about the money.

Like she even ended up with any money. Kate scoffed. All she got out of that sham of a marriage was an apartment that Nolan had pre-paid for a year. It was ridiculous how many lies had been spread in the last few days.

When she took her phone off airplane mode for a few minutes, she had hoped to find a message or missed call from Drew. But there was nothing.

Kate tried not to feel disheartened about it. Nothing could happen between them. They couldn't be seen together. It would ruin the show's new plans of a fake engagement. So she might as well get used to the distance now.

Alexis had texted her about the plans for the next week, asking Kate if she could come back in that afternoon and help arrange everything that needed to be put together for the re-shoot. But oh, how she hated the idea of setting everything up for Gwen and Drew to spend more time together. She'd seen their chemistry on plenty of the episodes, and even if they hadn't gotten along perfectly after filming, they still had sparks when they kissed. And they would probably be doing more kissing if they were fake-engaged.

The whole thing made her sick. Things had finally seemed like they might have a chance of working out between her and Drew. Drew had invited her to run away with him for a few days. He wouldn't have suggested that if he hadn't had feelings for her. Would he?

Except, he'll be doing just that with Gwen instead.

Kate wrapped her arms around herself, her stomach churning. This job was supposed to make her life better, not worse.

But once again, something was in the way of her and Drew getting together. At least this time, she hadn't left her heart out there to hang for too long—only a few well-timed pictures and fake headlines that she wished were actually true.

Because if they were, maybe all of this might have been worth it.