Maya knew she had to restrategize.She had no idea how she was going to do that yet, but her PR team had basically ambushed her that evening with the worst possible news: engagement on her page had dropped by two percent. Two. Percent.That was the last thing she wanted to hear.It almost felt like Jace controlled her page. As if she wasn’t the one with the ideas, the one creating the content, the one dragging everything together piece by piece while they sat behind screens and sent “suggestions.”“Ma’am, we’ve gathered a bunch of ideas that can pull the engagement back to at least one percent of what dropped—”“Screw that.”Maya ended the call with her virtual assistant immediately.She already had an idea. One that wouldn’t crawl engagement back like a beggar—but would shove it up by at least ten percent. She hadn’t dragged Jace’s father onto her screen today for nothing. The whole point had been to make Jace spiral, to make him lose his mind and do something reckless—something she

When you’ve been fucking filmed for more than five months straight, and you suddenly meet new people you weirdly sync with, paranoia doesn’t ask for permission. It just shows up.That was the exact reason Jace picked up Paxton’s phone the moment the guy went to the toilet.He wasn’t surprised when he checked the call log and saw a familiar number staring back at him.Maya.He didn’t even need to dial it to know.And it didn’t take long—not long at all—to figure out that Paxton had played him. Again. Let him sit there like an idiot while the same shit unfolded behind his back.Fucking foolish.Paxton walked out of the restroom, casual, loose, like nothing had happened. He strolled over.“Had a big fat shit,” he said, grinning, like ten minutes ago Jace would’ve laughed at how disgusting the joke was.But not now.Not fucking now.“Man… you okay?” Paxton asked, concern painted on his face so badly it almost hurt to look at. An act. All of it to fool Jace. “You had a call with Maya on m

Paxton’s phone rang.He almost ignored it.But if he didn’t pick up after the third call, his nanny would report him missing to the police. It wasn’t paranoia. It had happened more than twice already.“Hey, dear,” she said the moment he answered. “Where are you? A tall man came by earlier and spoke to your father. I don’t know what they discussed, but your father was smiling afterward.”She paused. “You know how rare that is. You should be worried. The man said his name was… Jace. Pres—Prescott?”“Shit.”Paxton ended the call immediately.He turned to Maya. “Can you track where Jace is right now?”“Why should I—”“This is all your fucking fault,” Paxton snapped. “So you’re going to do exactly what I ask.”He held her gaze for more than two seconds.Maya didn’t blink—but she backed down. She always did.Without another word, she pulled out her phone, sent a quick message to her team nearby, then leaned forward and murmured something to the driver.The car changed direction.Paxton hiss

And for no fucking reason, Jace felt like crap the moment he got back to the hotel.The fact that Paxton could make him feel this way—just by existing—was all the proof Jace needed: this guy was pure dark energy, a walking storm of bad vibes. Someone you shouldn’t be caught dead with. Someone you could murder just to do the universe a favor.And just when he thought the day couldn’t get worse, his phone rang. His father.With nothing better to do, Jace answered. Better to endure this call than sit in silence, replaying all the ways he could’ve ended Paxton hours ago.“Hey, son,” his father said the moment the line connected.“How the fuck are you?” Jace asked, pleasantries first, suspicion second.“I just got the news a few minutes ago about what Maya did to you. I haven’t been on the phone much—didn’t know you were going through all that mess,” his father said.Finally. Someone in the universe on the same page.“I’m a man,” Jace said, and felt his head almost nod in approval at the w

Left with her thoughts and her iPad, Iris knew the most reasonable thing to do right now was to dive into some plan for her online brand. But Jace’s thoughts kept creeping into her head.She couldn’t shake them off. With a sigh, she stood up, dropped her iPad, and decided to walk around. A little movement would surely distract her from Jace… or so she hoped.Everything was going fine, and she was already starting to forget about him, when she caught a snippet of whispered conversation.“He came in some chopper,” someone was saying to a friend on the treadmill.“Never expected him to look this tall.”“Yeah, he’s here to cool off the drama with that creepy girlfriend of his.”“Lowkey feel sorry for him.”Different people could have been the subject of their gossip, but Iris’ brain decided it already knew everything. Before she realized what she was doing, she was walking toward the two guys.“Hi… Are you perhaps talking about Jace Prescott?” she asked.The two of them froze and looked a