Loud gasps ripple through the crowd as Zoey reveals the photo.
“I know—I was shocked, too. I’m sad I’m not the one he’s settling down with.” Zoey sighs and the crowd roars with laughter.
“Maddox has never been seen traveling with another woman, so it must be serious. Sources are saying the girl in the photo is his high school sweetheart, Annalise Monroe.”
“Oh, this is a fucking disaster.” I lean back, scrubbing my hand down my face. “You don’t think it was anyone from your cabin crew, do you?”
Maddox flicks off the TV. “I hope not. It took a while for me to find a good crew. I’d hate to fire them. But it could’vebeen anyone… People are aware that I have a private jet. I’ll talk to my publicist to see if she can find out who’s behind this.”
“What if we were followed on our other dates, too? What if they took photos of us skinny dipping?” My pulse races, my palms slick with sweat as the possibility of those photos being leaked crosses my mind.
Maddox shakes his head. “I don’t think so. We were in the middle of nowhere. Plus, those photos would’ve been leaked a while ago.” He reaches for my hand, giving it a squeeze. “You have nothing to worry about, Rosie.”
“Nothing to worry about?” I stare at him in disbelief. “I haveeverythingto worry about. I could lose my job.”
Veronica’s warning rings in my ears.“Mr. Kamado is our client and having a sexual relationship with him is strictly prohibited. So unless you want to be out of a job, I highly suggest you refrain from getting involved with him.”
After Raven posted the viral video of the clothing she got from my shop, the number of orders I received tripled. But I still wasn’t making enough to quit Dauntless—especially after subtracting the cost of the materials.
If I increased my prices, I would make a whole lot more, but I want my clothes to be affordable to everyone.
“I don’t think Veronica will fire you over this. She needs an assistant, and I don’t think anyone else could last as long as you have. It takes a special kind of person to be able to put up with her bullshit daily.” Maddox grins.
I let out a small chuckle. “True. Ivy did say Veronica’s previous assistants never lasted longer than a month.”
Leaning forward, he kisses my forehead. “We’ll get through this. It’s us against the world.”
“Hopefully it’ll blow over soon.” I sigh.
“Until it does, stay off social media. And no more watchingThe Scoop.”
I did the opposite of staying away from social media. The moment I woke up, I grabbed my phone and scrolled through Instagram. Photos of us from high school have resurfaced, and the hashtagmaddaliseis currently trending. There are some positive comments talking about how we make such a cute couple, but amongst those are negative ones.
“What does he see in her? She’s not even that pretty.”
“She’s probably a gold digger.”
“Why is he with her? She’s a nobody.”
Heat rises in me as I scroll through all the comments.
Maddox stirs next to me and rubs his eyes. “Good morning, beautiful.” He kisses me softly on my lips.
“Ugh, people are so rude!” I groan.
He peeks over at my screen and sees the comments.
“Annaliiise,” Maddox groans. “I told you to not look at those things.” Grabbing my phone, he tucks it under the pillow.
I chew on the inside of my cheeks. “I can’t help myself. I hate that people are saying these things about me.”
“Don’t pay attention to those trolls. They’re nothing but losers hiding behind a keyboard,” he says, trying to reassure me.
But all of those negative comments are getting to me. Maddox’s hard work and talent is what made him famous, and I want the same for me, too. I want to be recognized for being a fashion designer, but now I fear that people will only ever see me as a famous basketball player’s girlfriend.
They’ll probably think that the only reason I become successful is because of him.
Everyone’s eyes are on me, and indistinct whispers fill the roomwhen I step into the office. Ever since our relationship leaked over the weekend, I’ve been dreading coming back to work.
