Page 123 of Guarded Love

He freezes mid-gesture, his practiced smile faltering for just a second before snapping back into place. "Willow. Hey." He tries to angle the camera away from me, but I move with him. "I'm actually in the middle of?—"

"I know exactly what you're in the middle of." I don't raise my voice. Don't need to. "You're in the middle of lying to your audience about why you're really here."

His laugh sounds forced. "Come on, don't be dramatic. I'm just here supporting the team?—"

"You're here because your deal got canceled." The words come out clean and sharp. "You're here because you need content to spin the narrative after your management leaked Lilly's name and mine to you, and you decided to weaponize your platform against us."

I watch his face change. The mask slips just enough for me to see the panic underneath.

"Look, I don't know what you think happened?—"

"I know exactly what happened." I take a step closer, and he actually backs up. "You found out we came forward about what you did to us, and instead of taking accountability, you decided to paint us as bitter exes who can't move on. You sent your followers after us without ever saying our names directly, but you let your management do it for you. Very smart. Very calculated."

His camera is still rolling. I can see the red light in my peripheral vision, but I don't look at it. Don't acknowledge the hundreds or thousands of people probably watching this live. My focus stays locked on him.

"That's not—you're twisting things?—"

"Am I?" I tilt my head slightly. "Because from where I'm standing, it looks like you're exactly where you've always been. Using your platform to tear down women who threaten your image. The only difference is now you're doing it in my space."

"Your space? This is a public event, Willow. You don't own?—"

"I go to school here. This is my campus. These are my people. You lost your deal with this team because of your own actions.Not because of anything Lilly or I did. We didn't ruin your career, Leo. You did."

“You’re overreacting?—”

“I’m overreacting?” I laugh because I can’t help it. My tone is sharp enough to draw blood without laying a finger on him. A few heads turn our way because of the commotion this is causing, but I don’t care.

Let them watch.

Let them hear.

"You want to know what's actually pathetic?" I continue, my voice still perfectly level. "It's being so threatened by women telling their truth that you have to send an army of strangers to attack them online. It's standing here right now, trying to manipulate this situation into content for your brand."

This is my opportunity to do what I should have done a long time ago. When he adds nothing to the conversation, I keep going. “I watched you twist the truth, spin it on stream, and call it healing. You’re not a victim. You’re just an asshole with Wi-Fi who will do anything to protect his brand. Including ignoring what’s right.”

He reaches for me and I shove his hand away, hard. I don’t give him a chance to respond before I continue. “You didn’t break me. You broke the version of me that believed you could be better. Stream that.”

The crowd that has gathered around us has gone completely silent. I can feel dozens of eyes on us, phones probably recording from multiple angles, but all I see is Leo's face cycling through emotions, and I’m able to pinpoint anger, panic, calculation.

That's when I notice movement out of the corner of my eye. Blaise appears at the edge of the crowd, but he doesn't rush forward. Doesn't push through to get between us. He just stands there, steady and still. I appreciate that he isn’t running in to save the day.

Leo's eyes flick to him, which I find interesting, and then back to me. "Look, this is getting out of hand?—"

"No," I cut him off. "What got out of hand was you thinking you could come to my campus and turn your consequences into content." I take another step forward, and this time he doesn't back away. "But you miscalculated something."

"What's that?"

"You thought I'd stay quiet. You thought I'd disappear like a good little victim and let you rewrite history." I feel something shift inside me, like a door I've kept locked finally swinging open. "But I'm done being quiet about who you really are."

That's when I hear Ari's voice from somewhere behind me. "Got it."

I turn slightly and see her lowering her phone, a satisfied expression on her face. She's been recording this entire exchange. So not only is this being streamed live, but if he tries to spin it, we have backup.

Perfection.

Leo's face goes white. "You can't?—"

"Actually, we can." Blaise speaks for the first time. "Public space, public event. No expectation of privacy when you're literally streaming to thousands of people."

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