Breaking The Spotlight

eles, C

tless. Paparazzi lights exploded in rapid-fire bursts, bleaching the air in blinding white. The nois

ut and was sw

e! Over

look at th

about the eng

again. E

g-haul flight, still smelled faintly of airplane coffee, and defin

he entire city b

ssively she had to blink repeatedly just to see straight. Hotel security tried to car

nd kept moving, but then, right above the hotel entrance, ev

STE LAURENT & DAMIEN SI

hed. The words

ow, a photo of her and Damien Sincl

taken a few years ago and had been ma

ragged her past up from the grave

w tight. The last thing she needed was for the paparazzi to ca

mment on the

the myste

g the romance? Is

hought this was funny. Instead, she kept walking,

les

turn. It wasn't necessary. That voice

precision. The man she had once loved with her entire heart, and the man

orn from the shadows themselves, cameras erupting the mome

suit, jaw set like carved stone, grey eyes fixe

nfirm the e

e ring

the we

calated i

uickened

en, pulse in her throat, then warm, steady, oh s

, voice low enough that o

sharp word she had sharpened over the years, but exhaustion,

uide her thro

the hotel hit lik

ing them into a gold-lit box suspended abov

yanking her wrist free. "An engageme

He simply leaned back against the elevator wall, arms relaxed at his sides,

n answer," he

er laugh was sharp, brittle

almost a smirk, bu

to want to sit

happe

your

cket and handed her a

screen. Every outlet, platform, International coverage, had fabricate

wasn't just circulati

r," she whispered, eyes na

ded once.

engineered this. Someone with resources. Someone wh

sharply. "Di

No hes

are you so

lve problems." His voice

Of course. Damien Sinclair,

e. "This isn't random," he said quietly. "Someone is try

dropped. "

s, intense enough to m

he engagem

immediately the a

e from her throat.

este

think I'll pretend t

y spiral out of our control. Let the p

my problem,

as razor-sharp

harder than

nted this wants something. And until we figure

, fury and fear ta

d to acknowledge that, but t

ered, lifting her chin,

Damien's eyes. "Of

he story, together. And when it'

dark, dangerous. "

him for a second, b

d beneath them, brigh

stopped being a choice. It became a war, and Dam

r between Celeste and Damien was thick enough to cut, charged, tense, electric in the worst way

ding. The penthouse hallway was silent, the kind of expensive silence t

sence a shadow she didn'

t behind them, sealing them away from the

vengeance. "You had no right to drag me in here," s

I touched your wrist,

name. Like it meant something.

. "A narrative you get to control becaus

eal steel beneath. "You think I wanted to be blindsided by thi

tention," she shot back. "

her, "is exactly why you can't afford

e stif

inued. "Someone with access. S

eth. "Who would do

was louder t

idea," she

't look awa

t's someone clos

ed. "Someone who understands both our worlds. Someone wh

exactly who he meant. She ju

firmly. "This i

been whatever gets res

sion, the industry's most dangerous manipulator, Damien's big

ow. She crossed her arms, even tho

an?" she demanded.

trolled and precise. "We

ding to be

ted. "If the world thinks we're together,

protect me,

quietly. "Right now, that's the only th

eath h

ening her. He wa

t part was,

ted the softness. It made her feel exposed. "Th

city glittered below like a thousand burning secrets. Her refle

, "We were to

We were young. We were reckless. Neither of us knew h

yes. "Damn him f

ut then," he added.

aze head-on. "If we do th

eminded her. "Temporary. Controlled

g for the lie she expected to find, but Dam

is, but only until we find whoever

htened, but

e no confusing this arrangement with anything else. Not

ething she didn't want to name. "Understood." Bu

she wh

e counter. He glanced at it, and h

Celest

the screen

. This time, it wasn't an old manipulat

around her wrist. Her face, clos

IEN SINCLAIR'S PENTHOUSE AF

s blood

. "How would anyone know we were togeth

ropping to a lethal murmur. "Because whoe

against her ribs. "Watch

a fury she'd only seen once before, the nig

tly, "we're not dealing

nd, not roughl

is a

eath t

t walked ri