"She's nothing more than a means to help my reputation. A business arrangement." I looked directly into the nearest camera as I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket. "I'm donating to her bakery to help the cancer research fundraiser. Leave her alone. She's not part of any story."
The questions exploded louder but I shoved through the crowd toward my car. There was no getting into the bank now. They'd follow me inside and turn it into a circus, which would only prove my father's point that this was out of hand.
Their camera flashes continued as I climbed into my car and fired it up. I wasn't out of the parking lot when my phone started buzzing again. Seconds later it rang through to my hands-free unit and Gavin's number scrolled across the touch screen.
"What?" I snapped the instant the call connected through to my car speakers.
"Your father's asking for you. He says it's urgent." Gavin sounded unamused. When was it not urgent?
"Everything's urgent with him," I grumbled as I turned onto Las Vegas Boulevard, heading back toward the Atlas.
"Kade." Gavin's voice dropped. "He sounds serious. You should go." As annoyed as I was, Gavin was probably right. If I had managed to get into the bank, they might very well have told me to speak with my father anyway. Elias Kingston might've been my father but he was a shrewd businessman, and chances were that he'd done this just to force me to come to him on my knees.
I hung up and changed direction, heading toward my parents' estate on the edge of town. The drive gave me too much time to think about what I'd just done, calling Lainey a business arrangement on camera. It seemed like the right thing to say at the time, but in the aftermath it haunted me. Taking the ring off was a smart move, but now my gut felt sick over what I'd said. What if she didn't see it as me protecting her and she thought I really felt that way about her?
The gates opened when I arrived and I parked in the circular driveway. Both of my parents' cars were parked around front, which wasn't usual, but nothing about this was usual.
I walked inside and found my father in his study with Mom standing beside him. A tabloid was spread across his desk and he was on the phone, complaining very loudly to whomever was on the other end of the line.
He hung up when he saw me and gestured to the chair across from him. "Sit down," he ordered but I stayed standing.
"What's going on?" I tried so hard to keep my cool and act more mature. Part of growing up and being a better man required a lot more focus and emotional control than I was used to applying, but I had to do it, for Lainey's sake.
He turned the tabloid toward me. The headline screamed: "Kingston's Heir's Womanizing Ways Continue!"
Below it was the grainy photo from the hallway—the one where Lainey's face was turned away from the camera. It wasn't exactly news since MTV had already busted the story wide open last night, though I hadn't been able to get through to Lainey about it yet. Still, it wasn’t good. Dad would never have seen the MTV spot, but there was no way to get around this.
But beneath that was another image from what looked like security footage. The timestamp was visible in the corner. It was me and Lainey in that same hallway, but this angle showed more detail—me kissing her and my hand on her waist. Her face was still obscured but it was damning.
"Where did this come from?" I picked up the tabloid.
"Someone leaked the security feed." My father stood and moved to the window. "Mark thinks it was one of the new guys, but we're not sure. It doesn’t matter... the damage is done. This has to end, Kade."
I scanned the article. They still didn't have Lainey's name, but they had enough to keep digging. If enough people got curious it wouldn't take that much effort to track me back to her. My god, it was out of control.
"This is going to blow up," my mother said, clicking her tongue. "They’re going to make a mockery out of our family name."
"No they won't," I protested, throwing the tabloid back on the desk. "They don’t have anything, no proof."
"Not yet—" My father turned to face me. "—but it's only a matter of time. How long until someone feeds the notion into her head that she could rake us over the coals for millions of dollars?" His eyes narrowed on me and I knew he was right about one thing—the press wouldn’t leave this alone. Lainey would get dragged through the mud no matter what.
"So what do you want me to do?" Exasperated, I ran both my hands through my hair and slumped into the chair. This was out of control.
"Well they're saying you preyed on her and got her drunk. Some tabloids are painting you as a predator, Kade. "Mom's voice was softer and more gentle than my father’s, but it still made me angry. "It's better to be honest than to let them defame you. You won’t come back from that. You know men in their sixties who still carry the stain of a scandal from life in their twenties..."
She wasn't wrong either. My father's best friend, a golf course owner, had been accused of rape in his teens and he still hadto deal with that nonsense to this day, even though he was acquitted.
I grumbled and covered my face with both hands. The paparazzi infuriated me. They couldn't just keep to themselves and I hated it. They were backing me into a corner I never wanted to be in.
"What do I do?" I asked reluctantly. Asking my father for advice left a bitter taste on my tongue, but if there was one thing he was good at it was managing my public image. He'd been doing that since I was a fifteen-year-old accused of grand theft auto.
"Go public with the marriage," Dad said, standing. "Issue a statement and control the narrative before it controls you."
"No." I stood and walked toward the door. "I told her I'd keep it quiet."
"This is bigger than your promises now." My father's voice hardened. "If you don't go public, the story becomes about you and your womanizing. Is that what you want?"
"I want you to leave Lainey alone," I snarled. She didn't deserve this.
