Page 142 of Save Your Breath

“Mia, what’s wrong?”

Aleks was at my side now, tilting my chin with his knuckles, his concerned eyes finding mine beneath bent brows.

I couldn’t speak.

I just handed him my phone with trembling hands.

Exposed: Mia Love and Aleks Suter’s Relationship Was All a Lie

Austin Westbrook Spills the Tea: Inside Mia Love’s PR Nightmare

From Fake Love to Real Scandal: Mia Love and Aleks Suter’s Lies Exposed

Austin Westbrook Calls Out Ex Mia Love for Lying to Her Fans in Scathing Tell All

Sources Confirm Mia Love and Aleks Suter’s ‘Relationship’ Was Just Smoke and Mirrors

Mia Love’s Album and Tour Crisis: Is This the End of Her Career?

Aleks Suter and Mia Love’s Publicity Stunt Gone Wrong: Fans React

I watched his face as Aleks scrolled through the headlines I’d just read, the ones now burned into my brain forever.

Tell all.

Lies.

Crisis.

Fake.

Exposed.

Austin had done a tell all with Garrett. There was an article and a podcast to accompany it. There was some inside source that had given them all the proof they needed. They were on a mission to take us down.

And they’d done it.

Black dots invaded the edges of my vision the more Aleks scrolled, and when he cursed under his breath, I used that word as permission to panic.

“Oh, God,” I whispered, eyes welling with tears as I shoved a hand through my greasy hair. “Oh,God.”

I stood, ready to pace behind Aleks as my ribcage squeezed painfully tight around my lungs, but my legs were like lead. I couldn’t move. I was having a heart attack. I was going to die.

“Come here.” Aleks dropped my phone to the counter, grabbing me by the wrist and pulling me into him. I was in a daze, not fighting against him even slightly as he wrapped me in his arms. “Look at me.”

But I couldn’t.

I stared at my bare feet on his wood floor, heart racing faster and faster, ears buzzing.

They know.

They all know it was a lie.

“Mia, look at me.”

When I still didn’t, Aleks dipped his head until he was in my eye line. His hands were on my shoulders, steadying me. His eyes bore into mine.

“It’s going to be okay.”