Page 183 of Wreck Me

“These facilities need to be out in the countryside, away from the complications of city life. They need to be a true refuge, to offer solace as well as help and guidance.”

“You’ve already put the money down somewhere, it’s already in progress, yes? The talk of your trust fund being drained to your parents… it all makes sense.”

“Yes,” I admitted. “I have.” I winced as I told him, “It’s about three hours away from Rossun.”

“So, this is you telling me that you’re leaving?”

“I—”

His phone buzzed several times, then started ringing.

His gaze burned into mine, intensity flaring between us.

But his phone kept going fucking crazy.

With a grunt, he reached into the inside pocket of his suit jacket and fished it out.

He swiped it open, then cursed, his eyes darting all over the screen, taking in whatever had just come in rapid-fire, urgency bleeding from him.

He shot to his feet. “No. Not now. No.”

I rose with him, adrenaline shooting through me.

“What’s happened?”

There was a haunted look in his eyes as he looked out at me. “Bastian and Skylar have been exposed.”

“Jesus Christ.”

He took the call in the next moment and turned from me. “King. Yes, I’ve seen it. Mobilize Security, get a lock on Bastian’s Lexus, and escort them here.”

Shit.

It was happening again.

But this time it was a hell of a lot worse.

Because Skylar was involved.

And now, it had the potential to actually break Bastian.

“I can’t erase this.”

Bastian shook his head, not willing to believe it couldn’t be done. “No, you did the same thing with that altered photo that some media whore posted of me.”

“This is different, sweetheart,” Cas tried to explain with as much patience as he could muster, given the intensity of the situation.

“How? With your reach and King-Tech combined—”

“It’s hit everywhere, Bastian,” I cut in, giving him the reality check he needed. He was clearly stuck in the denial stage and that was a problem when we needed to strategize beyond what had happened.

He looked at me as I leaned over the back of the couch watching Cas sitting on the coffee table, his hand on Bastian’s knee as he sat slumped on one of the armchairs looking absolutely distraught.

“At this point it’s like asking Cas to bring down the internet,” I told him.

“You saw it, right? All the shit they’re saying about Sky? Making her out to be my whore, some piece of trash, completely eviscerating her?”

My gut twisted as I recalled some of the headlines I’d seen and even some viral posts all over social media.

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