جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 5

Ivy's POVThe flash went off before Ivy Callahan even got the car door open."Ms. Callahan! Is it true Julian Ashford was seen leaving the Меridian Hotel with another woman?"She didn't answer. She never answered — that was rule one. Rule two was to smile like nothing was wrong, even when everything was. Rule three, the one she'd learned the hard way, was never let them see you run.So she walked. Heels steady on wet pavement, blazer buttoned, phone already dialing Julian's line for the fourth time in twenty minutes.He picked up on the fifth ring. "Ivy, it's not what it looks like—""Save it for someone who still believes you." She cut through the side entrance, past the two junior publicists she'd sent ahead to intercept the photographers loitering by the valet stand. "I need you out the back in the next ten minutes or this is on every sports blog in the city by morning.""You're overreacting."She stopped walking.Three years of managing other people's disasters had taught Ivy exac

Ivy's POVJulian wanted to fix things between us over drinks at the Halcyon Lounge, in front of exactly the kind of crowd that would report back to every gossip column in the city if the fixing went well — and photograph every second of it if it didn't.Ivy had built the plan herself. Neutral territory, soft lighting, a guest list curated down to people who'd spin the reconciliation as a misunderstanding rather than a scandal. She'd done this a hundred times for other people's marriages and relationships. She had never once had to do it on her own."You look beautiful," Julian said, sliding into the booth across from her like the last forty-eight hours hadn't happened. "Thank you for doing this.""I'm not doing it for you." She kept her voice level, professional, the same voice she'd use with any client who'd embarrassed himself in public. "I'm doing it because if this engagement collapses in a scandal, it takes my father's company down with it, and I've spent three years keeping that

Roman's PovThree years ago, Roman had let her walk away without a single word to stop her, and he had told himself for three years that the silence had been dignity. It hadn't been dignity. It had been fear, dressed up nicely enough that he could live with it.He wasn't going to make that mistake with the same woman twice in one lifetime."Don't marry him," Roman said.Ivy's breath caught, sharp enough that he heard it in the quiet of the car. "That's not an answer to what I asked you.""It's the only part of the answer I can say out loud right now, sitting outside my mother's house, with your father's company hanging over both our heads." He turned to face her fully, needing her to see exactly how much this was costing him to say. "I'm not going to pretend I don't want you to walk away from that wedding. I have wanted that since the second you got out of your car in that parking lot and I heard my own voice say your name like no time had passed at all.""Roman—""But I'm not going t