Chapter 20
DIANA
The silence on the drive back to Kitsilano grips me in a chokehold.
I sneak a look at Kai. He stares ahead at the road, the muscles in his jaw tense as his hands tighten on the wheel.
My hands nervously wrap around the notes we had taken about the giants. Across the page, my research-infused analysis reinforces Kai’s rambling yet insightful analysis on the use of color.
Now, he barely speaks.
I drop my head against the window. This is all my fault. If I had just agreed to work with him in the first place, Kai wouldn’t have been so distracted at practice, and none of this would’ve happened.
As soon as we get back to the apartment, an apology scrambles out of my mouth. “Kai, I’m so—”
“I’ll come back to the project later. I promise.” Kai unzips his jacket and hooks it in the coat closet. “I just need to focus on the business presentation.”
He goes back to his bedroom and shuts the door behind him.
I drop onto the couch, throw my phone on the table, and brace my crinkling forehead between my hands.
Guilt sinks into me, relentless and all-consuming.
My stupid actions created a mess that Kai has to clean up and I hate knowing there’s nothing I can do to fix it.
My phone vibrates. I irritably snatch it up to flip it face down.
Until the screen flickers on.
Dread drops in my stomach at the news release.
Pop singer Sasha Vellair cancels world tour amid private relationship leak by Diana Huang, heiress of the HMG
The dread inside rots into a dizzying sickness. I hardly get through the first sentence before a conference call from bàba rings on my phone.
My heart pounds hard. This has to be a plan on how to clear my name.
It has to be.
I settle onto the couch before switching the call to my laptop.
I quickly survey my surroundings, making sure nothing gives away where I am.
I told Hans I was staying in an apartment the DHU residence office rented to me.
But the moment the conference call opens, where I’m at hardly matters because the look on bàba’s face shows he’s too livid to care.
I can tell by his laughter piercing the silence.
His shoulders shake, and his slender cheeks are ruddy against the smile stretching across his face. It chills my bones and makes every one of my siblings in the conference call stiffen.
“Does our family’s reputation mean so little to you all?”
Our voices answer in unison, “No, bàba.”
“Oh, really?” His smile sharpens into a snarl. “You say that only to embarrass our name!”
I flinch. My body grows taut under the apprehension gripping the air.
Bàba simply leans into his chair with his fingers draped across his chin. “Diana, what do you have to say for yourself?”
Shock blisters through me. He can’t possibly believe I had anything to do with this.
“I didn’t do it, bàba. I swear.” Suddenly, I feel like a little girl again, trying to convince him I wasn’t the one who broke the china teacups. “I didn’t even know Gregory was seeing someone!”
“You can stop with your lies,” he spat. “We searched every room and found these in your drawer.” Bàba holds up one of my document keepers with DH embossed on the front.
“There are copies of photos, emails, and text messages between Sasha and Gregory that make him look like a lecherous playboy! Instead of keeping quiet, you shared this with the media, knowing it would slander your brother’s name. ”
“You threatened to take something away from me the night of the dinner party, and now you finally have,” Gregory hisses.
My fingers dig into the couch cushion, fighting to keep myself from tearing apart everything in front of me. What I thought would throw him off my case became words that he used to throw me six feet under. Now, I can only do so much to claw my way back up.
“I said that to you because you insulted me and Sophia.” I seethe. “I would never go as far as dragging your reputation through the dirt. I know what that would cost you. What that would cost us!”
“Clearly, you didn’t know it well enough, considering what we’re embroiled in at the moment,” Jonathan snaps.
Despite his tone, I can sense the faint smile he’s fighting to hold back.
My gut feeling prickles with the suspicion that he’s behind all of this.
I swallow hard, trying to rein back the shout threatening to breach my words. “I’ve been busy with school and the HMG. How would I have the time to sabotage your image?”
Sophia shrugs. “You’re handling so much. It wouldn’t be surprising if you decided to add one more task to your roster.”
My heart splinters. Jonathan might have had a hand in exposing Gregory’s relationship, but he couldn’t have planted the papers in my room. Aside from Helen, only one person knows my passcode.
The bravado on Sophia’s face fades when realization cuts across mine.
No.
Bàba’s face darkens. “Because of this, you are suspended indefinitely from events related to the succession plan. Until you learn how to conduct yourself professionally, you don’t deserve to be considered for the CEO position.
Your siblings will take over the joint project in your absence.
I’ve alerted our partners of the change. ”
All of the pieces come together. That’s why it took so long for the media to report on the scandal. Jonathan and Sophia were stifling them, keeping them at bay before they could plant the blame on me.
Tears well in my eyes.
I should’ve pushed for answers. I shouldn’t have passively let the silence go by when I knew they always used it as a weapon against anyone they needed to take down.
“But Gregory went against your rules!” I argue. “He was toying around with a girl behind your back. Why is he still allowed to work on the joint project?”
“It was my idea, actually.” Jonathan idly crosses his leg over the other. “I talked to bàba, and we both believed that delving into a project will sober him up and help him remember what his duties are.”
Betrayal cuts so deep I can hardly catch my breath.
“I’m going to be punished for something I didn’t even do? At least let me prove that I—”
“No.” Bàba’s eyes narrow on me with disdain. “I have a meeting with our publicist in ten minutes. In the meantime, you are not going to associate yourself with the HMG. If you’re going to defy me even further, then I might as well take you out of the succession plan completely.”
My heart drops.
Fear paralyzes me.
The HMG is everything I’ve ever known. Everything I’ve ever worked for. I have nothing without it.
I force the words out of my throat. “I…I understand, bàba.”
“You’ve already disappointed me more than once in the last several days,” he warns. “I’ve been lenient with you. But you should know that my mercy has its limits.”
The conference call ends, and the screen goes black. My reflection stares back at me. Tears streak down my face, as I collapse under the ruins of what I’ve worked so hard to build.
KAI
Fraud. Liar. Fake.
New posts pop out, spewing lie after lie.
This is why Rowan made me wipe myself clean on social media after the rumors.
I couldn’t stop stalking every page to see what people were saying, to see what I needed to change, fix, and hide to win their respect back.
I thought disappearing would make them go quiet.
But it only made them louder.
Without me there to listen to their bullshit, they don’t need to hold back anymore.
@dannyXjals3478 I’m so tired of hearing about this fucker. Idk why we keep him on the ice. He’s a liability. The DHU Griffins are better off without him.
Photoshopped pictures of me inhaling fumes bombard the feed.
@vipersVictor_ We don’t need mutts like him screwing up the roster. Somebody tell KMM to get off the ice and go back to fucking around in the sand.
Their words sink deeper, twisting and warping my senses until I feel like I’m becoming everything they’re saying.
I’m not a strong player; I’m a liability.
I’m not skilled at all; I’m an inconsistent fraud.
The DHU Griffins only keep me around for diversity points, not because they actually need me.
Tears swell in my eyes. The words on the screen shudder and blur until I can’t make them out anymore.
“Putain.”
In the corner of my eye, the cursor on my laptop blinks. The Pacific Observer’s communications strategy I was supposed to work on sits there, barely finished. Stress knots inside me, twisting the steady breath out of my lungs.
It’s not due until the middle of October. But on top of hockey practice, showing up for games, attending classes, and working at the Little Griffins Hockey Club, any time I have for the internship is running out faster than I can handle.
Except it’s the only thing I can handle right now.
The feed on my screen pings and shifts down, second after second, no matter how much I wish it would all just stop. Chucking my phone onto my bed, I rake my hands through my hair, grabbing the ends as I force my attention back onto my presentation.
I can’t lose Nirah’s faith in me. I can’t let down another fucking person. Not while the entire student body and the NCAA are watching me fumble with the jagged ruins of my reputation during my final year.
Clearing my throat, I read out what I’ve written so far. “After doing a thorough environmental scan on the Pacific Observer in the public eye…”
Fraud. Liar. Fake.
I suck in a deep breath, narrowing my eyes on the words. “There are opportunities through collaborating with…”
They want me to drop you as an intern.
“Focus, Kai. Focus.” I rub my eyes before staring down at the document. The words blur together. When they come back into focus, they’re not persuasive enough. Every sentence is weak and strategically lacking.
We don’t need mutts like him screwing up the roster. Somebody tell KMM to get off the ice and go back to fucking around in the sand.
“Bordel de putain!” I slam my laptop shut and shove myself away from the desk. Bloody fucking hell.
My head is spinning. My heart is hammering so hard it pulses in my ears. I need to get out of my head. Crawl out of my damn skin. Just anything to stop thinking.
I snatch my runners and tug my hoodie off of the hanger.
When I head out into the hallway, I nearly bump into Diana.
Tears streak down her face.
“I-I’ve called Hans to come and pick me up,” Diana stammers. “I’ll be staying at the Fairmont.”
I struggle to get the words out, “W-Why? Did…did something happen?”
“Jonathan and Sophia pinned Gregory’s scandal on me.” Her lips tremble under the weight of her words. “I’m suspended from succession activities indefinitely.”
Diana’s hands brace the wall, drained of the fire that had been burning since the first day I saw her.
I should comfort her. Do anything except stand here and stare like a fucking idiot.
But I don’t feel capable of comforting at all.
Not when my nerves are firing under my skin, vibrating and itching for release.
Stop thinking. You just need to get out and escape.
“Is there anything you can do?” I ask.
“There’s nothing I can do,” Diana stresses. “They made me the villain of a story I was never a part of, and nobody believes me.”
“I get the feeling.” I swallow hard. “Look, I’m not…I’m sorry for how I’m reacting. I’m just not mentally in a good place right now.”
Guilt flares across her face. Diana frowns and moves away from the wall. My senses heighten the closer she comes.
“I should’ve cooperated with you the moment we became project partners,” Diana laments, “You wouldn’t have had a bad practice that led to all of this.”
I sigh, trying to keep the edge out of my voice. “You really think that was the only reason I fucked up on the ice? No, I had a bad practice because I couldn’t stay focused. I should’ve fought harder to get the thought of you out of my head.”
“Exactly! It was my fault!”
“Why are you so insistent on making it your fault?”
“Why are you so insistent on refusing to hold me accountable?”
“Because I hate admitting that the thought of you affects me,” I growl.
“I should be staying focused on hockey. On getting signed. On the internship. But you know what I’m thinking about instead, Diana?
You in those fucking heels. You in my clothes.
Every time you smile at me. Every time I bait you, and you bait me right back! ”
“At least you didn’t have someone take up your mind like that for the last three years!” Her eyes go wide in shock.
“Three years.” Goddammit, Luke was right. “Is that how you know my coffee order?”
“Y-Yes!” Diana relents. “But it doesn’t matter. It never has.”
“Why?”
“Because you will never see me the way I see you!”
I snap. Impulse razes down restraint as I back her into the wall.
Diana’s breath catches. Her hand flattens against my chest, cleaving the smallest distance between us.
“You have no idea how I see you,” I whisper.
My eyes drop to her lips. They part for me, challenging the last shred of desire and frustration I’m fighting to tame back.
Diana’s eyes flutter as if she’s caught in a trance. “I just want to stop thinking.”
“So do I.”
Her fingers curl into my hoodie. Diana’s chest pulsing up and down sends shivers through my body. They scatter across my bones, coaxing me to give in and feel what it’s like to take her against this wall.
“Fuck it.”
I rake my fingers through her hair and kiss her.