Page 34 of Rivals and Liars

"I'm losing signal, we'll talk later." Candela hangs up and tosses her phone on the table, cursing Sergio under her breath.

They'd been having breakfast at a diner, sitting side by side, when her phone buzzed. She'd been distracted, reading the paper, and opened the message almost without looking.

"Holy shit. That's Brogan and Cobos," Sergio had said, eyebrows shooting up.

Candela nearly knocked the paper off the table as she dropped it to grab her phone and pull it out of her camera's line of sight. She'd tilted it to her right, shielding the screen from him, and zoomed in on the photo that had come from the same number as the first one. Her heart lurched when she realized the shot wasn't just a candid — it had been taken inside the tennis player's hotel room, probably with a hidden camera. Both women were clearly visible. Leire was pressed against the wall, hands on Kate's hips, and the redhead was molded against her body, her right hand just below Leire's chest, their lips almost brushing while they smiled at each other with unmistakable desire.

"Damn it," Candela had muttered when she read the message underneath.

Last chance.

That was four hours ago, and the call she'd just gotten from her editor could only mean one thing: Sergio had talked, despite her begging him not to say a word.

Studying the photo, Candela can't place the hotel. She doesn't know whether it's from Cincinnati or whether it was taken three months ago and someone is using it now. What she does know is that someone in Leire's inner circle is willing to destroy her — and that the Spanish tennis player is on a countdown before someone goes public with this.

The journalist grabs her phone and steps out of her room, moving at a near-jog down the hallway. Brogan's first US Open match starts in half an hour, and Leire plays three hours after that. She takes the elevator down and finds her colleague waiting for her.

"Cab's almost here," Sergio says, and she walks right past him toward the exit.

"Hey, what's your problem?"

"You're a goddamn snitch," she snaps once they're outside.

He furrows his brow and lets out a dismissive scoff.

"Were you actually serious when you told me not to say anything to Ernesto? You really don't want to use it?" he asks, genuinely baffled.

"What do you care? I'd understand if you'd taken the photo yourself, but you can't even claim that much credit. What the hell is wrong with you?"

"It's a win for the paper. That means something."

Candela looks him up and down with contempt and gets into the cab without another word.

They arrive at the complex, and the journalist works her way through the corridors, past the courts, even through the locker rooms, looking for Leire. She's not going to publish the story, but she can't stop someone else from doing it — so the only thing she can do is give Leire a heads-up before it blows up. She's about to give up and head to the stands to prep for Brogan's match when she spots Leire coming out of the restrooms.

"Leire," she calls out, almost running toward her.

The Spanish woman turns and looks at her, surprised.

"I need to talk to you. Two minutes."

Leire checks the time. Kate's match starts in less than half an hour — she has time.

"You know I'm not doing any unscheduled interviews, right?"

"I'm not going to ask you anything. I just need you to know something. Can we find somewhere private?"

A strange feeling washes over Leire — something like a premonition — and the hair on the back of her neck stands on end.

"Come with me," she says, and heads toward the press room, which she knows will be empty until Kate's match is over.

They go in and shut the door, walking all the way to the back, past the table where athletes give their statements, and into the small side room near it.

"What's going on?" the tennis player asks.

The journalist's mind goes blank for a moment. She'd known exactly what she was going to do while she was looking for Leire, but she hadn't figured out how to start. Somehow she's sure it wasn't Brogan — she barely knows her, and even if she had reasons, she doesn't seem like that kind of person. What she is sure of is that Brogan is exactly the type who would do anything to protect the woman she loves. To pull something like this, in her opinion, you need a financial motive, and Brogan has more money than she knows what to do with.

She's completely convinced the leaks are coming from inside Leire's circle — someone who spends enough time with her to know her schedule and her every move, someone who stays at the same hotel and could get into her room without raising any suspicion. And for Candela, only one name checks every single box: Bruno Cobos.