Chapter 29
KATE
ALL THAT GLITTERS ISN’T GOLD.
“They said we’d burn, but you’re steady like the tide / Maybe this ain’t just better than fine.” Kate Riggs
Mamma is on her cruise, and for that I’m relieved. I know it just postpones fallout with her, it’s inevitable. And I know Finn did it to help me, which turns me inside out. He’s good to me. I don’t deserve him, but I’m grateful for every day with him.
And it brings to light the fact that everything with Finn feels better than fine.
Being with him feels easy. Natural, even. It’s like we can talk without speaking.
I don’t know when it happened—maybe somewhere between the coffee he always has waiting for me in the mornings or the way he watches me like I’m a song he can’t get out of his head—but I’ve stopped pretending this is just a game.
I’m starting to believe in us. It’s not just because of the marriage contract or the toe-curling sex that keeps pulling me back under—but us.
He makes me feel safe and wanted. He sees me in a way that no one ever has before, not even back when I thought I was in love for the first time.
And that’s exactly when the past decides to come back swinging.
It starts with a text from Ray, my manager, while I’m halfway through writing a new song in Finn’s kitchen—his hoodie hanging off my shoulders, my coffee gone cold beside me.
Call me. Now.
My stomach tightens. Ray knows better than to text like that unless it’s bad. I call him, and I barely get two words out before he says it.
“Wade sold his story to the tabloids.”
I freeze. Wade. God. Of course it’s Wade.
The high school quarterback turned small-town legend who thought I’d take him to the top with me. The same guy who cheated on me and told me it was my fault for “being too focused on my silly little songs.”
I dumped him the second I found out, but apparently, the sting of being left behind still sits like curdled milk for him.
“He’s claiming you used him for fame,” Ray says, his voice tight with disgust. “Says you left him the second you ‘made it out.’ He’s painting himself as the poor, heartbroken boy you trampled on your way to the big city.”
My ears are ringing so hard I can barely hear my own thoughts. I don’t even want to know what my blood pressure is, but my chest is heavy—the nerve of him.
“Goddamn liar,” I whisper.
“It gets worse,” Ray adds. “He’s saying you cheated on him. With Finn.”
I let out a choked laugh—sharp and humorless. “We didn’t even know each other back then.”
“He’s twisting everything. Says Finn’s been around longer than anyone knew, that you were ‘overlapping’ relationships. He has old photos of you two from a local gig at the bowling center in town from last year. You know, the one before your deal?”
My stomach drops. Those pictures weren’t even anything. Sure, we were both there, but Finn was never in Pine Hollow, so I know it’s a fake picture..
But in a tabloid? They might run with it because it’s sensational and it will make news.
I feel sick.
“He wants his fifteen minutes,” Ray mutters. “He’s trying to cash in before your next album drops.”
Of course he is. I hang up without another word and sit there, gripping my phone like I want to strangle it. Suddenly, the walls seem smaller, and the room feels hotter. I can’t breathe.
Finn walks in, casual as ever, wiping his hands on a dish towel. He takes one look at me and comes to a halt.
“Kate?”
I can’t even answer. My throat’s tight, and my heart is pounding in a way that has nothing to do with him—but somehow everything to do with him.
He crosses the room in two strides, crouching in front of me.
“What happened?”
I shake my head, my voice brittle. “It’s stupid. It’s just… Wade.”
His jaw clenches. He knows that name.
I swallow hard. “He sold a story to the tabloids. Made up a bunch of lies. Said I cheated. Said I used him.”
Finn’s eyes darken, and something sharp flashes across his face.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” he says, low and fierce.
“But they won’t care, Finn.” My voice breaks before I can stop it. “They’ll believe whatever sells.”
He cups my face, his hands steady, grounding me. “Then we don’t let them win.”
Tears burn behind my eyes, but I blink them back. “I can’t be that girl again. The one everyone points at. I fought too hard to get here.”
“You’re not that girl,” he says, his voice fierce, sure. “You’re Kate. You built yourself from nothing. No washed-up quarterback gets to rewrite your story.”
His words hit something deep inside me, cracking it wide open.
I’ve spent my whole life running from the version of myself they want to believe in.
But maybe, with Finn, I don’t have to run anymore.
I look at him—really look—and for the first time since the call, I feel something steady beneath the panic.
And I believe him, and I believe in us even if the rest of the world is about to tear me apart.
Everything with Finn and me? Well, it feels right.
I don’t even realize how deeply I’ve started to believe in us—this strange, messy, addictive thing we’ve built—until it all starts crashing down.
Wade. God, I should’ve known.
The second Ray’s call ends—my world spirals because the story spreads like wildfire.
By noon, my phone’s blowing up with texts, missed calls, and notifications. Headlines screaming my name are everywhere:
Small-Town Sweetheart Turned Homewrecker?
Kate Grace’s Secret Affair with Finn Callahan Revealed?
Ex Speaks Out: ‘She Used Me to Get Famous.’
I feel like I’m drowning.
The media is outside the hotel, and they make homeless people look less scary. The paparazzi swarms the lobby like sharpshooters. My socials are flooded with strangers calling me everything from a cheater to a gold-digger to a two-faced liar.
I shut my phone off, but it doesn’t stop there.
It’s everywhere—on the TV in the corner, in the whispers of hotel staff, even in the way people look at me in the hallway, like I’m something they’ve already decided to hate.
I can’t breathe.
I lock myself in the bedroom, pacing, too wired to sit down, too sick to cry. My hands won’t stop shaking.
This is exactly what I feared. This is why I kept my heart locked up for years. Because the second you start to believe you deserve happiness, the world rips it out from under you.
Finn knocks once before coming in, calm but quiet. He takes one look at me and sighs, like this isn’t a surprise.
“You need to eat,” he says.
I laugh—sharp, bitter. “Are you serious right now?”
“I’m serious about you not passing out.”
I glare, but it’s weak. “They’re tearing me apart, Finn.”
His jaw tightens. He’s still in control, but I can see the storm behind his eyes.
“You don’t deserve this,” he says, voice low and steady. “And we’re not letting Wade—or anyone else—control this story.”
“It’s too late. They’ve already made up their minds.”
“Then we change them.”
Before I can stop him, he grabs his phone and dials.
I panic. “Finn, what are you doing?”
But he ignores me, calm as ever. “Get me my PR team. Now.”
I watch him, stunned, as he shifts into another mode—cool, commanding, and untouchable.
Within an hour, there’s a statement drafted and cleared. But Finn isn’t done. That’s not enough. He insists on going live.
“No,” I croak. “Finn, this will only make it worse.”
He shakes his head, fierce. “You said it yourself—you’re tired of being that girl everyone points at. Let me do this.”
I’m terrified, but something in his eyes makes me nod.
So I sit there, knees pulled to my chest, as he fires up his social media. The video button is huge and sits like a loaded weapon.
He looks straight into the camera. Calm. Clear and unshakable.
“I just want to address the slanderous remarks made by someone in my wife’s past,” he says, voice steady but cutting. “I don’t usually comment on rumors. But I won’t stay silent while people drag Kate through the mud.”
My heart’s in my throat. He sounds so sincere.
“The only thing Kate’s guilty of is leaving behind people who didn’t deserve her.” He pauses, gaze hard as steel. “She didn’t use anyone. She didn’t cheat. And anyone saying otherwise is lying—for attention, for money, or both.”
He leans in, finishing with words that land like a thunderclap.
“She doesn’t owe anyone from her past. And if you’re coming for her, you’ll have to go through me first.”
He ends it cleanly, no theatrics—just truth. Finn is sticking up for me. I can’t believe he did that. He’s never addressed rumors before, not even the ones about his suspension.
The post goes viral in minutes.
And as I sit there, stunned and shaking, Finn finally looks at me—softer now, but still burning with a quiet fire.
“They’ll still talk,” he says, walking over and tipping my chin up so I have to meet his eyes. “But they don’t get to define you.”
The tears come fast this time, but they’re different—relief, maybe, or something terrifyingly close to wanting the man I married. The man who sticks. He’s loyal, his actions and words go a long way with me, longer than anyone else’s.
And in a world where people are ready to tear me apart…He chose to stand beside me, and there’s no one I want more than him. I think I love my husband.