Page 75 of All the Drama from New York

Another voice now came over the speaker. “Hi guys, Sheila here. You might want to check onInside New York Citythis morning. The front page is an article which talks about you both, and it’s not exactly kind. I’m afraid there’s also a video.”

Bryce muttered something which didn’t bear repeating. Camille was trying to be taken seriously by the world of fashion, so all publicity wasn’t necessarily good publicity.

“What video?” asked Camille.

Ryan clicked on theINYCsite and an article with the headline ‘From heartache to $$$’ appeared at the top. He scrolled down the piece, and as he did Camille’s blood turned to ice. A photo of the two of them at dinner last night sat under the byline.

Reality TV Toyboy Ryan Collins has his hands all over runaway nepo baby billionaire lover.

Camille didn’t want to read the rest of the article. She had a pretty good idea as to what it likely said, though the toyboy bit stuck sharp in her throat. Weren’t toyboys meant to be much younger men? Ryan was nearly the same age as her.

As much as she ached to look away, her gaze remained fixed on the article. There were more photos. Grainy ones of the two of them walking in the city. Another one of them in a passionate embrace, kissing on the beach at Fire Island.

It was clear that someone had been stalking them for days. Weeks even.

She felt utterly violated. Some stranger had been watching some of her most private moments.

But who? And why?

Ryan stopped scrolling through the article, and clicked on a hyperlink. It opened up on YouTube and Camille watched in horror as the moment she’d flattened Ryan in the middle of the street played out onscreen. Some smart ass had put the theme music fromBachelors on the Beachover it, and then sped it up.

“Seven hundred and sixty four thousand views, and it was only posted at the start of the week,” grumbled Ryan.

“And that’s not the original, it’s only a mashup. The first one was loaded up a few weeks ago, but it didn’t appear to get much traction. Whoever put it up on YouTube didn’t know who you were. But once it was shared on TikTok, the algorithm matched Ryan’s face with some clips from the tv show, and ka-boom…” explained Sheila.

A small snowball rolling harmlessly down the mountain had now turned into a full blown avalanche of spiteful gossip and cruel inuendo. And she and Ryan were standing right in the middle of its path of destruction.

Camille’s brain couldn’t handle any of this. It quickly checked out, hanging up a ‘closed for maintenance’ sign as it went. Ryan, Bryce, and Sheila were all still talking, but she didn’t take in a single word that any of them said, as panic held her firmly in its grip.

This is a disaster. People are going to discover who I am. I’ll be the laughing stock of fashion week.

And what would her family say? They’d say, she’d crossed every line of acceptable propriety when she’d started sleeping with an employee. An employee who just happened to be a former reality tv star.

Dread twisted tightly in her stomach.

Moving away from the desk, her gaze landed on the pinned up muslin of the Prince Charming jacket she’d designed while they were atTrade Winds. The jacket called to her, and Camille moved toward it. There was safety in familiar things. As her fingers brushed over the fabric, her brain sizzled, and came back on line.

It was now blasting out a loud warning signal on high repeat. The only word she could make out was RUN!

“I’ll be back in a minute,” she whispered.

I have to get out of here. I need to go somewhere that’s safe, and far away from all this madness.

Racing down the stairs to her apartment, stuffing her feet into a pair of ballet flats, and snatching up her purse, Camille was already standing in the elevator with her finger on the button by the time Ryan finally caught up with her.

Shock and concern was written all over his face. “Camille, wait!” he cried, but she let the shiny metal doors close on him.

The whole world now knew that she and her personal assistant were lovers. And from the way things had blown up this morning, Camille knew it was only a matter of time before falling in love with Ryan would cost her everything.

She’d worked her ass for over four years, but none of that would matter. Her gorgeous designs, her hard won success—none of it.

All people would be talking about is that she, a member of the billionaire Royal family, was fooling around with a guy who’d lost the final of a stupid dating show.

Her fashion career was slipping through her fingers like finely spun silk.

CHAPTER FORTY

Camille caught the look of concern on Karl’s face as she half-stumbled through the front door of his fabric emporium on Broadway a short time later. He quickly stepped past her and locked the door. As he lowered the security grille into place, the noise of the passing New York City traffic dropped to a dull hum.

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