Page 110 of Guarded Love

"That could actually work," she says slowly, and I can see the wheels turning. "I mean, I documented everything back then. Screenshots, emails. I kept it all because I thought I was going crazy and needed proof that it really happened."

"You were protecting yourself. That was smart."

She lets out a shaky breath. "I never thought I'd use any of it. I just wanted to forget he existed."

"But now you have a chance to make sure he can't do this to anyone else. He shouldn’t have the privilege of having his platform. Because, above all else, it is a fucking privilege."

For a moment, neither of us speaks. I can hear Knox's voice carrying from the living room and assume any second someonewill be in here wondering what the hell we’re doing because it’s taken us so long to come back.

"It's scary," Willow admits quietly. "Going up against someone with that kind of platform. What if they don't believe us? What if it backfires?"

"Then at least you tried. And you won't be alone in this." The words come out before I can stop them, and I realize how much I mean them. "I'll help however I can."

She looks up at me and I can see the shock on her face. "You would do that?"

"Of course I would. This matters to you, which means it matters to me."

She thinks about it for a minute before she finally says something. "I need to think about it. It's a big decision. Going after someone with Leo's reach...there could be consequences I haven't considered."

"Take all the time you need," I tell her, meaning it. "But whatever you decide, you don't have to face it alone."

She nods. "We should probably get back," she says, glancing toward the living room where Knox's voice has gotten louder. "Before someone comes looking."

"Yeah." I reluctantly step back, immediately missing the warmth of her body against mine. "Can't have people thinking we're actually capable of having a civil conversation."

That earns me a small smile. "Heaven forbid."

I grab the beers I'd originally come for, while Willow picks up her water glass. As we head toward the doorway, she pauses.

"Blaise?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you. For listening. For not making me feel crazy about all this."

"You're not crazy. And you never were."

She gives me one more look before we walk back into the chaos that is currently my living room, but the weight of what she just said and how brave she has been, is the only thing on my mind.

33

WILLOW

Itap my fingertips on my desk as I wait for the clock to strike three in the afternoon. I've been sitting here for ten minutes, waiting for this call to start while my heart slams through my body like it’s trying to escape. To calm myself down, I snatch a peach ring that’s sitting in a bag on my desk and put it in my mouth.

When I glance at my screen again, I see Lilly staring at her phone. We’ve been sitting here in silence with our microphones muted because we didn’t want the representative for Edgehaus Management to hear us talking about anything. Since she has her camera on, I can see that she looks as tense as I feel. Her blonde hair is pulled back in a ponytail, and she keeps playing with it as well as adjusting her position like she can't get comfortable either.

We haven’t met in person yet, but we’ve spent hours on Discord trading stories, breakdowns and helping each other name the things we used to excuse. It’s strange how close you can get to someone so quickly when you’ve both survived the same kind of manipulation.

It’s still hard for me to believe that we decided to do this. Part of me still can't believe Leo's management company agreed to hear us out. Maybe they’ll actually do something or maybe they're just covering their bases. I guess I won’t know until after this call is done.

I check the time again. Three minutes past our scheduled start. Interesting, but nothing too alarming yet.

My phone vibrates on my desk and I see it’s a text from Blaise.

Blaise: How are you feeling?

I don't answer because if I start typing to him, I might lose whatever composure I've managed to scrape together for this moment.