Page 50 of Where the Little Birds Are (Little Bird Duet 2)

My brows furrow. “Why not?” In my mind, that must mean they matter too much. And I want to know why.

“Kinley—”

“Tell me, Corbin. Now.” I’m tired of him keeping secrets, whether in some twisted way it’s his way of protecting me or not, I still deserve to know.

His head drops down. “Lena hired somebody to take pictures of us on set. The stuff you’ve seen in the media is because of her.”

My lips part but nothing leaves them. I just blink and stare at him as he avoids my eyes, one of his hands scrubbing down his face as he shakes his head.

My conscience tells me, you deserve that.

But it doesn’t stop the rest of me from soaking in the shock of it all. Because his wife knew something was going on and led the press right to the story.

“Why?” I whisper. “If she wanted to keep her name clean, then why would she do that? I don’t…”

“This industry is dark,” he informs me, finally lifting his head to meet my gaze. “My wife pretends to be sweet, but she’s as corrupted as the rest of us. It’s blackmail, Kinley. The kind that we can’t afford to feed into.”

I’m not sure what to say to that.

“I know what we have to do, Little Bird.”

Drawing back, I swallow the creeping anxiety that rises up my throat. The way he says it tells me I need to be prepared. But prepared for what? When his lips part, I know.

“They’ll forgive us,” he tells me.

And he doesn’t need to say who.

The world.

One day … the world will forgive us.

Chapter Seventeen

Corbin / Present

Eddie: Are you sure about this?

Eddie: A press release of this magnitude isn’t going to keep your personal life out of the press. I’m not fucking magic.

Corbin: I’m sure.

Eddie: I sure hope you know what you’re doing because I’ve given up trying to figure it out.

I look over at Kinley, listening to her soft snores and thinking about how I could get used to this. And I can’t get used to it Lena’s way. So, there’s no hesitation or second thought.

Corbin: Lena will make this public regardless

Eddie: Warned you about her, son

Rolling my eyes, I recall the always watch out for the pretty ones talk he gave me when I showed him the ring—the ring that Lena hinted she liked multiple times. She’d always wanted this life, and I let her pull me in with the promise of a new start.

I didn’t need a fresh start.

I needed a do-over.

Eddie: You better get ready for hell. Kinley too

Corbin: Nobody can get ready for that

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