“Uh, uh, uh.” My brother shakes his index finger back and forth. “What did I say about asking questions?” He drags a hand across his mouth as though zipping it shut.
My eyes narrow as red clouds my vision.
The last thing I wanted today was to deal with the likes of him. But if there’s one thing my brother doesn’t know how to do, it’s take no for an answer.
To my dismay, Adam flips over the magazine he’s been holding close to his chest to reveal an obnoxious yellow font across a flowery background. And right there, front and center, is a poorly arranged collage of Vivienne’s and my faces—with the worst title of them all.
Cover Up: Nate Archer Uses Aerospace Engineering Firm to Date and Lure in Younger Girls. Could he be the next Leonardo DiCaprio?
“What kind of sick joke are you playing on me, Adam?” I grit through my teeth with a scowl.
I have more important things to worry about. The spark. The root of the cause. The downright awful news articles that’llspread about the integrity of our planes. Whatever Adam is putting me through is a waste of time—both his and mine.
I stand from my chair, marching over to my officially disowned brother.
A tap on the head is all he needs to knock some sense back into him. Yet the echo I expect to reverberate through his empty skull never comes when he catches my wrist, his expression a scowl as though he’s the one annoyed.
“I get that you’re angry, but if you haven’t figured it out, none of this is a joke. Those articles are circulating the internet as we speak, and if you thought the spark was bad, shit’s about to get exponentially worse.”
I yank my hand away from his grasp. “No one believes the shit these sources write. They don’t even come close to being reputable.”
Adam scoffs, shaking his head in disbelief. “This isn’t science, Nate—these articles don’t need to be peer reviewed. People believe whatever it is they read first, and right now, your integrity is being questioned. You’re the face of this firm, so you’d better figure out how to take care of these allegations before your personal reputation affects the business.”
I jab my shoulder into his as I walk past, getting slight satisfaction from seeing him jerk back. There’s no time for this tomfoolery. These so-called allegations he’s talking about have no solid ground.
“I have a company to run,” I say coldly, striding toward my office doors.
“You’ll regret not listening to me, Nate.” Adam gets in the last word.
His taunt lingers, but I cut it short with the violent slam of the office door, the sound echoing my answer in its stead.
———
The door to my office bursts open, and Melanie struts in, laptop in hand. Annoyance rises within me as I watch her plop herself onto one of my armchairs, setting the sleek, silvery device on my desk.
This is my second unwanted interruption today. And as much as I love my cousin, she ranks right up there with Adam on my list of people I’d rather not see.
“How are you doing, my dear cousin?” Melanie gives me her signature saccharine smile—the one she breaks out when she wants something. The thing is, at this moment in time, there’s nothing left for me to give. Emotionally. Financially. You name it. I’m burned out on all expenses.
As much as I hate to admit it, Adam was right.About everything.Though the spark wasn’t forgotten, it isn’t the main thing on people’s tongues.Apparently, getting caught in a fountain saving a woman’s life—for the second time that day—is enough to paint me as a predator.
I now understand why Staines was so defensive, but the thought that he believes something of that caliber about me so easily is downright insulting. We don’t know each other personally, but I thought it was obvious that the person they’ve painted me as is far from my character.
Not once in my years in the public eye have I been photographed with a woman…Well, that was true untilyesterday.And while I’ve been on dates, and the occasional setup by my mother, I made sure nothing ever got out.
I tried my hardest to keep my private life private and to keep engineering at the forefront of my image. Now, that lack of information is being twisted as proof that I’ve been hiding this so-called secret all along.
It’s all so stupid, and the last thing I need is Melanie scolding me on how I should have listened to her.
“What do you want?” I snap.
I’ve been a bitch to anyone who’s tried talking to me today, but what do they expect when everything I’ve worked for is crumbling before my eyes?
“You need me,” Melanie states with the utmost confidence.
“I need this problem fixed.” I let out a scoff, prompting her to smile a tad wider.
“And that’s where I come in.” She turns her laptop toward me, revealing a slideshow titledWhy You Should Make Me Your PR Agent.The theme is flowery, pink, and oh-so feminine, which quickly has me making up my mind about the proposition.
