Chapter 29
For three days after the leak, Lucas barely slept.
Sabrina knew this because every time she checked her phone during the night, there was another message from him sent at impossible hours.
3:14 AM
You okay?
4:02 AM
Please answer when you wake up.
5:47 AM
I hate that this is happening to you.
And somehow those messages hurt worse than silence would have.
Because they proved Lucas cared.
Deeply.
But caring didn't stop the world from tearing them apart anyway.
By Monday morning, Sabrina couldn't open social media anymore without feeling physically sick.
Every article used her name differently now.
Manipulative.
Calculated.
Contract girlfriend.
People dissected old interviews searching for "proof" she'd been acting.
Even worse?
Journalists had started digging into her old work, turning years of real effort into clickbait headlines about Lucas Cooper's fake girlfriend.
It felt humiliating.
Like the world had swallowed her identity whole and spit back a version she didn't recognize.
And Lucas—
Lucas was disappearing into damage control.
Not intentionally cruel.
Not cold.
Just drowning.
Emergency meetings.
PR statements.
Management calls.
Brand negotiations.
Every hour another crisis appeared.
Every hour he became slightly harder to reach.
Which terrified Sabrina more than she wanted to admit.
Because she knew Lucas now.
And Lucas retreated emotionally when overwhelmed.
By Wednesday evening, the distance between them had started feeling unbearable.
Sabrina sat cross-legged on her couch staring at her phone while rain battered against the windows.
One unread message from Lucas glowed on the screen.
Lucas:
Can I come over tonight?
Sent two hours ago.
Sabrina closed her eyes briefly.
Because part of her desperately wanted to say yes.
The other part felt exhausted.
Not from loving him.
From surviving his world.
A notification suddenly appeared across the top of her screen.
Chloe sent a link.
Sabrina opened it automatically.
And immediately felt her stomach drop.
Photos.
Lucas outside a restaurant.
With Claire.
The images weren't romantic.
Not obviously.
But they looked intimate enough.
Claire touching his arm while talking.
Lucas leaning close to hear her.
Both leaving through the same entrance.
The headline underneath made everything worse.
LUCAS COOPER REUNITES WITH EX AFTER CONTRACT RELATIONSHIP SCANDAL
Oh.
Oh no.
Sabrina stared at the screen while something sharp twisted violently through her chest.
Logically, she knew there could be explanations.
PR meetings.
Business.
Damage control.
But emotionally?
Emotionally it felt like drowning.
Because suddenly every fear she'd been trying to suppress crashed directly into her all at once.
Claire fit his world.
Claire understood scandals.
Claire knew how to survive this life.
And Sabrina—
Sabrina was exhausted.
Her phone buzzed immediately afterward.
Lucas calling.
Of course.
She stared at the screen for three full rings before answering quietly.
"Hi."
"Sabrina." Relief flooded his voice instantly. "Thank God."
She swallowed hard.
"You're with Claire."
Silence.
Not long.
But long enough.
Lucas exhaled quietly through the phone.
"It's not what it looks like."
The sentence hit like a physical slap.
Because wasn't that exactly what everyone always said?
Sabrina laughed softly without humor.
"That's a terrible sign, you know."
"I'm serious."
"Why are you with her?"
Another pause.
"She offered to help manage the press fallout."
The ache in Sabrina's chest deepened instantly.
Of course she did.
Of course Claire knew how to handle this world better than Sabrina ever could.
Lucas spoke quickly after sensing the shift in her silence.
"It's not personal."
"But she belongs there."
"Sabrina—"
"No, she does." Her voice cracked slightly despite her efforts. "She knows how to survive all this. I don't."
"That doesn't mean anything."
"It means I was right."
The words landed heavily between them.
Lucas went quiet instantly.
Because he knew exactly what she meant.
All those insecurities Sabrina kept trying to bury—
they suddenly didn't feel irrational anymore.
Lucas sounded exhausted when he spoke again.
"Can I please explain this in person?"
Sabrina looked out toward the rain-soaked city lights beyond her apartment window.
Everything felt heavy lately.
Complicated.
Painful.
And maybe the worst part was:
she still loved him.
Even now.
Especially now.
But loving Lucas suddenly felt like standing too close to something constantly burning.
"I can't do this tonight," she whispered.
The silence afterward hurt immediately.
"Sabrina."
"I'm tired."
Not physically.
Emotionally.
Lucas understood instantly.
She heard it in the way his breathing changed slightly through the phone.
"I'm trying," he said quietly.
And God.
That almost made it worse.
Because she believed him.
She truly did.
But trying wasn't fixing anything anymore.
The world kept pulling them apart faster than they could hold onto each other.
Another article notification lit Sabrina's screen while they sat in silence.
More photos of Lucas and Claire.
More headlines.
More public speculation.
Her chest tightened painfully.
"You know what the problem is?" she asked softly.
"What?"
"I don't think your life leaves room for mistakes." Her throat burned suddenly. "And loving me became one."
Lucas inhaled sharply.
"No."
"But it did."
His voice turned firmer instantly.
"You are not a mistake."
"Then why does this feel like damage control?"
The question shattered something between them.
Because Lucas didn't answer immediately.
Not because he didn't care.
Because he didn't know how.
And somehow that silence hurt more than any headline.
Sabrina closed her eyes briefly.
There it was.
The impossible truth neither of them wanted to say out loud:
they loved each other,
but Lucas's world was swallowing them alive.
Finally Lucas spoke again, quieter this time.
"I love you."
Tears burned behind Sabrina's eyes instantly.
Because he meant it every single time.
That was the tragedy.
"I know," she whispered.
The silence afterward felt devastatingly soft.
Like both of them understood what was happening before either had the courage to say it directly.
Lucas's voice roughened slightly.
"Don't do this."
Her heart cracked hearing it.
Because suddenly he sounded afraid.
Actually afraid.
And Lucas almost never let people hear fear.
"I don't know how to stay in this without losing myself," she admitted quietly.
Another painful silence.
Then finally:
"What are you saying?"
Sabrina's chest physically hurt now.
Because she didn't want this.
God, she didn't.
But she also couldn't survive constantly feeling like she was drowning inside someone else's life.
"I think..." Her voice broke briefly. "I think we need space."
Lucas stopped breathing for half a second.
No movement.
No sound.
Just silence.
Then quietly:
"No."
The rawness in that single word nearly destroyed her.
"Lucas."
"No." His voice cracked slightly now. "Sabrina, please."
She covered her mouth briefly, overwhelmed by the emotion in his voice.
Because this wasn't performative.
Wasn't celebrity composure.
This was just Lucas.
Terrified.
"I can't keep wondering when your world is going to decide I don't belong in it," she whispered.
"You belong with me."
The answer came instantly.
Fierce.
Immediate.
Tears slipped down Sabrina's face before she could stop them.
Because a part of her would always believe him when he sounded like that.
But another part no longer trusted the world around them enough.
And maybe that mattered too.
Lucas sounded desperate now.
"I'll fix this."
"You can't fix fame, Lucas."
The truth landed heavily between them.
For the first time since meeting him, neither of them had a solution.
No joke.
No kiss.
No soft moment capable of saving this.
Just exhaustion.
Pain.
Love arriving at the wrong time.
Finally Sabrina whispered the thing she'd been avoiding all night.
"I think we need to let each other breathe."
Lucas went completely silent.
And somehow that silence hurt worse than if he'd shouted.
When he finally spoke again, his voice sounded painfully controlled.
"If that's what you want."
It wasn't.
That was the worst part.
But Sabrina couldn't force herself to say otherwise anymore.
Another tear slid down her cheek.
"I'm sorry."
Lucas laughed softly then.
A broken sound.
Almost empty.
"You always apologize when your heart's breaking."
The sentence shattered her completely.
Because he knew her.
Still.
Even now.
Sabrina pressed trembling fingers against her eyes.
Neither hung up.
Neither seemed capable.
Finally Lucas whispered quietly:
"I don't know how to lose you."
Her chest caved inward.
Because she didn't know either.
But somehow they were already halfway there.
The call ended ten minutes later without either of them saying goodbye.
And afterward Sabrina sat alone in the silence of her apartment while rain battered against the windows and her entire chest ached with absence already.
Meanwhile across the city, Lucas stood alone in his dark kitchen staring at his untouched phone like if he looked hard enough, he could somehow undo everything.
Sabrina wasn't coming back tonight.