Page 192 of When We Ignite
And again.
I frowned, pulling it out.Aria calling.I ignored it, shooting her a quick text about breakfast before slipping my phone back in my pocket.
“It’s supposed to be out already. They sent a link,” Henry added.
“Let me see,” Ethan said, leaning over Henry’s shoulder.
Another buzz. Then another.
I sighed, unlocking my phone to check her message.
Aria
MAYDAY MAYDAY
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A link was attached.
Frowning, I clicked it open.
“Holy fucking shit,” Henry exhaled, his voice cutting through the room.
Everyone turned to him, startled, but he was staring at me. His wide-eyed expression said it all. Beside him, Ethan had gone pale as a sheet, his eyes glued to Henry’s phone.
“What—” My voice faltered as I looked down at my phone. The article loaded, and everything around me faded into static.
It wasn’t about the wedding.
It was aboutus.
The screen filled with pictures—too many to count. The largest one, positioned directly under the bold, screaming headline, sent a chill down my spine.
The Ultimate Betrayal: Langley’s Heir’s Scandalous Romance with Teenage Brother-in-Law Exposed Right After the ‘I Dos!’
The image was of Ethan and me in my car, taken in front of his building the day we arrived home from our trip. My hands were cradling his face, our lips pressed together. I knew, seconds later, he had lifted his own hands to cover mine, but they had chosenthisshot instead—one that made it look like I was gripping him,forcinghim.
There were more photos. Dozens of them. Every time I thought we were being discreet, someone had been waiting, watching, documenting it all. Every moment, every glance, every touch had been saved for this—to drop it at the most devastating possible moment. The day after the wedding.
The entire world was looking at us now.
A murmur rose around the table, voices bleeding into a dull roar as time stretched unnaturally slow. My heartbeat pounded in my ears, drowning everything else out.
This couldn’t be happening.
I forced myself to look up, and my dad’s cold, unreadable stare met mine from across the table. His phone was clenched tightly in his hand, his knuckles white.
I opened my mouth, unsure what I could possibly say to fix this. But before I could get a word out, Ethan’s dad stood and punched me square in the face.
Then all hell broke loose.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
ETHAN
Turns out Sebastian had been right all along.
A very stupid part of me had believed that, if our relationship ever got out, it wouldn’t bethatbad. Sure, there was an age gap, but I was legal.
