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He didn’t need a reporter to publish an accusation when he could feed enough curiosity into celebrity accounts and wait for people to build the story themselves.

I hand Lena’s phone back and reach for mine. “Has Bane seen this?”

“I’m guessing the Communications team has.”

I search his name and open the social feed, finding a discussion about Wolf Shield’s early funding beneath another post containing old photographs of Bane working for Spencer alongside dates from the company’s first corporate filings.

Nobody has accused him of doing anything illegal, which makes the tactic familiar enough that my grip tightens around the phone.

Spencer used the same approach throughout our relationship whenever he wanted a story circulating without his name attached to it, passing a detail to the right person and waiting until a reporter decided they’d discovered the rest.

Lena shifts closer to the desk. “This is Spencer.”

“His publicist started asking about the same time two weeks ago, and now the wording is spreading through celebrity accounts.” I turn the screen toward her. “He wants people digging.”

Her mouth tightens. “What are they going to find?”

I scroll past another post questioning Bane’s early investors. “Years he spent helping shelters, followed by connections that eventually led him to Wolf Shield’s first major opportunity. Spencer doesn’t know any of that, which means he thinks he’s found something he can use.”

I lock my phone. “You’re taking this better than I expected.”

Spencer’s name used to tighten my stomach before I’d even read whatever he’d done because I was already calculating how much damage he’d cause and what I’d have to change to accommodate it.

This time, I close the spreadsheet on my laptop and reach for today’s schedule with anger keeping me moving.

“If he wanted this buried, his publicist wouldn’t have handed it to reporters two weeks ago. He was checking whether anybody cared enough to keep digging.”

Lena gets to her feet as I slide my laptop into its case. “And now they do.”

“Which means we find out what they can reach before Spencer decides what comes next.”

“He’s testing the story.”

Lena’s expression tightens. “Testing it for what?”

“To see whether people care enough to keep digging.” I nod. “And if they do, he’ll give them something worse.”

She follows my movement. “Where are you going?”

“Communications.”

“You want to warn them?”

“They already know about the earlier inquiries. I want to know how much has changed since then.”

Lena gets up and I slide my laptop into its case.

I know how Bane will react if the story grows. He’ll worry about Nora and the women who trusted Celeste because their histories belong to them, and he’ll refuse to drag people from shelters into a public fight to protect himself.

That instinct is one of the reasons I love him.

It’s also the reason I want options ready before Spencer controls the situation.

“If this keeps spreading, reporters are going to start digging through every organization connected to that time,” I say as we leave my office. “We need to know what they’ll find before they find it.”

Lena presses the elevator button. “Do you want me to call Bane?”

“I’ll talk to him after I speak with Communications.”