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“She deserves a fucking Grammy,” Dean said in disgust. “How are these people this entitled?”
“They’ve been blaming you for the negative media attention,” Bear said with a dry laugh. “Like you asked to be betrayed. Honestly, Candace was livid when the media shitstorm started. They fully expected it to paint you as naive and dramatic, yet the world rallied behind you. That hashtag put theirs to shame by twofold.”
Oh god, I’d had to see #justiceforEllie everywhere after the show aired.
“Damn,” I said. “I’m kind of proud to cause them so much drama. Every one of them deserves it.”
Ezra handed the phone back and shook his head, truly speechless.
“Why did you leave them?” I asked. That cut off the chatter that had erupted and Ezra handed his phone back, done watching their twisted plot unfold.
“We fought nearly every night after the shit with Morgan started. I was never into her and always sat it out. They hated me for that and so did she. I’ve never had anyone see me as a conquest, I hated it.” He let out a small shudder and refused to look at us. “When Candace demanded they do the betrayal and offered a bonus pay for it, I refused. She forced me to play the part and I planned to find you after, to tell you it all. But my hands were tied by the contract.”
The shame in his voice had part of my armor cracking, a small shimmer of hope blooming. It was stupid. I had mates now and I was happy, he had no place here.
“There’s more,” Bear said.
“What else?” I groaned. At this point, they planned on making a mockery of me, how could it get worse?
“They plan to come, use you to regain their fifteen minutes. Candace has already tracked you down, that’s how I found you,” he admitted. “Trevor needed time to get off work and book flights. I come from money and used it to get here first. I thought you deserved a warning.”
“Thank you,” I said softly. The fact he went to this much trouble to warn me meant something.
“You didn’t deserve any of it, Ellie. For what it's worth, I fought hard for us. The men they are now… they’re strangers.” The pain in his voice had tears burning behind my eyes. Bear was just as much a victim as I was but it didn’t mean I could simply welcome him in with open arms.
“Is that all?” Dean asked bluntly. The annoyance in his tone still held strong. Bear may have won me over a fraction but he had a long way to go for the guys to forgive him.
“No,” Bear said. He clicked around on his phone and held it out. This time Atlas was the first to move, bringing it over and starting it. I remembered the dress Morgan was wearing. It was the night of the finale.
“Who recorded this?” I asked as I watched myself walk ahead of Morgan and Candace stepped into view.
“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I made friends with one of the camera crew and they dug this up.”
I nodded and turned my attention back to Morgan and Candace. My anger boiled right under the surface as Candace conspired to have them reject me.
“I’ve already spoken to the Forrest pack. They’re more than willing to choose you.”
“But I’ve not chosen them,” Morgan said. She sounded more stubborn than opposed to the idea.
“There’s a bonus involved,” Candace said, handing her a piece of paper. Likely a change in contract.
“Damn, okay,” Morgan said quickly. “I didn’t like Ellie anyway. She thinks she’s so much better than me.” I hadn’t once picked up on the contempt in her voice.
Why did she hate me this much? Jealousy?
“None of this makes any sense. Why go to these lengths? What did they think they were going to accomplish?”
“They thought the drama would garner views,” Bear said. “And it has definitely drawn attention.”
“Want to know something fucked up?” I asked Bear. His gaze softened and he nodded gently. The pain and regret was something I had to keep ignoring.
“More fucked up than all this?” he mused.
“The men that Morgan was with before she ruthlessly dumped them for the show?” Bear’s eyes widened as I gestured to the twins. “They’re my fated mates. This is, apparently, Morgan’s hometown.”
“Damn,” he whistled. “No wonder she was so insistent on this trip. You’ve kept everything quiet enough they didn't have more information on you, so that’ll be a surprise for her.”
“Wait…” Atlas accused. “If you left them, how do you know about their plans?”
