Chapter 48
Inés
Lip Service—Xana
I couldn’t keep my rage from spilling over as I watched the elevator’s floor indicator tick upward, my hands clenched into
fists.
I’d held Chloe all of last night, soothing her when nightmares woke her in a cold sweat, but when Calvin had come to check
in on her, I’d seen it as my opportunity to go deal with the leak situation once and for all.
I would regret that I hadn’t done enough to protect her for the rest of my life. The leak was coming from my team, from the
person I had trusted the most, and I hadn’t been able to stop it.
The elevator doors slid open. I marched down the hallway towards Selene’s office, the familiar surroundings warping under
the weight of my fury.
I had been here a thousand times before. My first meeting with her. Drinks after work. Picking her up for dinner.
I didn’t even glance at her receptionist, who was mid-call but still snapped to attention as I stormed past. “Inés! Do you
have an appoint—”
I shoved open Selene’s office door. She was at her desk, typing, oblivious. At the sight of me, her head snapped up, brows
lifting in surprise.
The office smelled how it always did, like that expensive and luxurious candle set I’d always gifted her over the holidays, a reminder of our friendship. Selene sat behind her desk, fingers hovering over her laptop, the faint click of the keys stopping as she noticed me.
Her expression flickered between surprise and something else. Something wary. “Inés? What are you doing here?”
She stood, smoothing her silk blouse as she strode towards me, and for a second, I nearly broke.
Until yesterday, I had trusted her with everything: my career, my private life, my future. Now, looking at her, all I could
see was betrayal, slithering beneath her composed expression.
I swallowed back my rage, forcing my voice to stay level. “I know what you did.”
Selene stilled. The mask slipped for a fraction of a second before she recovered.
She stood straighter, trying to reclaim authority. She gestured stiffly to the chairs in front of her desk. “Take a seat.
We should talk.”
I laughed. Sharp, bitter. “I’m not here for a meeting. I don’t think there’s anything you could say to fix this.” My teeth
ground together. “You sold information about Chloe to the press.”
Selene’s throat bobbed as she swallowed. “I was doing it for you. You were running low on funds. I knew you needed more opportunities
and you wouldn’t even take advantage of the one that was right in front of you.”
“I told you I would never sell out my friends,” I shot back, my voice rising.
“She wasn’t your friend.” Selene pressed a hand to her temple, exhaling sharply. She glanced at the open door, the attention
from the outer office not lost on her, or me. “You needed to win. I did what I had to do to keep you afloat,” she said, her
tone condescending. “It brought you some extra income. I saved it for you.”
I let out a sharp, humorless laugh. “Did you skim your fifteen per cent off the top before or after betraying me?”
“It was my job.”
“No, you were supposed to have my back. We’ve always worked together, always been a team. Why now? Why betray me like this?”
For a second, something like regret flashed across her face. But it wasn’t enough. It would never be enough.
“I’m your friend,” she whispered.
I shook my head, disgust curling in my chest. “Friends don’t sell each other out.” My voice sharpened. “And you didn’t just
betray me, you used me. You sold stories about my girlfriend to the worst people in the business.”
“You couldn’t afford bad press, Inés,” she insisted, desperate now. “After the Hamptons, when you started posting again, they
knew you were struggling. They approached me with an offer. If I gave them stories about Chloe, they’d be more positive about
you.”
“All you’ve done is put us both in danger!” I snapped, unable to keep my voice from cracking. “Everything got out of control,
and you put her in danger. Was that worth the paycheck?”
Selene’s face was drained of color. “The press were going to bury you if I didn’t go along,” she pleaded. “I did it to save you. If you weren’t willing to make sacrifices, take shitty deals, sell harmless stories, then I—”
“And that’s where you fucked up.” My voice wavered, raw with emotion. “Because I would rather lose everything than go this low.”
Selene’s desperation twisted into anger. “I was protecting you!”
“Protecting me? Joder. You got greedy, Selene.” I took a step back. The anger in my chest burned cold now, sharpened into something lethal. “I’m
finished with you. You’re fired.”
Her mouth opened, whether to argue, to beg, I didn’t care.
“And if I see one more headline with Chloe’s name in it, I will make sure her parents destroy you.” Selene didn’t know what
had happened between Chloe and her parents. And right now, I’d never been more relieved I hadn’t mentioned it before. “You
know their power. Her father is one of the biggest sports managers out there. And then you’ll really fucking regret it.”
I turned and walked out, leaving Selene standing there, speechless. The silence behind me was deafening. The betrayal should have hurt. Maybe later, when the adrenaline wore off, it would hurt. But right now, all I could feel was rage, cold and unwavering.
I didn’t even remember the walk to the elevator, only coming to when the doors slid closed again and I found my reflection
staring back at me in the mirrored walls. My pulse pounded in my ears. My hands were shaking.
Not with fear. Not with sadness. With fury.
Because I had seen this before. I had watched Scottie get dragged through the mud. I had watched Dylan get torn apart by people
who had never even met her. I had watched my friends have their lives gutted and spun into headlines to sell ad space and
I refused to let the woman I loved be another casualty in their game.