I nod.
We move swiftly through the crowd, my heart hammering hard in my chest.
I’m swallowed by bodies and noise, a ladybug surrounded by red ants.
“Back up!” a guard yells.
A camera flashes too close. There’s a sudden shove, and a man nearly goes down.
“Miss Alvarez,” someone calls. “We need a statement.”
“Who is he?” another voice shouts.
“Did you really get married?”
“Is it true the rings are plastic?”
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
I lift a hand, silently announcing that my love-hate relationship with the paparazzi has tipped, just for today, into cooperation.
The noise cuts out, replaced by the staccato burst of flashes. The crowd freezes. Every lens trained on me. Every microphone inching closer.
They’re waiting now.
And it would be so easy.
One sentence, and I could end this. Protect Harrison. Protect the kids. Shut it down before the media circus rages completely out of control.
Harrison’s voice cuts through my thoughts in an instant.
Don’t you dare say a word about divorce.
A reporter pushes forward. “You were just engaged to Pierce Maddox. He claims the two of you are still in love. Why marry this guy?”
And suddenly, it’s simple.
They want a story. I give them the truth.
“When you know, you know.”
CHAPTER 50
Ava
“That’s a wrap, folks,” Jay says.
I know it was asking a lot to cut production short.
But if Princess Luna can’t call in a favor once in a blue moon, what’s the point?
Jay isn’t just a director. He was my first real acting coach. The one who taught me how to stop performing and start listening.
How to find the truth on camera and stay there, even when it was uncomfortable.
Somewhere along the way, he became family. A second dad.
Which means, he knows this wasn’t a casual ask.
