LOGINShare
Damage control
publish date:
2026-01-21 22:12:03Chapter Four: Damage control
Xander Savage was sleeping when his bedroom door slammed open.
“XANDER!”
He jerked awake, heart racing, eyes unfocused as sunlight streamed through the tall windows of his room. His phone vibrated violently on the bedside table, screen lighting up again and again.
“What…” he muttered, pushing himself upright.
Wendy stood at the foot of his bed, blue hair loose, face pale but sharp with anger. She was holding her phone out toward him like evidence.
“You’re trending,” she said. “And not for football.”
Xander frowned, rubbing his face. “What are you talking about?”
“Freya Woods,” Wendy snapped. “She posted your Snapchat chats.”
The words hit him like cold water. He grabbed his phone, fingers clumsy as he unlocked it. Notifications flooded the screen. Mentions. Headlines. Screenshots. His name everywhere.
XANDER SAVAGE EXPOSED?
LEGACY CEO’S SON ACCUSED OF SABOTAGE!
PHOTOGRAPHER CLAIMS REJECTION COST HER CAREER
Xander’s chest tightened as he scrolled. There they were. Messages he recognized. Voice notes. Screenshots of conversations from weeks ago. Some cropped. Some out of context. Some painfully real.
Freya’s caption sat boldly at the top.
I rejected him. Then suddenly LEGACY wasn’t hiring anymore. Funny how power works.
His hands shook.
“She leaked everything,” Wendy continued, pacing. “T*****r’s on fire. TikTok’s worse. Half the internet thinks you ruined her career. The other half thinks she’s clout chasing.”
Xander stared at the screen, throat dry. “She said what?”
“That you’re the CEO’s son who couldn’t take rejection,” Wendy said flatly. “Congratulations.”
He let the phone drop onto the bed.
“She blocked me,” he said quietly. “I never even…”
“Doesn’t matter,” Wendy cut in. “This is bad. Mum and Dad are going to lose it.”
As if summoned by the thought, footsteps echoed faintly from the corridor.
Wendy crossed her arms. “They’re going to kill you for this scandal.”
Xander leaned back against the headboard, closing his eyes. He drew in a slow breath, then another, trying to steady himself.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said, more to himself than to her.
Wendy scoffed. “Try telling the internet that.”
***
Breakfast at the Savage household was usually quiet.
Greg Savage sat at the head of the table, jaw clenched, newspaper folded neatly but untouched beside his plate. Courtney sat opposite him, posture composed but eyes hard. Wendy picked angrily at her food. Xander sat straight-backed, hands folded, expression calm in the way only made people angrier.
“Do you understand,” Greg said slowly, “the position you’ve put this family in?”
Xander nodded. “Yes, sir.”
Greg’s hand slammed against the table. “You are not just a footballer. You are our son. You carry our name.”
“I know,” Xander said quietly.
Courtney turned to him, disappointment sharper than anger in her gaze. “You told me you didn’t know her personally.”
Xander swallowed. “I should have been clearer. I’m sorry, Mum.”
Greg scoffed. “Sorry won’t fix the headlines.”
Courtney leaned back slightly. “Why did you ask me to give her a trial if you knew her?”
Xander met her eyes. “Because she’s talented. And because I didn’t want what happened between us to affect her career.”
Silence followed.
Wendy laughed harshly. “Look where that got you.”
Courtney sighed, rubbing her temple. “I didn’t hire her because she wasn’t fit. She lacked etiquette, manners, humility, professionalism, and confidence.”
“She was rude,” Greg added. “Arrogant.”
“And now she’s trying to destroy us,” Wendy said. “She’s my enemy for life.”
Xander looked down at his plate. “I’m sorry,” he said again. “To all of you.”
Courtney studied him for a long moment. “This is why we have PR,” she said at last. “And they’re handling it.”
He nodded. “I understand.”
Greg’s voice softened only slightly. “This cannot happen again.”
“It won’t,” Xander promised. But even as he said it, his chest felt tight.
***
Freya adjusted her camera lens, forcing a smile as her client laughed across the small café table.
“Let’s take five,” the woman said, standing. “Coffee break?”
“Sure,” Freya replied automatically. She set the camera down and reached for her phone. The notification was already there.
OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM XANDER SAVAGE
Her fingers trembled as she opened it. It read:
(The Snapchat conversations circulating online are false. I have never met or spoken to Freya Woods personally. Any claims suggesting otherwise are untrue.)
Her vision blurred. She scrolled. She glared at thousands of comments:
"She’s lying."
"Clout chaser."
"Trying to bring him down."
"Disgusting behaviour."
Her hands began to shake uncontrollably.
“He denied everything,” she whispered. She locked her phone, swallowing hard, trying to breathe.
***
The art gallery at North Fall University was quiet, the way Freya liked it. Sunlight filtered through tall windows, dust motes floating in the air. She walked between shelves, searching for a magazine she needed for a project, her mind spinning.
“Freya.”
She turned sharply.
Xander stood behind her, hoodie pulled low, hands raised slightly as if to calm her.
“What are you doing here?” she snapped.
“I need to talk to you,” he said.
“You ruined my life,” she shot back. “And now you want to talk?”
“I didn’t tell my mum not to hire you,” he said quickly. “I swear.”
She laughed bitterly. “Then what about the press release?”
“My mother controls my PR,” he replied. “I woke up to it too. It was damage control.”
“So you just let them call me a liar?”
His jaw tightened. “You shouldn’t have posted our private conversations.”
Her eyes flashed. “You made me look crazy.”
“And you made me look corrupt,” he said. “We’re both wrong.”
Freya’s chest heaved. She pulled out her phone. “Say that on live.”
Xander’s eyes widened. “Don’t.”
She tapped the screen. He moved fast, pulling his hoodie over his face and turning away as the live notification flashed.
“XANDER SAVAGE JUST STALKED ME,” Freya said loudly into her phone, already moving. “Look at this.”
He ran.
Freya dropped her bag, camera clattering to the floor as she chased him, breath burning, phone held high. Comments flooded the screen, hearts flying, messages scrolling too fast to read.
“He’s running!” she shouted. “Why are you running if you’re innocent?”
They turned corners, students staring, voices rising. Then he was gone. Freya stopped abruptly, chest heaving, spinning in place. She had lost him. The live video continued.
Latest chapter
Love Me Like A Champion Unlikely Care
Chapter Twenty Four: Unlikely CareFreya tilted her head slightly as he took a step back, her arms crossed over a small bouquet of flowers and a paper bag.“Freya,” Xander said cautiously, eyes narrowing. “What are you doing here?”She raised the flowers and bag with an almost teasing tilt. “I brought Wendy something. Flowers, chocolates. Thought she might like it.”Xander blinked. “Since when do you care about my family?” His tone was sharp but curious, a mixture of suspicion and surprise.Freya exhaled slowly, one shoulder lifting. “I was… worried. She’s in a hospital, Xander. People don’t usually try to drown themselves for fun.”He studied her, noting the faint softness in her eyes. He had not expected concern. “Wendy won’t like this. It’s… not advisable you stay here.”Her gaze lingered on him, then slowly she nodded. “Okay,” she said quietly, turning toward the hospital entrance.Xander hesitated, then called after her. “I can drop you home.”Freya paused mid-step, then turned,
Love Me Like A Champion You’re here?
Chapter Twenty Three: You’re here?The hospital cafe had thinned out as evening settled over the city. The glass walls reflected the fading light outside, turning the room into a quiet, enclosed world of low voices and clinking cutlery. Xander sat across from Courtney at a small table near the window. Their dinner rested between them, mostly untouched on her side.Courtney had removed her blazer but still looked composed, as if the chaos upstairs had not fractured her control. Her hair was smooth, her posture straight, her expression distant. Only the faint tightness around her eyes betrayed the strain.“You should eat,” Xander said, pushing the plate slightly closer to her.“I’m not hungry.”“You haven’t eaten since morning.”“I’m fine.”He leaned back in his chair and studied her. “You’re not.”Courtney exhaled slowly. “Do not start.”“I’m not starting anything.” He picked up his fork, cut a small piece of chicken, and held it out toward her. “Open.”She stared at him. “Xander.”“Op
Love Me Like A Champion Reckless decision
Chapter Twenty Two: Reckless decisionThe private hospital room was quiet. The machines beside Wendy’s bed hummed softly, steady and indifferent. The curtains were half drawn, letting in pale afternoon light that flattened everything into muted shades.Wendy lay propped against white pillows, an oxygen tube resting beneath her nose. Her hair was brushed back from her face, though it still looked damp at the edges. A faint bruise colored her cheekbone where it had struck the tile during the chaos at the pool. Her skin looked too pale against the sheets.Xander sat beside her, elbows on his knees, hands clasped loosely as if he did not trust them to stay steady. He had not changed clothes. His shirt was wrinkled and still faintly marked from where he had held her.Greg stood by the window, staring out at nothing in particular, phone in hand, though he had not made a single call in the last ten minutes.Wendy blinked slowly and turned her head toward Xander. “You look terrible,” she murm
Love Me Like A Champion Silly thing to do
Chapter Twenty One: Silly thing to doThe Savage mansion had never felt small until that evening.Wendy stood at the edge of the indoor pool, staring into water that reflected the high white ceiling and nothing else. The house was quiet in that artificial way wealthy houses often were, insulated from the world by thick glass and thicker secrets. Somewhere upstairs, a door closed. Somewhere down the hall, a clock ticked.She had walked past Xander’s room minutes earlier. His door had been slightly open, music low, the glow of his laptop lighting the dark. He had not seen her.Her phone was in her hand. The screen was cracked from where she had thrown it the night before. Notifications still stacked up despite the silence setting. Her name. Her family name. Screenshots. Conspiracy threads. Memes. Voice notes. A hundred strangers dissecting her existence.She dropped the phone on a nearby chair.“It won’t stop,” she whispered to herself.She stepped closer to the water until the tips of
Love Me Like A Champion Campus storm
Chapter Twenty: Campus StormWendy walked through the sprawling corridors of North Fall University, her backpack slung loosely over one shoulder, eyes fixed on the tile beneath her feet. Each step felt heavier than the last, as if the chatter of the campus had wrapped itself around her like a tightening coil.Students moved past her, books clutched under arms, phones in hands, faces alight with gossip or amusement. Every glance she caught seemed loaded with the weight of speculation, some barely concealed, others brazen.She slowed near the entrance to her lecture hall, hoping to slip unnoticed among the throng, but the moment she stepped into view, a ripple of whispers traveled across the room.“Did you see the Savage scandal?” one girl murmured, smirking to her friend.“They’re saying she’s part of that… cult thing,” another replied, her voice dropping conspiratorially.Wendy’s stomach sank. She forced a polite nod at a familiar face, Phoebe, who was leaning casually against the wal
Love Me Like A Champion Everyone get to work
Chapter Nineteen: Everyone get to workCourtney stood at the head of the table, hands resting lightly against it.Her tech division sat before her. It was made of six individuals who had built careers out of finding people who did not want to be found. Their laptops were open, screens reflecting lines of code, server routes, proxy chains.Courtney tapped a remote and the central screen transitioned to the fake letters, the cult website naming Wendy Savage as founder. The porn magazine delivery scandal. The anonymous child at the gate. The parody social media account. Each incident was displayed with timestamps, geolocation data, and engagement velocity.“They launched in waves,” Courtney said. “My suspect is Lush Magazines. The bitch has been hating on my family.”One of the analysts adjusted his glasses. “They’re using offshore hosting for the cult site. The domain registration is masked. Payments were made through cryptocurrency wallets that have already been dissolved.”Courtney’s
Love Me Like A Champion The Damon Savage Legacy
Chapter Nine: The Damon Savage LegacyThe Damon Savage Hotel and Suites glowed like a monument carved from wealth and history. Crystal chandeliers spilled warm light over marble floors polished to mirror shine, reflecting generations of power and prestige. The five-star hotel stood as Damon Savage’s
Last Updated : 2026-03-17Love Me Like A Champion Looking stupid
Chapter Ten: Looking stupidThe laughter still echoed through the grand hall, rippling like a wave of disbelief, as Wendy wrapped her arm through Freya’s with theatrical flair. The gathered guests cheered and hooted, some snapping pictures, others whispering eagerly, while Freya stood rooted, caugh
Last Updated : 2026-03-17Love Me Like A Champion The boy who stepped in
Chapter Seven: The boy who stepped inNorth Fall University had always felt large to Freya, but now it felt hostile. Eyes followed her everywhere. Whispers curled through hallways like smoke, sharp and suffocating. Her name no longer belonged to her. It had become a punchline, a warning, a convenie
Last Updated : 2026-03-17Love Me Like A Champion Who dat boy?
Chapter Fourteen: Who dat boy?Freya slept restlessly. Pain tugged at her ribs every time she shifted, dull and persistent, like a reminder she couldn’t escape even in dreams. The apartment was dark, curtains drawn, the only light coming from the faint glow of the streetlamp outside her window. He
Last Updated : 2026-03-17
You may also like
Satisfying Her Darkest Fantasies
Shile999.8K viewsEven After Death
Lilting Champ6.8M viewsWanted: Billionaire's Wife And Their Genius Twin Babies
Pamela976.4K viewsCan't Win Me Back
Ginger Sue2.9M viewsWinning Back Mrs. Montenegro
Jade134 viewsRose Ashford: No Longer The Oppressed Wife.
xoajiri75 viewsWhat Butterflies Don’t Tell You.
Sarah miles135 viewsCarrying The Billionaire's Heir
Avery141 views
