Page 204 of Modern Romance December 2025 5-8

‘Kat—’ Robert tried but Katherine was on a roll.

‘A producer who treated me abominably once told me to go complain on a talk show, and you know what? He was right. If you don’t comply, I will tell the world what happened. How you must have been planning to capitalize off our experience in Lapland before you’d even checked that I was okay, how you forced Lukas and me into a public relationship for clicks.’ Katherine could see Robert turning paler with every word. ‘How I asked you, Jennifer, to kill the article and why and how you blackmailed me with it. How Scott Courteney threatened my job. You think Alpha One will want to remain bound to Aero TV after that? They’ll find another network. And I will never stop talking about this. Never stop talking about the institutionalised misogyny. I refuse to be treated how you have treated me.’

Robert swallowed thickly. ‘I’m sure we can come to an understanding.’

Katherine stood firm. ‘I want your agreement and nothing less or I will walk out of here and into another network because you know I’m great at my job. My fan base will come with me. We all know that would be a substantial audience. How many people do you think will believe my story?’

‘Fine,’ he acceded. ‘We have an agreement.’

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

A vibration eruptedfrom the nightstand beside Lukas.

He didn’t react at all.

He didn’t blink. Didn’t move a muscle to answer the insistent phone. He just lay there in his bed. Staring. Katherine had been right. The morning sunshine streaming through the glass caught the crystal snowflake. Light refracted across his bedroom in slow walking prismatic rainbows. It was beautiful. He hated it.

Still, he looked at the snowflake.

His phone stopped ringing.

Katherine had been calling constantly. Had been texting and leaving voicemails begging him to talk to her but he had nothing to say. How did he put into words the swirling betrayal. How did he express to her that he trusted her even though he shouldn’t have. That he had fallen in love with her.

His phone started ringing again.

Lukas tossed off the covers and got out of bed, noticing when he did that the name on the phone wasn’t Katherine’s, but Dominic’s.

He snatched the phone up and answered quickly as he went down to his kitchen.

‘Took you long enough to answer,’ Dominic complained.

‘Sorry, Dom, I thought you were—’

‘Katherine.’

‘Yes,’ Lukas said. Mechanically, he put on a pot of coffee and walked the length of the floor as he waited. Moving from room to room.

‘You saw the article,’ Dominic said in a resigned tone.

‘Yesterday. Why are you only calling me now? Shouldn’t you have warned me about this?’ Lukas’s hard tone surprised himself. He wasn’t angry at Dominic; he was angry at Katherine. Or was he? Lukas would have walked away from Katherine after Lapland if Dominic and Erin hadn’t conspired with Aero to force him into dating her.

You didn’t want to walk away though, did you?

‘I thought it would be best to give you two time to work it out. I knew Katherine wouldn’t blindside you.’

‘You knew that, did you? Like you knew what she had written?’ Lukas stepped into the decorated lounge. A smiling angel looking down at him. Laughing at his foolishness. Yesterday he’d wanted signs of Katherine all over his home. Today it was hell. ‘How badly has that article affected us?’

‘Brock Racing has already informed me they will be going with another driver, but they won’t make the announcement immediately. They don’t want their statement to be overshadowed or seem reactionary. I haven’t heard from the other team yet.’

‘Funny how this was supposed to help all of us and yet only Aero has benefitted.’

Lukas sat heavily on the couch, phone to his ear, head hanging. Something hard pressed into his thigh. Reaching between the cushions he sat on, he pulled out a gold ring. Katherine’s ring. The ring that glinted on her finger when he made love to her on the boat. When he had seen her that very first day.

‘It’s not over, Lukas.’ But Lukas wasn’t listening. ‘Just give me some—’

He hung up on Dominic, tossing the phone aside as he inspected the piece of jewellery. His heart cracked wide open. And when he looked around, his home had never seemed so full of life and yet so empty, the ghost of happiness haunting every room. Haunting him. He missed Katherine.

He got off the couch and threw the ring across the room with a shout. It hit the glass wall with a loud clang then clattered to the floor somewhere unseen.