Page 111 of Unguarded

Fidel shakes his head. “You really think this is the rightdecision? She’s been with you for years, mija. What if it was just a mistake?”

I clench my jaw. “She didn’t fall onto his dick. She didn’t unwittingly sell intimate pictures of me to the tabloids. She didn’t share all my hotel numbers and help that psycho get close to me by accident. She tried to ruin me, to scare me into the shadows so that I was too terrified to keep performing. That was her goal here, and unless she has some logical explanation for it all and one hell of an apology,I’m done.”

A knock sounds on the door to Fidel’s office in LA. I straighten.

“Come in,” he calls.

The door swings open, revealing Ember.

Her eyes widen at the sight of me. “Monroe, I didn’t know you were going to be here.”

I cross my arms over my chest, leaning back against the leather chair. “You know why I’m here.”

She tilts her head to the side, frowning. “I don’t actually. You should be in rehearsals.”

I roll my eyes. “I need you to start explaining things and see if you can give me a good reason for me to believe you.”

She shrugs, taking a step back. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Fidel leans forward. “Ember, have you been seeing Zade?”

She shakes her head. “If he told you that, I can explain. He came on to me one night on the tour, okay? I turned him down, but he said that he would tell you we hooked up if I told you about it. I just didn’t want to put you in that position with everything you had going on with the stalker.”

Her eyes are round, pleading with me. My heart squeezes at the look on her face. I wish I had let Cash be in here now. I wanted to prove I could do this on my own, but now, I’m craving his quiet strength.

“You should have told someone back when it happened. If he was going around doing that, we should’ve known so we could get rid of him.” Fidel shakes his head.

“I wanted to tell you!” She rushes forward. “I just truly thought you shouldn’t have to deal with that mess. You needed to focus.”

Another knock sounds on the door behind her.

“Come in,” I call out.

Brooks strides through the door, looking from me to Ember. His face is solemn. She shrinks back, sighing.

“I need you to tell me what you saw on her phone, the messages between her and Zade.”

He sighs, folding his arms over his chest. “They were sexting. Talking about when they’d be able to sneak off together again.”

She scoffs. “Of course he would say that! I rejected him, and now, he’s making this up. Monroe, you have to believe me. I’ve worked for you so faithfully!”

“I have screenshots,” he says simply.

She shuts up, turning her head away.

“What is your sister’s name?” I ask her.

She blinks at me. “My sister? Hannah?”

I nod. “Doesn’t she bake or something? You told me about it one time.”

She shrugs. “She makes bread. I fail to see the relevance here.”

“DoesHannah makes sourdoughring any bells?” I ask, raising a brow.

Her eyes widen, but she schools her expression quickly. “I’m being set up! If you can’t see that, you’re clearly just not trying to. My sister having a cooking channel meanswhatexactly?”

“The photo of Cash and me in the outdoor shower at the ranch was sold to someone with the emailhannah makes sourdough at yahoo dot com. Seems like quite the string of coincidences, doesn’t it? Look, if you’d just confess and apologize and maybe admit what your part was with my stalker, then?—”

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