“Fuck,” James says, his eyes rounding. “How?”
I shake my head.I don’t fucking know.“An anonymous source,” I explain, my brain turning to fucking mush, trying to comprehend what is happening. Who the hell could it be? “Apparently, they’ve known for a while. They heard me andMadeline talk about the contract when it was still fake between us.”
“Shit man, I’m so sorry,” Aiden says, his face dropping.
“What about the NDA?” Grayson asks.
Fuck. I completely forgot about that.
“I need to go.” I lift myself off the couch, ringing Ana as soon as I’m out of the door.
She picks up immediately. “Are you kidding me?” she yells into the phone. “After everything we did to save your career, you manage to throw it all away?”
My jaw flexes, every muscle in my body tightening. “Did you read the article?” I ask her. “It wasn’t fucking us. An anonymous source has proof.”
“What proof?” she asks. “How would anyone know? Did you tell anyone?”
I squeeze my eyes closed, thinking of Madi. She was so nervous about that goddamn NDA, I can’t put her in this position.
“I told my family,” I tell her. “But that's it. No one else.”
“Unbelievable,” Ana scoffs. “Did the contract mean nothing to you?” she asks.
“It did,” I assure her. “But it wasn’t them. They would never do this.”
“Well, someone did,” she replies. “And now everything we’ve worked so hard for has all been for nothing.”
I shake my head, just wanting to come out and say it. “We’re dating,” I blurt out. “Me and Madeline are dating. Isn’t that enough to discredit the source?” I ask her.
She lets out a laugh, strained and bitter. “Maybe if you had told me this before, we could have gotten ahead of it, but theyheard you, Lucas. They heard a fight between you.” She lets out a harsh sigh. “I should have known this would happen.”
“I don’t understand.” I shake my head. “When would they have heard us? We didn’t—” I trail off when realization hits. “The party.”
“Party?” she asks. “What party?”
Fuck. Of course. How did I not think of that before? “We… we were arguing before we got together, and we were in public, so I took Madeline to a quieter place.” I rub my jaw. “We talked about the contract,” I admit, knowing this is going to kick me in the fucking ass. “Someone must have heard.”
“God damn it, Lucas.”
“Listen,” I start, my hand clutching the phone in my fist. “We happened to be arguing and someone followed us, alright? I didn’t see who it was, but they must have heard everything, and they have proof. I don’t know what of, but it was enough that the media would post about it.”
A heavy sigh comes from the other side. “This is a nightmare,” she mumbles. “Your career will be done after this,” she says, her voice hardened. “Your credibility is in shambles, Lucas. There’s no way another company will want to associate with you after this.”
I don’t give a fuck about that anymore.
I haven’t cared about modeling for a long time, and to be honest, I don’t think I ever did.
As long as my family and my girl are taken care of, I don’t care what happens to my career.
I hang up the call and shove my phone in my pocket.
I need to find Madeline. They’re going to be ruthless, and she’s the most important thing right now. I need to protect her, even if it’s the last thing I do.
Chapter 35
Question number twenty-one
“How much did you get paid?”
