Page 285 of Filthy Truth


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“Our audience loves you, Dad,” Paris trilled.

“They love him a little too much,” Lorelei said lightly, an odd combination of annoyance and amusement lilting her tone.

“What happens on set?” I queried, curious enough to ask him.

“Girls as young as Paris and Aspen come on to me like I’m not happily married,” he said with a huff.

Savannah chuckled. “That’s because most ‘rock gods’ would enjoy having girlfriends as young as their daughters.”

“Ew,” Aspen said with a shudder.

“You don’t need to get your leg over an old man to make money,” Savannah retorted.

“Savannah!” Dagger barked, his tone tougher than usual.

She merely arched a brow at him. “Tell me I’m lying. Nepotism babies—”

“Savvie, I’m sensing a lot of unresolved tension building between you and your sisters,” Lorelei stated as she picked up one of the savory pastries on her plate.

Savannah sniffed. “No unresolved tension here.”

“We only asked if we could talk about Camden’s addiction problems on our show, Mom,” Paris whined, making me shoot a concerned glance at Camden who, unsurprisingly, had tensed up like he’d been shot.

For the first time, Lorelei’s calm demeanor quivered. “You wanted to feature Camden’s addictions on your reality TV show?”

“I don’t understand why it’s such a secret. Everyone already knows about that stalker who broke into his rehab facility—”

“That’s the exact goddamn reason you should understand, Aspen,” Lorelei snapped.

Camden’s chair scraped against the dining room floor, but Savannah grabbed his hand and dragged him to a halt. “Over my dead body will they talk about my problems on a fucking TV show!”

“You should have brought this to us, Savannah,” Dagger growled, his eyes growing narrower as he pinned his twin daughters in place with a stare. “Of all the insensitive… You know how delicate a topic this is for our family. You know how your brother and I struggle every goddamn day, and you think our addictions are—”

“Fodder,” Savannah supplied when he hesitated.

“Fodder,” Dagger agreed, “for your show?”

Apparently sensing she’d gone too far, Paris swallowed. “We didn’t mean any harm by it.”

“To even ask was to mean harm. I’m just grateful you broached the subject with me first,” Savannah snapped.

Lorelei carefully replaced her cutlery on the table. “I understand how difficult it is for you to find your place in this world. You’re the daughters of a man who’s internationally renowned, you’re the siblings of a star who puts your father’s career in the shade, and Savannah’s reputation in her field is just as solid as Camden’s.

“But you’ve used your family enough to find your footing. No more, girls. No more. We’ve humored you long enough. Your father has been more than generous with his time, but if your show is still performing poorly, then that’s something you’ll have to face without leveraging us anymore.”

“But Mom—”

Lorelei whipped her head to the side. “No, Paris. No. Our family has been through enough tragedy as it is. I won’t compound that by letting you try to weasel your way into getting what you want. How could you even think we’d—” A sob bleated through her words, freezing them forever on her tongue. “—after all the problems we’ve had because of drugs and gambling and alcohol!”

“Lorelei,” Dagger rasped, jerking to his feet and moving around the table to reach her side. His hand fixed on her shoulder the moment he was at her back, and something about the picture they made had me sucking in a breath.

This was love.

What they had.

They’d survived several tragedies and they were still standing.

Still there, fighting together, persevering, and striving.

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