Page 22 of Dream On, Liar

I pushed away from the counter and picked my smoothie back up. “Look, you either do it where you have control over how it comes out...” I lifted one shoulder. “Or I post a notes app statement the second her appointment gets announced. The internet will do the rest for free.”

Raina exhaled quietly, folding her arms as she looked between us. “And if I say no?”

“Then you lose any chance of me doing that piece that Hazel wanted.”

Raina’s expressions fell just as Oliver’s gaze sharpened immediately. “Careful.”

I looked at him. “What?”

“This feels a lot like something your father would do.”

That landed harder than I expected, but I ignored that part of me that wanted to hear the truth hidden in his words as the room went still for half a second. Even Raina looked caught off guard by it.

My jaw flexed, as I forced the words out. “I’m not doing this to control her.”

“No,” Oliver agreed evenly. “You’re doing it because you want control back somewhere. Because you think it’s the only way you can protect yourself.”

I hated that he understood it so quickly.

Silence stretched again as she went over everything in her head. Presumably, replaying every possible outcome of the decision she’d already made silently in her head.

I wished I had even half of my best friend’s patience, but waiting while people made a decision about my life had never been one of my strengths.

“Raina,” I said sharply, “it’s not exactly a difficult choice.”

Her eyes snapped to mine. “It is when it involves potentiality involves my job.”

“I’m literally handing you the bigger story.”

“And that right there is exactly why I’m hesitating,” she shot back. “Because you’re treating this like a media strategy instead of an actual decision that affects your life, and mine—

“It is a media strategy.” I cut her off abruptly.

Oliver’s expression darkened instantly at my tone.

“If the press are going to rip me apart either way,” I continued, frustration bleeding through now, “then I’d rather give them something else to choke on first.”

“Rihaan.” Oliver warned.

“What?” I said, turning toward him. “You know I’m right.”

“No, I think you’re angry.” His voice sharpened. “And I think you’re trying to bulldoze her into helping you make a decision you haven’t properly thought through.”

I scoffed. “I’ve thought about it plenty.”

“Then stop pushing her.”

“I’m not pushing her. I just don’t get why she’s making it a big deal—”

“I swear to god, if you don’t shut the fuck up and stop trying to force her into something she clearly isn’t comfortable with. I’ll deck you hard enough to give the media the blunder you seem so desperate to create.”

The threat hung in the air for exactly one beat before Raina groaned, dragging a hand over her face.

“Look, I can’t tell Hazel I’m running this through NexGen, she won’t just shoot it down because of the timing, she’ll make sure the headlines turn on you even more. And if I do it through Pitch and Pits Production, especially with all that added flare you’re suddenly so comfortable with, there’s a chance I lose my job.”

I raised a brow, catching the unfinished but hanging in the air as her gaze flicked toward Oliver.

Something silent passed between them then. One of those irritating conversations people somehow managed to have without speaking, all loaded looks and tiny shifts in expression.