Page 74 of VOGUEish

“This will ruin my comeback moment. Everyone will laugh at me.”

“No they won’t. If the puzzle is solved, it’ll be okay. I’ll make it okay.”

“How!? How could it possibly be okay?”

“Trust me. I fix for a living. If you’re outed, I’ll make this a beautiful catastrophe. Remember, I’m a spin doctor. If I can take gossip-magazine trash and turn it into treasure for my clients, I can do it for my best friend.”

An odd thought hit Isabella. Or maybe not a thought, but a premonition. “You didn’t encourage her to talk about my blog, did you? Is this a publicity stunt you designed to get her name in the social media headlights?”

“I can’t believe you’d even ask me that,” Chloe said tartly.

That wasn’t a no. Isabella rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. Bad news comes in threes. First, she’d discovered Chandler in the arms of another woman. Second, someone had enticed the world to figure out her secrets. What would the third thing be? “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have accused you of that. Of course you wouldn’t hurt me to further your career.”

“I would never purposely hurt you.”

Again…not a no. Stop it. Just because Chandler had her in turmoil didn’t mean Isabella had to take it out on her best friend. Another thought struck her, and she laughed.

“What’s funny?”

“Pillar is friends with Grayson Summers. The joke will be on Grayson if his article leads to his best friend being outed.”

“That would be funny. In a sick sort of way. Summers is such an ass. He deserves any shitballs flung his way.”

Another laugh slipped from Isabella’s lips. And then another, and another, and another. It was either laugh or cry, and she’d be damned if her eyes would be puffy come morning.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Chandler and Annie stood on the other side of Isabella’s door and listened.

“She’s not crying.” On the one hand, Chandler was happy she wasn’t crying. But on the other…

“Why would she be crying?” Annie asked. “She has a dreamy boyfriend.”

Chandler nodded.

He listened closer. Heard laughter.

Annie smiled. “See. You were all worried about nothing. She was just embarrassed to catch her boss shirtless. We’re good to allow people to conclude you’re the father of my baby. I promise I won’t come right out and lie about the paternity…just as long as you don’t come right out and deny its possibility.”

“Annie, tomorrow morning you’re going to wake up and realize blackmailing me into letting the world think something that’s not true is a bad idea.”

“If that happens, I’ll help you clear things up with Isabella. In the meantime, I need this for my sanity. The thought of everyone figuring out I was just another of the dumb women who fell for his lies is more than I can handle. Besides, someday when my child asks me who his father is, you’re a much better candidate than his real father.”

Everything in Chandler wanted to fire Annie and go to Isabella. But that would not be in the best interest of Glamour Inc. He had no idea how far she planned to carry this charade, and he didn’t plan on asking. Not until he spoke with Nonna and had legal representation.

He raised his hand to knock.

Annie grabbed his arm. “What are you doing? I’m serious. I will ruin Naked Runway.”

More laughter floated through the door.

Was Isabella laughing alone or had she called Ryder? Was he coming clean at this very moment? Admitting he’d had feelings for her all along? Telling Isabella to forget Chandler and give him a real chance?

“Annie, I’m in love with Isabella.” The words shot out with the anger he felt at being in this situation. When exactly had he fallen in love with her? The taxi? The ping-pong game? Today? All the above?

“Trust me. Love is a clusterfuck. I’m doing you a favor,” Annie said. “Besides, if Isabella loved you back, there’s no way in hell she’d be on the other side of that door laughing. I can’t remember the last time I laughed the way she’s laughing. You better believe it wasn’t within minutes of having my heart put through a meat grinder.”

CHAPTER THIRTY

---