“Shit,” she mutters.
She pulls out her phone. The buzz comes again, harsh and insistent. I lift my head, my face aching, my throat raw.
“What?” I ask. “What now?”
She looks at the screen, and the fury on her face is fresh and sharp, like a blade just pulled from the forge.
“It’s TMZ,” she says. “A reporter.”
My stomach drops, hollow and weightless.
“They know, Tess.”
She turns the phone so I can see it.
An unknown number.
A cheerful message.
Congratulatory.
Just got a tip that Ashford Ventures and Sunrise & Salt are partnering on a new ‘Sunrise & Soul’ franchise. Looking for a comment on the major deal. Congrats!
I stare at it.
The last piece clicks into place.
Rex didn’t just sign it.
He didn’t just lock it in.
He leaked it.
He turned my life into a headline.
The crying stops. It is abrupt. Like a switch flipped. The ice rushes back in, clean and total, sealing everything up. My hands curl into fists without me telling them to. My heart slows. My head clears.
“Don’t answer,” I say quietly.
Gwen looks at me, startled. “Tess…”
“Don’t,” I repeat. My voice is flat. Empty. Dangerous. “Not a word.”
I push myself up off the floor. My knees shake, but I stay upright. I wipe my face with the heel of my hand and don’t bother fixing the mess. I don’t need to look put together anymore.
I look around the bakery.
My bakery.
“Lock the front door,” I say. “Turn off all the lights.”
Gwen doesn’t ask questions. She just nods and moves.
I stand in the darkened shop, surrounded by steel and flour dust and the ghosts of everything this place has survived.
He wanted to fix me.
Rex wanted to sell me.
