Page 30 of Certified Heartthrob

I stopped at the bodega on the corner and bought a fresh bouquet of flowers for my office, but only after taking in big whiffs of every arrangement on display. I felt generous at the coffee shop and ordered extra to-go cups for half the people in the office. My arms were full by the time I walked into Heartstring headquarters, carrying all of that plus a box of pastries to share with everyone.

The assistants and secretaries were thrilled with my gifts, but the minute I saw Lucas, I knew not all was right in the world. But what could be wrong now that our internet troll was officially taken care of? In more ways than one, thanks to me.

“Your office. Now,” he boomed the moment I approached him at the other end of the work floor.

“Don’t boss me around,” I huffed dismissively, but he followed in behind me and slammed my door shut.

“You’re in an awfully good mood.” He sighed as I settled in behind my desk. “I take it you haven’t seen the news today.”

“What now?” I groaned.

He tossed a stack of printed articles down on my desk with a loud, crashing plop. I picked up the first few pages and started to read.

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED, MARK SILVER: Retired millionaire and Heartstring nemesis, Mark Silver, put a call out to tabloids weeks ago to dig into the secretive, private love lives of the dating app’s sibling execs—insinuating that they might each be lacking romance of any substance, despite their pockets being lined by the promise of love for the masses. We accepted this challenge and found that CEO Camille Meadows has had a very active love life lately as it turns out, but with none other than...Mark Silver himself. Suspicious timing and circumstances to follow Mark’s tirade against the company. After her older brother, Lucas, went through great lengths to get hitched when his own playboy reputation came under fire last year...one has to wonder if Camille is taking a play from her brother’s book. Would she go so far as to seduce Mr. Silver for the sake of her company’s reputation? It does seem awfully convenient that these siblings tend to couple off only after people question their absent love lives. But what does this mean for the site’s millions of users who are in search of the real thing? Can we really trust these chronically single sociopaths to play matchmaker for so many lonely people?

I kept reading, finding each article to be worse than the last. By the end of it, my head was spinning and I was starting to feel sick. Many of the scathing pieces were paired with a picture of Mark and me standing on the sidewalk, locked in a sweeping kiss.

“Those toads,” I seethed. “They were following me!”

“Because he told them to,” Lucas fumed. “What were you thinking!?”

“What areyouthinking!” I argued. “You don’t honestly believe I pursued him just to prove everyone wrong, do you?”

“You tell me.”

“Lucas, please.” I rolled my eyes. “You’re one to talk after everything you and Victoria went through. You should know better than anyone that sometimes you set out to do one thing and end up...falling in love.”

His face dropped, and I knew I had said too much. “Falling in love?” he scoffed. “You don’t seriously expect me to believe that whatever is going on with this guy is real, do you?”

“Why is that so hard to believe? You think you’re the only one who can accidentally find love?”

Before he could answer, my door opened again. Jada and Joshua came filing in, both of them looking just as worn and pissed as Lucas.

“Oh, great. The whole family’s here.” I sank down into my chair, burying my face in my hands.

“This is bad,” Joshua fretted. “This is really bad.”

“Everyone calm down,” I pleaded. “It’s not that bad. What do we care if these people have nothing better to do with their time than try and drag our names through the mud? None of what they’re saying is true, so we shouldn’t even give it the time of day. And anyway...Joshua, you have no room to talk. This is the most I’ve seen you care about our company since we started it.”

“Don’t try to switch the attention to me,” he shot back defensively.

“He’s right,” Lucas added. “We’ll have to address his laziness another time. Right now, we have this to sort through.”

“Laziness!?” Joshua gasped.

I sat back with a smug smile, crossing my arms. “That’s right. Laziness.”

“You two showed up just in time to hear our delusional sister try and convince me that she’s actually in love with this guy.”

“You are!?” Jada squealed.

All eyes turned to me. The weight of their stares made it hard to breathe or swallow. I never actually said I was in love with him...maybe I thought it, but I hadn’t said it. And now I was on the spot.

“I didn’t say that exactly, Lucas.”

“I would hope not. I’d hope you wouldn’t be that naive.”

“Hold on just one damn minute.” I shot up from my chair, noting how the flowers I bought earlier suddenly didn’t seem as bright and cheerful as they had before. “You nearly destroyed us in your manipulative little quest to win over your high school sweetheart. And now you have the nerve to call me naive? You were lucky everything went the way it did. Victoria could have just as easily refused you, and your little stunt would have been the nail in the coffin for this whole company.”

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