Page 105 of Never To Be Mine

“Dad, I can’t evaluate PR statements right now. I need to talk to Hollis first before we start spinning it.”

“We might not have that luxury.” He set the tablet down. “Every minute we stay silent, the narrative gets worse. At some point, we have to respond.”

I knew he was right. I hated that he was right.

“Give me until end of day,” I said. “If I haven’t reached him by then, we’ll put out whatever statement you think is best.”

He studied my face for a long moment, then nodded. “End of day. But that’s it, Juno. After that, we move forward with or without him.”

34

HOLLIS

Iwas elbow-deep in spreadsheet hell when Toby burst through my office door like the building was on fire.

“Hollis, we have a massive problem.”

I didn’t look up from my laptop. “Can it wait? I’m trying to figure out why our shipping costs spiked last week.”

“No. It absolutely cannot wait.” He was already crossing the room, his own laptop open in his hands. “You need to see this. Right now.”

Something in his voice made me look up. Toby was the most laid-back person I knew. Nothing rattled him. But right now, he looked genuinely panicked.

“What’s going on?”

He set his laptop on my desk and turned it toward me. “Burgergate.”

I watched the video play. It took me a second to realize what I was looking at. Some random angle, shot from a distance. Some guy eating alone. My stomach dropped.

That guy was me.

The timestamp in the corner showed yesterday evening. Hours after the press release announcing the burger partnership had gone out.

“Shit,” I breathed.

“It gets worse.” Toby scrolled down to show me the view count. Over two million. The comments section was a warzone.

I felt my blood run cold as I read through them. People thought I was a hypocrite. Thought the burger must be terrible if I was eating fast food instead. They called me a joke. Influencer energy.

“Burgergate?” I said in disbelief.

“One of many hashtags.”

“How long has this been up?”

“Went up last night. It’s trending on every platform. Burgergate is the number two topic on Twitter.”

I ran my hands through my hair, my mind racing. “This is bad.”

“Yeah.” Toby looked miserable. “The backlash is intense. People are saying you don’t believe in your own product.”

I reached for my phone, only to remember I hadn’t charged it last night and it was now sitting in the other room on the charger where I’d left it hours ago. I’d been so focused on catching up on work that I hadn’t even thought to check it.

I bolted from my chair and ran to the other room. If my phone hadn’t been plugged in, it would have been dead with all the notifications. Missed calls. Text messages. Notifications stacking on top of notifications.

Several were from Juno. My heart sank. I called her immediately.

Straight to voicemail.