“Was it him both times?” Lily asked, sounding concerned.
“Yeah,” I said while trying to kiss her again.
“Maybe you should answer it,” she said, stepping back.
“Well, fuck, he’s already ruined the mood huh?” I asked, moving away from her and picking my cell phone up again.
“What?” I snapped once I’d answered.
“Lily needs to get a hold of Cody.”
“Cody, why?” Lily stiffened at the mention of Cody’s name.
“Click the link I sent you on your WhatsApp.”
I found the app, clicked the link and a video clip began of Cody walking through an airport terminal I recognized as JFK in New York. I guessed the video couldn’t be more than a few hours old. The video maker was following him.
“Cody, did you have an affair with Lily Parnell? Are you guys an item? Is the baby she’s having yours?” the guy filming asked.
Cody stopped at the third question, stared down the camera. He looked stunned. “Where did you hear that?”
“Is it true?”
“Excuse me?” he asked, shaking his head.
“Is Lily Parnell having your baby.”
“Look, leave me alone,” he snapped and began walking away.
“Cody?” the film maker questioned, pressing him for an answer.
“Piss off. No comment,” he muttered as he pulled the ball cap he wore down over his eyes and walked faster to get away from the guy.
Lily slapped her hands to her cheeks, horrified. “Huh? No, Cody,” she screamed and promptly burst into tears.
The video then cut to the guy I guessed had asked the questions. “Hm, that didn’t sound like a denial. Plus, that ‘no comment’ sounded evasive to me. Personally, I thought he’d give me a straightforward answer, but instead he looked… shocked.”
“What the actual fuck!” I spat. My chest tightened to the point where I thought I’d pass out, then I remembered to breathe.
“Did you see that?” I asked Lily in disbelief.
The reporter sighed. “Any who, at some point the truth of this saga will come out. Is there a grain of truth in the rumored love triangle between Lily, Cody and Alfie or is this a figment of PedroCompton’s imagination? No doubt someone has questions to answer, be it the influencer, Cody or Lily.”
CHAPTER 68
LILY
“Of all the things Cody could have said, no comment was probably the worst,” I mumbled, sobbing. My body ached from stress and watching the anguish on Alfie’s face only made my anxieties worse.
“Look, I feel I need to say this again. What you saw on stage between Cody and me, I swear?—”
“For Christ’s sake, stop fucking protesting your innocence. Seeing you desperate for me to believe you is killing me. I do believe you. You have nothing to defend.”
Alfie had spoken to legal, who’d somehow managed to have the influencer’s posts taken down. But how many people had seen it and I wondered whether taking it down only added smoke where there was no fire. I loved Alfie with all my heart and the thought that people might believe I could do something so underhand ripped my soul apart.
“I feel like I need to defend myself. I’m fighting for my reputation here and the longer something like this goes on themore it’ll affect us,” I said while I pulled on my clothes, all thoughts of a passionate afternoon with my husband forgotten.
“I’m the only person that matters here and I believe you.”
