I run my hand through my hair as I stare blankly across the room. How could my mom know that I slept with Owen? It only happened a few hours ago, and we’ve been so careful to not let nobody see us. And what’s she saying about BDSM?
“Oh, cat got your tongue, has it?” Mom’s voice echoes through the phone, cutting through my stunned silence. “Or is Owen’s dick just keeping your mouth too busy to talk to me?”
White-hot rage flashes in my chest.
“Don’t you dare speak to me like that.”
“Or what? Or what, Mira? I’m your mother. I can speak to you however I please.”
“If you were a good mother, you wouldn’t be so ready to join the opposition against me. I haven’t been frequenting any sex dungeons, Mom, especially not with… sexual hypnotism, or whatever the fuck you’re on about. Where are you even getting this information?”
“You mean, where have I—and the whole world—found out the truth? Well, you should be reading the Chronicle. Lis Langley has managed to reveal everything about the two of you.”
“There’s nothing to reveal!” I protest, but I can feel my voice growing weaker. Mom isn’t going to believe me—and neither is the rest of the world.
I pull my legs up to my chest and grasp at the blanket covering the back of the sofa that I’m sitting on. I cover myself with it, suddenly chilled.
“I just can’t believe that you’d do this, Mira. Not just to Carl and me—and he’s furious, by the way—but I can’t believe you’d do this to yourself. I can’t believe you’d cheapen yourself to the point of sleeping with Owen Westbrook—it’s not like you’ve joined an exclusive club.”
I feel the back of my eyes begin to sting and a lump begin to form in my throat. I don’t want mom to know that I’m crying, but I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be able to hide it.
“And your company,” she continues, either oblivious or ignoring how her words cut like a knife. “I can’t believe you’d do this to your company. On the day that you go public, no less. Mira, I really am astounded at you.”
“My company has nothing to do with this,” I protest. “And even if I had been fucking strange billionaires in random sex dungeons, that’s my business—not anyone else’s.”
“Well, you can lie all you want. The whole world knows the truth now, and as a key investor, Carl and the board have decided that power is going to be taken from you and placed solely in the hands of the board.”
Despite myself, I let out a strangled gasp, and I feel tears pricking at my eyelids.
“They can’t do that,” I say softly. Even though I know they can.
“If you’re going to act like a child, then you’ll be treated like one. Carl and your investors have put too much money into your little lingerie project to see this scandal ruin it.”
I open my mouth to speak, but as always, Mom doesn’t let me continue.
“I hope you’re happy, Mira.” I shrink further beneath the blanket, trying to hide from the ice in her voice. “I hope fucking Owen has been worth it, because after this, I doubt anyone on the East Coast would be willing to touch you with a ten-foot pole.”
Then she hangs up. I listen to the silence for a couple of seconds until the phone slips out of my numb fingers and falls into the couch cushions.
I fucked up.
I fucked up so bad.
This is all my fault.
I wrap the blankets tighter around myself and stand on shaky legs. For a moment, I think I might fall again, but I hold onto the arm of the sofa, and I move myself around the room—pushing through the strange numbness that’s encasing my entire body.
I look for my tablet, pulling it from my purse, and I quickly open the Chronicle. Lis Langley’s latest article—the article about us—is on the front page and…trending.
Reading through it, everything my mom said begins to make sense. I can’t hold back the tears any longer, and my sniffles and soft sobs wake Owen in the other room.
“Mira?” he calls from the bedroom, and I flinch away from it for a moment.
If I wasn’t naked and if the paparazzi wouldn’t think I was doing the walk of shame, I’d be almost tempted to run from the hotel right now. To try and do damage control before this article ruins my life any further.
“Owen…” I begin.
I try, and fail, to hide the tears in my voice as I trudge back into the bedroom and hand him the tablet so that he can read the article.