Page 88 of The Villain Edit

Filming starts soon after and my world shrinks to scripts, quick workouts, and long, grueling days on set. I put everything I have into the role like it will help me forget about the hurt in Ashley’s voice.

Days pass, but I have no idea how many.

I’m exhausted after a particularly physical sequence, walking off set for lunch when David falls into step alongside me.

“It happened,” he says in a hushed voice.

My heart stutters as I take in his pallor, the shaky breath he sucks in. He hands me his phone like he’s about to tell me someone’s dead, and I know.

Gabriel Sinclair is dead.

Gabriel Sinclair’s Secret Identity Revealed.

It’s all there, in the article. Everything I told Ashley and more.

The name my parents gave me. Axel Gabriel Leddy.

They got comments from old classmates calling me short-tempered and dangerous. The kid I put in the hospital too—though he’s not the victim they were looking for, as he’s currently in prison for assault. He remembers me, but claims he beat my ass the following week. He didn’t. Comments from teachers calling me troubled. A few shoplifting incidents. A lot of time in detention. Rumors about a stolen car.

I scroll, but it doesn’t get better.

It goes into detail about who my dad was. And my mom. She’d died of a drug overdose years ago. Cora had only told me she’d passed away, and seeing it like this…

I click away. Other sites have already picked the story up.

Gabriel Sinclair’s Dark Secret.

Hollywood Idol Gabriel Sinclair’s Troubled Past.

Gabriel Sinclair’s Shocking Fall from Grace.

After weeks of waiting for the sky to fall, there’s something like relief when it finally starts to collapse. But mostly, there’s anger.

“This is Ashley’s work,” I say, shoving David’s phone back at him. My stomach is churning. She really did this.

Of course she did.

David clears his throat. “Maybe we should talk about this somewhere more private.”

“She sold me out. She told me I’d regret leaving her, and she followed through.”

“Gabe,” he hisses, eyes darting around the room.

I glance around. We’re still on set as the crew breaks it up and people are watching us. “Who cares? Everyone already knows everything about me—they might as well know what I’m thinking.” My voice rises, my arms lifting as I turn slowly. “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, am I right?”

David pushes me through the crowd, but I’m laughing. The brittle sound silences everyone we come across and they all pause, staring at me.

“Hey,” I say to one of the extras, stopping abruptly. “Never trust someone who tries to seduce their—”

“You need to stop before you make this worse,” David says, grabbing me by the shoulders. He’s tall, but he hasn’t been enduring months of training and bulking up. He shouldn’t be able to move me, but he does.

“How can it get any worse?” I demand, laughing again.

The moment my trailer door slams behind him, David rounds on me. “Stop acting like a dick.”

“You didn’t have your dirty laundry laid out for the whole world to see,” I snap.

“Your childhood trauma isn’t your fault, for one. It’s also not an excuse for you to act like an asshole. You don’t even know if Ashley is behind this—”

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