Page 1 of Breaking the Alpha
Prologue
River Baker despisedbeing the center of attention.His skin crawled every time lustful eyes raked over him.His stomach churned whenever an unwanted hand grazed his body.His muscles knotted with tense anticipation with each compliment, knowing the critique would soon follow.Being the sole focus of a horde of women was in his top three nightmare scenarios.
Which, given his career as a model with ambitions of breaking into the acting world, was illogical at its best and just plain stupid at its worst.
Today, stupid was winning the battle.
With a centering breath, he squared his shoulders, plastered a carefree smirk on his face, and walked into the lioness’s den.
“All right, Jodie,” he greeted his agent while nodding polite acknowledgements to the three other women pacing the office floor.“Lay it on me.”
“Your wife has chosen the Heartbroken High Road strategy,” one of his agent’s underlings reported in the clipped tone all LA management mastered early in their careers.“Windy Leigh’s posts are focusing on wishing you well on your chosen path, along with ambiguous photos of rain and empty wineglasses and a few cryptic comments about broken vows and stepping aside.”
“Future ex-wife,” he corrected, as he sank onto the sleek, white leather sofa.“She posted that same crap when she was dropped by that car company.If I ignore it, she’ll get back to flower filters and sunny day hashtags by the end of the month.”
Jodie laughed, and he winced.
Jodie only laughed when things weren’t funny.
“Windy Leigh’s ninety-six million followers have made assumptions of your guilt based on both the photos which came out this morning and her posts, River.Assumptions your future ex-wife isn’t correcting.As far as her little army is concerned, you used her good name and reputation to build up your career and then started sleeping around once you didn’t need her anymore.”
“Photos?All I do is photos.”He gave Jodie’s assistant a tight smile as he accepted her laptop and angled the screen to get a better look.“How bad can it…oh shit.”
“Yes, River.Oh shit,” Jodie echoed in a flippant tone.“Are you looking at the wedding ring post?I have to admit, it’s effective, and I’d be impressed if it wasn’t my client being targeted in this smear.Of course, I suspect you’re checking out the pictures of you in some motel room off Rodeo.The one with the twin redheads on their knees would be my favorite if we cropped out the cocaine, but that’s only because their hair color complements your own coloring so nicely.”
His blood ran cold as he scrolled through the photos.
The women in the room talked over and around him, bouncing ideas off each other and rattling off updates to the takedown notices their team of lawyers had issued within an hour of the photos being posted.
“It’s not me,” he murmured, his voice tight and gruff.“Jodie, this isn’t me.”
The din of discussion continued over his head, unabated.
“Jodie?”
Another voice joined the mayhem as a heated conversation played out on speakerphone.
“Jodie.”
This time, she heard.Her laser glare fixed on him.“What?”
“Those pictures aren’t me.”
His agent huffed with the exasperation of a thousand trials.“Of course they aren’t you, River.The warping of the tattoos along your thighs gave that away immediately.They’re AI generated.But your soon-to-be ex-wife is using this to announce your separation to the world, and her minions are eating it up and spewing it everywhere.”She crouched in front of him, the feat impressive given her five-inch stiletto heels and skintight pencil skirt.“She’s good.But I’m better.”
His ears were ringing along with the internal alarms shrieking in his head.
This was it.
His marriage was over.
His career was over.
Yet neither of those were what had his pulse skyrocketing.There was something far more pressing, far more important.
He swallowed as he studied the faint swirls in the white marble floor.“What am I going to tell my brothers?”
Jodie’s lips turned up in a terrifying smile.“That’s right.You have brothers.Brothers living in a little one-light cowpoke town.What do they do there?These brothers of yours?”
