The text hadn’t been a mistake. A terrible dread slithered up his spine. His blood pressure shot up by fifty points as he sat up in bed. He reread the texts. What was he missing? He gave his head a sharp shake.
He was done with this texting nonsense. He tapped on her contact number and soon the phone began ringing. He waited for her to answer, his pulse thumping in his temples, but it rang until voice mail picked it up.
Seriously? He disconnected the call and texted her.Pick up the phone, Chloe.
He called again. But it rang through to voice mail. He gritted his teeth. What was going on? This wasn’t like her at all. He sent another text.Why won’t you answer the phone?The temperature in his room seemed to have risen by ten degrees. As he shoved off the covers, a new text appeared.
I don’t want to talk to you. I just want you to answer my question.
His thumbs shook as he tapped the virtual keyboard with more force than necessary.That’s kind of hard whenI don’t know what you’re talking about!He stabbed the Send button and waited.
And waited.
What could he have done to upset her like this? She’d been fine this afternoon on set before she’d gone to work. What could’ve happened between then and now?
Another text appeared.Maybe you haven’t seen your handiwork yet. But don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll get everything you wanted. And in case I haven’t been clear enough, we’re done.
Adrenaline pumping through his veins, he jumped from the bed and paced as he read her text once. Twice. He couldn’t make sense of it.
What was she talking about? He reread the entire thread.
“Seen my handiwork?” he muttered. “Get everything I wanted?”
He was at a loss. Could this have something to do with the media? Where else could he “see his handiwork”? Maybe one of the sites had posted some old picture of him with another woman and claimed he was cheating on her. But Chloe now knew better than to believe something like that, didn’t she?
He did a Google search using his name, something he never did. But there were too many hits to wade through. After a minute he figured out how to narrow them down to the past twenty-four hours. Quite a few hits appeared, includingPeoplemagazine, which was right at the top.
He clicked on it, mentally reviewing everything he’d said in his interview yesterday. He couldn’t think of anything that would warrant Chloe’s anger though. He’d talked about the movie and—
His thoughts came to an abrupt halt at the headline: “The Scandalous Scoop Behind Liam’s Lover.” His stomach dropped as his gaze fell to the photo, a zoomed-in photo of him and Chloe at the Fourth of July parade, happy and cozy as they waved their flags. He skipped to the article.
“It turns out Liam Hamilton isn’t the only part ofChliamwith a scandalous past. Chloe Anderson, the wholesome author who recently captured Liam’s heart, also has a shocking past. It appears her mother’s marriage to her pharmacy-rep father, Ted Daniels, was annulled because he’d already been married when he met her. The bigamist left Chloe’s family when he was exposed and, according to our source, has never contacted them again. Though bigamy is a felony, Daniels was never prosecuted; however, Chloe’s mother had her day in court. She was later awarded damages in a civil suit to the tune of half a million dollars.”
A fist tightened in Liam’s gut. He could only imagine how Chloe felt to have this painful experience exposed for public consumption. But why would she believe he was responsible? Yes, he’d been interviewed byPeople, but surely she knew he’d never betray her confidence like this.
He glanced at the short scoop. There was nothing in here that related to yesterday’s interview. Someone else, some “source,” had apparently preempted his article. After all, this story was more salacious than anything he’d revealed.
I just saw the article. You cannot believe I would do this to you! I wouldnever betray your confidence like that. Youhave toknow that. I never told the guy from People anything about your family.He sent the message and started to type more.
But beneath his text bubble the red words “not delivered” appeared. Frowning, he tried to send the text again.
The same message popped up.
He let out a huff of disbelief. Had she blocked him? She must’ve. He’d taken so long to respond that she’d given up on him. He wanted to throw his phone across the room.
He had to do something. He had to convince Chloe he had nothing to do with this. But what could he do? Go bang on her door?
Something gave him pause. He tossed his phone on the bed and planted his hands on his hips as he paced the room. He couldn’t believe she thought he’d do this. What had he ever done to make her think he was that kind of person? She should know him better than this.
But maybe she didn’t know him at all. Maybe he’d only been kidding himself. Maybe she only saw him as Liam the Hollywood celebrity the way everyone else did. This was certainly something a celebrity might do to capture the spotlight. To make himself relevant. Never mind that Liam would never.
She had to be deeply hurt that this private thing was now public. And he’d been in this business long enough to know the story had already gone viral. Other sites would’ve quickly picked it up; his fans would be tweeting about it.
His heart squeezed in sympathy. He wanted to hold her and assure her it would get better. That her father’s duplicity had nothing to do with her, that what he’d done was on him.
At the same time, everything in him wanted to go over there and defend himself. But should he really have to? Shouldn’t she believe him innocent until she had some kind of proof? Or at least offered him the chance to explain? Anger flared up, tensing everymuscle in his body. She hadn’t even asked him if he’d done it—she’d accused him.
He wanted to tell her he’d never hurt her like that. Never betray her. That he loved her. But what was the point? Did he really want to be involved with someone who would so easily believe terrible things about him? The media printed lies about him on a regular basis. Would she just believe them all? Would he come home to accusations of infidelity simply because some journalist thought it would make a good story?
