Page 206 of Secret Heir For The Billionaire Twin

We end the call a few minutes later, and I send Tamara a message telling her to move everything until Wednesday.

Her reply arrives less than thirty seconds later.

Already doing it.

I stare at the screen. Then I close the laptop.

***

By Monday morning, Camille and I belong to everyone. The first headline appears before 7:00. By 8:30, three more follow, each one more confident than the last about a relationship none of them actually knew anything about.

“BLACKWELL-WHITFIELD ENGAGEMENT ENDS AFTER LONG DELAYS”

“JULIAN BLACKWELL AND CAMILLE WHITFIELD CALL OFF WEDDING”

“INSIDE THE BREAKUP OF ONE OF NEW YORK’S MOST WATCHED COUPLES”

I stop reading after that.

Elena handles the statement through Communications. Short, neutral, respectful. Camille and I have ended our engagement and ask for privacy. Nothing else.

I do not comment.

I do not correct anyone.

I do not answer the messages arriving from people who suddenly remember they know me.

Tamara keeps the office quiet and sends me the revised calendar from home by midmorning.

Monday and Tuesday cleared. Meetings moved to Wednesday onward. Updated file attached.

I open it.

The first page is mostly rearranged capital reviews, committee calls, and an executive strategy session with Adrian.

Then I scroll down.

Wednesday:

2:00 PM — Vanguard Business Journal Retrospective Interview — Sophie Callahan

My hand stops on the trackpad. A week ago, that name sat inside a category I understood.

Now Camille is gone, the engagement is over, and the boundary I had been using to keep everything else in place has disappeared with it.

I close the calendar.

That changes nothing.

At least…that is what I tell myself.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Sophie

By Monday afternoon, I’ve been awake for hours without looking at a single headline.

I am sitting at the kitchen island in the Blackwell apartment with coffee gone cold beside my laptop when Maya calls.