Page 137 of Make Me Yours

“You’re a public figure, Steele,” Hugh says. “Perception is everything. That photo, stripped of context, paints you as aggressive, even abusive.”

I grit my teeth and cross my arms. “My private life is my business. Not theirs.”

“You know how this works,” Rina says quietly. “You’ve been in the league long enough to understand that people love to fillin the blanks. And right now, the narrative they’re building is getting ugly."

I shake my head as frustration bubbles up inside me. “What am I supposed to do? Let the media paint me as a fucking monster? I didn’t hurt her. I wouldneverhurt her.”

“We know that,” Evelyn says gently. “But the world doesn’t.”

Hugh leans forward. “We need to do some damage control before this mess gains more traction.”

“It might help if Lilah addressed it,” Rina says with a sigh.

My gaze snaps to her. “Absolutely not.”

She tries again. “Steele?—”

“No.” My jaw tightens. “I’m not dragging her into this any more than she already is. This isn’t her mess to clean up.”

Evelyn’s gaze holds steady. “But right now, she’s the only one who can shape the narrative.”

My fists clench as a thousand images of Lilah flash through my mind. Her face when she sees that photo, the hurt in her eyes, the backlash she never asked for. The helplessness curdles into something sharp.

“I’ll handle it,” I say, pushing to my feet.

I don’t wait for any of them to argue. I’m already out the door, every step driven by one thought and one thought only.

I need to get to Lilah before this story does.

41

LILAH

The sky outside is a blanket of gray, heavy with clouds that haven’t quite committed to rain. Lake Michigan stretches out in front of me through Steele’s wall of windows, but even the water looks dull and colorless today. It matches the knot in my stomach. The tight, uncomfortable weight of dread that’s been sitting with me since I saw the photograph.

My phone is pressed to my ear as my mother’s sharp voice cuts through the quiet.

“I’ve had adozen people send me that photo, Lilah.A dozen. Do you have any idea how embarrassing that is for me? Forus?”

I close my eyes and rest my forehead against the glass. “I didn’t ask for the picture to be taken.”

“That’s hardly the point. You put yourself in that position and let him wrap his hand around your throat in public. What kind of message do you think that sends?”

I don’t answer right away. Mostly because I’m unsure what to say.

It wasn’t what it looked like.

At all.

But it doesn’t matter to the gossip sites or to the people whoonly see what they want to. Who have painted it as something dark and ugly.

Her tone creeps up a notch. “How do you expect to get another job at a reputable law firm after this? Who will hire someone involved in such an ugly scandal?”

“I don’t want another job practicing law,” I blurt out before I can stop myself.

The silence that follows is brutal. “I’m sorry, what did you just say?”

“I said that I don’t want to be a lawyer.” My voice is quiet but steady. “I don’t think that world is for me anymore. If it ever was.”