Alle Kapitel von Fake dating my ex’s Hockey-star Brother: Kapitel 21 – Kapitel 30

Standing TogetherSophie's PovMarcus schedules a joint public appearance for the following weekend, framing it as the perfect opportunity to show a united front against the swirling rumors, and I hate how reasonable the suggestion sounds even knowing what we now suspect about him."A charity fundraiser," he explains over speakerphone while Ethan and I sit together in his living room, exchanging a wary glance neither of us bothers to hide from each other, even if Marcus cannot see it through the phone. "High visibility, respectable cause, plenty of positive press opportunities. It'll help drown out the negative narrative.""Fine," Ethan says, his voice carefully neutral in a way that betrays none of the suspicion we have both been carrying around for days. "We'll be there."After he hangs up, Ethan turns to me, exhaustion and frustration warring plainly across his face. "I hate pretending everything's normal with him right now.""We have to, though," I say. "If he suspects we're onto

The Old StudySophie's PovVictoria opens the door before we even reach the porch, her expression shifting from polite surprise to immediate concern the moment she registers the tension radiating off both of us."What's happened?" she asks, stepping back to let us inside.Ethan does not waste time with careful preamble. "I need to know everything about Dad's estate. The shares in the organization, the paperwork Ryan mentioned years ago. All of it, Mom. Right now."Victoria's face pales visibly, her composed exterior cracking in a way I have not seen since our first dinner together. "Ethan, please, sit down. This is not a conversation to have standing in the foyer."We follow her into the same formal living room where I first met her weeks ago, though the atmosphere now feels entirely different, heavy with the weight of secrets finally demanding to surface. Victoria sinks into an armchair across from us, her hands folded tightly in her lap."Your father intended to leave you equal owne

Ryan's ConfessionSophie's PovRyan shows up at my office two days later, and this time, I do not immediately try to send him away.Something in his posture stops me, a genuine, shaken quality that looks nothing like the confident, careless man who once told an entire ballroom that I taught him what he wanted in a partner. He looks smaller somehow, uncertain in a way I have never witnessed from him before."I need to tell you something," he says, before I can even greet him properly. "About Marcus."My stomach tightens immediately. "What about him?""He's been talking to me for months," Ryan says, dragging a hand through his hair. "Asking questions about Ethan, about our family history, about the shares Dad supposedly promised us both. I thought he was just trying to understand the family dynamic to help manage Ethan's image better. I didn't realize until recently that he might have been using that information against him."I usher Ryan into my small office, closing the door behind us

Diane FosterSophie's PovClaire shows up at my apartment with her laptop bag slung over one shoulder and an expression I have learned to recognize as her about-to-propose-something-slightly-reckless face."I want to bring in my editor," she says, dropping onto my couch without preamble. "Not to publish anything yet. Just to have someone with real investigative resources helping us build this case properly."I hesitate immediately. "Claire, if word gets out that a journalist is actively investigating Marcus before we have everything locked down, he could destroy evidence before we're ready.""I know the risk," she says. "But Sophie, what we're doing right now is essentially amateur detective work. Mason's good with numbers, and Ethan's motivated, but none of you actually know how to build a case that survives public scrutiny. My editor has broken three major sports corruption stories in the past five years. She knows exactly what kind of evidence holds up and what kind falls apart the

Something GoodSophie's PovTwo more clients cancel their contracts with me by Wednesday morning, citing vague concerns about brand association that everyone involved understands are really about the gossip still swirling online despite Ethan's public denial weeks ago.I sit at my desk staring at the cancellation emails, a familiar, exhausted grief settling over me. I built this business slowly, carefully, over three years of consistent, reliable work, and watching it erode because of rumors I did not create feels like a particular kind of cruelty I was not prepared to weather on top of everything else currently unraveling in Ethan's family.I think about the early days of my business, cold-calling venues, undercutting my rates just to build a portfolio, staying up until two in the morning fixing seating charts for clients who barely remembered to thank me afterward. None of that mattered right now to the strangers online deciding my entire career amounted to nothing more than a schem