Page 1 of Loved

Chapter 1

Tuesday

My heart was hammering against my ribcage. I didn’t know what Isabella had done. But I knew it was bad.

I looked down at the invitation in my hand. I’d thought it was from my friends. But…what if it wasn’t? What if it was some twisted game Isabella was playing?

She’d hurt people before. My crazy ex-wife had a penchant for ruining lives. I was pretty sure that was her vice. Hell, I’d even let her ruin mine for a few years.

My vices were usually alcohol and drugs. I thought about Penny lying naked in my bed. And sex. Definitely sex. But if Isabella had hurt one of my friends…I wasn’t letting this go. Maybe my new vice would be ruining Isabella’s life for a fucking change.

“Ian,” I said into my phone. “Just tell me what Isabella has done.”

“I tried everything to stop…”

“Tell me.”

Ian sighed. “She leaked the story to the press.”

I looked up from the invitation. “Wait. What?”

“Her version of events of what happened between you and Penny. It’s bad, James.”

It took me a second to process his words. This wasn’t about my friends? I set the invitation down. I’d been thinking about college, reminiscing with my therapist. I was thinking about trying to mend my relationships with my friends. But Isabella didn’t know that. Isabella had no reason to lash out at Mason, Matt, or Rob. She had no reason to lash out at me either. But…it was Isabella.

“So my friends are okay?” I asked.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Ian asked. “James, the story is being printed as we speak.”

I set the invitation down as the repercussion of what Isabella had done finally hit me. She’d gone to the press. Withherversion of what happened between us. Which meant she’d left out a lot of details. Like that fact that she’d cheated on me.Ah, fuck me.

“Then stop the story,” I said.

“We’re in the middle of nowhere. We don’t have connections to the press here.”

I’d hardly classify Delaware as the middle of nowhere. But he was right. I didn’t have the same connections here as I did in New York. “What paper is it? Surely we can hand someone some cash to make this disappear.”

“I already tried everything. It’s a huge story, James. Especially for a small town like this to break.”

I leaned back in my chair and stared at the ceiling. “How bad is it?”

“Isabella told the press that Penny was a minor.”

Jesus.“Surely they’ll do their due-diligence.”

“I don’t know,” Ian said. “Like I said…small town. Not many resources. And it’s already being picked up by national media.”

For fuck’s sake.“Give me the name of the paper. I’ll handle it.”

“It’s the Delaware Post.”

I hung up the phone and called them. But it went straight to voicemail. What kind of shit press was this?

I called one news outlet after the next. I reached out to all my connections in New York City. But everyone just told me the same thing. That stopping the story there wouldn’t help. Everyone was reporting it. Since when had the news turned into a gossip column?

Around 2 a.m. a news van pulled up outside my apartment building.

Ian was right. There was no stopping this.

---