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If not physically, then I’ll take them for everything they have.
“Hey,” I say, running a hand up her back. She slowly relaxes, wrapping her hands around my waist and locking them in place. “Can you breathe for me, sweetheart?” I whisper.
“I’m... yeah. I’m just so sorry.”
“Have you had any hate messages?” Of all the questions I could ask, it’s the most pressing.
“I’m sorry,” she repeats with a hiccup. “I’ll speak to my fans. Do whatever I can to quell the rumors.”
“I know. I’m not asking about that. I never disputed it.” Caressing the back of her neck, I tilt her head back so I can look her in the face. “I’m asking if you’ve gotten hate messages? Wretched trolls or people fishing for personal information?”
The way her expression tightens tells me all I need to know.
“I have a lawyer on speed dial,” I tell her. “He’ll be here within the hour. We can get the police involved.”
“No!” she rushes out, then stops cold with her lips sealed tight. “I mean—we don’t need to do that.”
I don’t understand.
She takes a shaky breath. “I mean it, Shepherd. The worst thing we can do is feed this drama. This comes with being an influencer, and I’ve been lucky not to stumble into it until now. Just delete, block, and move on.”
“What the fuck, Destiny? You can’t ignore a threat this big—”
“They don’t have my home address,” she interrupts. “It’s not a big deal. There’s more important stuff at stake here, okay?”
I grit my teeth. “The minute you feel like it’s getting out of control, you tell me.”
“Shepherd—”
“You’re just as much a victim here.”
She sniffs hard, blinking back tears, and it’s such a sad, pitiful sound that my heart squeezes.
“I’m willing to hold off until we know more. Still, I don’t think this will just go away if we ignore it, Dess. It’s too fucking big for that,” I say, hating that every last instinct screams 'attack, now.'
“Well, I have a platform. I can be public in a way you can’t as CEO of a huge company. There are bound to be people who believe me. I think. If I tell them, maybe they’ll help...” She trails off and glances at Hannah, who’s pointedly staring out the window. “If anyone finds out...”
That’s the million-dollar question.
“Did you ever tell anyone about our weekend plans?” I ask firmly.
“No one. Never,” she says immediately. “I mean, Lena and Sam knew I was going on an otter trek, but that’s nothing new. I’ve been doing it for years. So, nothing out of the ordinary.”
“And no one else could’ve found out?”
“No. Unless they saw the pictures I posted along the way, but we were already out there. I never tagged a location once. I went back and looked.” She falls back and stares up at me, her eyes red-rimmed and tired, but sincere. “I know because I basically live online. It’s easy to assume people will know where I am all the time, but I’m very private with my personal life. That’s how I grew up. I’m also not an idiot. I made sure all of my location sharing was off.”
Yeah, and this definitely counts as her personal life.
Ourpersonal lives.
I glance across at Hannah with a heavy look she beams back.
It had to be someone in the company. No question.
Hannah’s knuckles go white against the corners of the tablet as she holds it against her chest. That almost hurts as much as Dess going to pieces in my arms.
Hannah isfurious.
