“Before, I felt paralyzed about my future,” I confess. “About what everyone expected from me. What they said my destiny had to be. The public eye is never easy, especially when your reputation is ruled by stupid mistakes you made years ago.”
I sigh.
“So, I made a snap decision to spruce up my image. I found a beautiful, smart, outrageously kind woman to get engaged to—to play my temporary fiancée. I set up a master sham.” I hold up my hands, but I’m not looking at the camera anymore.
My eyes are welded to Lena.
The whole truth and nothing but. That’s what I owe them.
My whole soul. That’s what I oweher.
“Stupid doesn’t begin to cover it, and when you mix ego with stupid and desperate, you get me. I didn’t want to deal with my image worries honestly or get tangled up in an arranged marriage with someone I didn’t love, so I did the next worse thing. I tried to pull one over on Seattle, my family, and my fans,” I growl, watching Lena every second. She’s so still she’s barely breathing. “I tried to buy myself time, hoping I’d become a real man rather than a wooden cutout. To figure out who the hell Brady Pruitt is supposed to be, because I still don’t know.
“That was the mistake I planned for. But the biggest mistake was the one I didn’t: falling for Miss Lena Jolyfor realand then falling apartwhen I let my own reckless anger go wild. I felt like I had to step in and thump my chest when she came under fire from a really awful dude I don’t need to mention. You know who he is, if you’ve been following the news. Turns out, I’m not the only person with a history I hate, but hers was much scarier than mine. And I couldn’t stand by and watch hers eat her alive. I had to protect my Lena.”
Her mouth drops.
Her lips quiver like she wants to say something but can’t find the words.
Understandable.
That was me this morning, figuring out this speech, even if I didn’t write down every line. I wound up with bullet points and decided I’d let the words come straight from the heart.
“I’m stating this as clear as day against the advice of my legal team. I’m the man behind exposing Harry Jay’s abusive business practices. I’m solely responsible for the leaks, and frankly, I’m proud of it,” I continue. “Any consequences, legal or otherwise, should fall on me alone.”
Lena shakes her head. Her eyes swirl like melted chocolate, hypnotic as ever.
These aren’t big revelations to her.
She knows what I did, but she doesn’t know how I feel about it.
I had to breach lines to save her.
I let my ego, my need to protect her, lead, even when she insisted she didn’t need help.
Ultimately, though, that’s not the point. I could’ve done it more carefully.
The point is, instead of listening to what she wanted, I insisted I knew better. I caused this mess.
“I regret how I went about it,” I say. “Not because he shouldn’t have been exposed, but because there are better ways. Also, this wasn’t my fight alone, and I’m sorry about that. I’m not sorry I sent Mr. Jay limping to court, because hedeservesto hurt for what he’s done. Only,hurting him shouldn’t’ve have caused anyone else pain—and it did. I’ll always regret that.”
Luis nods.
Lena almost cracks a smile but not quite.
“But you know what?” I let the loaded question linger in the air. “As much as I’ve screwed up these past few months—and I know I have—nothing I’ve done compares to the fatal mistake Harry Jay made. If you don’t know, he’s behind the leaked revenge porn.”
Lena’s eyes widen. I smile at her.
It’s going to be okay.
“Why did he do it? Why would anybody do something depraved?” I wave a hand. “Because I cornered him, and he wanted to hurt me back. All because he couldn’t steal an amazing business opportunity from his ex-girlfriend, Lena.”
I look at her, seeing her dawning understanding.
“That’s why he threatened her, and that’s why he did something so heinous. He tried to use her past and the pain he inflicted to coerce her into handing over a property he wanted. All for money.”
I’ve never seen so many comments landing on the tracker app, and I can’t stop to read a single one. But I’m sure a lot of jaws are hanging from people who didn’t know Harry and Lena ever dated—and how atrocious it was for Harry to pull that shit.
