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“I never meant for any of this to happen,” I said softly, gripping the phone as if it were my lifeline. “You have to believe me. I would never do something to intentionally hurt you. I love you!”
“Well, you did.” His voice cracked, and for a moment, I thought I detected a hint of anguish behind the anger. “You broke my heart, Remi. I trusted you, and you betrayed me.”
The word ‘betrayed’ hung in the air, heavy and suffocating, making it hard to breathe. A sob escaped my lips as I struggled to find the right words. But there were no right words. No way to undo the harm that had already been done.
My mind raced with all the things I wanted to say — apologies, explanations, excuses — anything that would make him understand that I never meant for any of this to happen. “Greyson, please...” I whispered.
“Enough, Remi!” His sudden outburst startled me, and I could imagine the fiery anger flashing in his eyes. “You have no idea how much damage has been done! I’m too busy trying to pick up the pieces of my life right now ... I can’t keep doing this with you.”
The line went silent. When Greyson spoke again, his voice was flat and unyielding. “Don’t contact me again, Remi. We’re through.”
Tears began to stream down my face as images of our steamy encounters flashed through my mind — the way his muscular arms held me close, his passionate kisses setting my body aflame. I couldn’t believe that the man I’d grown so close to was now so distant, unreachable behind a wall of hurt and betrayal.
“Alright,” I managed to say, my voice trembling as I struggled to maintain my composure. “If that’s what you want, Greyson. I’ll leave you alone for now. But I won’t give up on trying to clear my name, and ... and I’m not giving up on us.”
I could hear the conflict in his breathing, the hesitation wavering between forgiveness and self-preservation. “Goodbye, Remi,” he finally said, his voice barely above a whisper.
The line went dead, leaving me with nothing but the sound of my own ragged breaths and the knowledge that I had destroyed everything around me.
“Goodbye,” I murmured to the empty room, the silence echoing around me. I sank to the floor, my entire body trembling with grief and fear.
Greyson’s face swam before my eyes, his parting words echoing in my mind. He didn’t believe me. He thought I had betrayed him, betrayed his trust, and broken his heart. The thought was unbearable. He thought I’d betrayed him all for the sake of a byline.
And now I had lost him forever.
I let myself cry for a few moments, allowing the torrent of emotions to wash over me before taking a deep, shaky breath. I couldn’t afford to wallow in despair; there was work to be done, and I knew that every moment wasted brought me further away from the truth — and from any chance of salvaging what was left of my relationship with Greyson.
Chapter 31
Greyson
The merciless glare of camera flashes assaulted my eyes as I pushed through the throng of paparazzi outside my house. I’d retreated to my beach house for the weekend, trying to escape the horde, but they’d caught on pretty quickly.
Their voices rose in a cacophony, each question more invasive than the last.
“Greyson, are you dating Ryder from Ghost Parker?” one reporter shouted, shoving a microphone toward me. I gritted my teeth and clenched my jaw, attempting to ignore their relentless questioning.
“Is Talia just a beard for you and Ryder?” another voice chimed in. The weight of their assumptions bore down on me, heavy and suffocating.
I wanted to go check to see how Talia was doing, but I couldn’t even visit my friend without setting off a firestorm of fresh speculation. It was all so maddening.
“Are you gay, Greyson? Why have you been hiding it?” My heart thundered in my chest, but I refused to give them the satisfaction of a response. I could feel the sweat pooling at the base of my neck, the heat of shame and anger mingling with fear.
“Are you ashamed of who you are?” The words cut deep, stirring up years of confusion and self-doubt. I forced myself to keep moving forward, each step feeling like wading through molasses.
“Go fuck yourself!” I growled, my voice cracking under the strain. With a surge of adrenaline, I shoved past the final barricade of photographers.
My hands shook with fury as I fumbled with my keys, desperately seeking solace in my home. Once inside, I slammed the door behind me and drew in ragged breaths, trying to calm the storm raging within me.
The stress of the last week was catching up with me. Remi’s betrayal had unleashed a media frenzy — my sexuality dissected and scrutinized for all the world to see. New articles were citing “anonymous sources” claiming I’d had affairs with various celebrities over the years. Each accusation felt like another knife in the back, twisting to cause maximum damage.
Men I didn’t even know were coming out of the woodwork to grab their fifteen minutes of fame. All they had to do was claim we’d had a torrid love affair, and the media ate it up.
“Greyson Durant’s secret love life revealed” — the headlines were relentless, their words sinking their teeth into my flesh like vultures feasting on carrion. I didn’t actually mind my sexuality being outed — it was the way it had all unfolded — the knife in my back twisted by someone I loved — that left me reeling. The extreme scrutiny of my life was suffocating, but what hurt me the most was the realization that despite our love for each other, Remi chose her career over me, knowing full well the damage she would cause.
I slammed my hand against the wall, the pain momentarily grounding me in reality. The chaos outside my door was stifling, and I needed some semblance of control. Desperate to shield my parents from the relentless prying of reporters, I booked them on a vacation in the Caribbean. Their grateful smiles had done little to ease the bitterness in my heart. They were just another of Remi’s victims.
Instead of welcoming all this publicity, Devious had been ruffled. My agent wasn’t certain Devious would renew my contract for the new season. In light of the media stories, Devious had asked me to do some LGBTQ+ advocacy and got angry when I declined. My personal life was not theirs to dictate.
