Page 64 of Sinful Desires (Sinful #4)

Chapter

Forty-Eight

“Don’t waste your time with explanations:people only hear what they want to hear.”

― Paulo Coelho

Scarlett

“ …? a tape featuring international pop icon Scarlett Harper and her personal bodyguard, Théo LeRoy, leaked last night during her father Lucius Harper’s elite all-white pre-Oscar party, setting the internet on fire.

The explicit footage, uploaded anonymously, appears to show Harper wrapped around LeRoy in a dark forest. The voice is unmistakable, and the final whispered “I love you, Théo” has already gone viral.

Additional leaked security footage shows the pair kissing outside Harper’s penthouse, fueling rumors that this secret relationship has been going on for years behind the scenes.

Fans are livid, spitting words like ‘commoner’ and ‘parasite’ between perfectly filtered posts, especially since Harper has been publicly dating actor Nicholas Preston for over a year ?… ”

The second the video replayed, I stabbed the remote and shut the TV off. The screen went black, but it was too late. I was already shaking.

I curled deeper in the bed in the middle of my Beverly Hills suite, wrapped in a blanket that smelled like shame and guilt. Tissues were scattered everywhere, some wet, some crushed. Mascara streaked down my face, and my stomach felt like it had dropped to the twelfth floor an hour ago.

My throat burned.

That was it. The secret I’d held so close now belonged to the world.

No longer mine. Just something for them to chew on.

Victoria stood frozen halfway across the room, holding her phone in both hands like it might explode.

Nicholas didn’t move either. His eyes stayed locked on the black screen, his jaw clenched so tightly I could hear it pop.

“Is that?…” Victoria blinked, then looked at me. “Tell me that’s not real.”

The silence rang louder than the television had.

Nicholas’s voice came out rough. “Holy shit.”

They were stunned. Actually stunned. And that terrified me more than the video.

Because if they were shocked, really shocked, it meant I was screwed .

Not scandal screwed.

Career-ending, reputation-torching, get-on-a-plane-and-vanish screwed.

Victoria’s voice cracked again. “Scarlett?… That’s really, really bad.”

Nicholas finally exhaled, reaching for his phone. His fingers trembled.

“Twitter is on fire, sunshine. The views are in the millions already. People are screen recording and reposting it from burner accounts.”

His thumb hovered above the screen, and then he went still.

“If they found out about this, they’re definitely going to find out about?…”

He didn’t finish. The silence cracked open inside me.

Matthew .

Oh God.

My throat locked. I couldn’t breathe. The pressure behind my eyes burst, and a sob punched out of me so hard I choked on it.

I shoved my palms to my face, pressing them hard, like I could black it all out. As if I could crush the thoughts, the guilt, the panic right there in my skull.

But I couldn’t stop it.

I saw it all unfolding, timelines dissected, paparazzi digging deeper, threads connecting dots that were never meant to be public.

Matthew. His name. His face. His life.

I hadn’t just destroyed myself.

I had detonated Nicholas’s entire world. His relationship. His career. His future. The thing he’d guarded with every ounce of quiet strength while standing beside me through every storm.

And I had pulled him straight into the fire.

All for what? For stolen moments in the dark with a man I couldn’t stay away from?

I had been so fucking selfish. So wrapped in love, that I hadn’t stopped to think about what this would cost.

Now the price was too high. And I couldn’t undo it.

My phone rang. All of us stared.

I grabbed it quickly, fingers trembling, and silenced the sound.

Then Victoria’s phone lit up.

Her face went pale as she turned the screen toward me.

“It’s your dad?…”

I broke.

“I never m-meant for anything to happen,” I choked out, crying harder. “I just?…?I don’t know. H-he saved me, guys. More than once. And he’s been s-so?…?he’s been so good to me.”

My whole body shook with that kind of fear that starts in your stomach and claws up your throat.

“It’s the first time in my life I’ve felt alive. Really alive. Happy. And now my father is going to kill me for it, for not listening to him.”

What if he sends me away again?…?but this time it’s forever?

Last time I’d really disobeyed him, he’d taken my passport, smashed my phone, punched me so hard my nose bled, and left me locked in rehab for a whole year.

This time, he wouldn’t just punish me.

He’d bury me for good.

I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t slow anything down.

“I’m in love. For the first time in my fucking life, I’m in love. And I c-couldn’t even say it out loud or be happy about it. I had to hide it, bury it, and now I have to worry about the entire world judging it, tearing it apart, trying to hurt him?…”

My chest ached from how hard I was crying.

“They have no idea what he’s d-done for me. What he means to me.”

Victoria and Nicholas stared at me like I’d grown a second head.

I frowned, lips shaking. “What?”

“Scarlett—”

“I fucking knew it,” Nicholas cut in, way too loudly, laughing as he stood and threw his arms up in the air. “I fucking knew you were in love.”

He looked at Victoria and held out his hand.

She rolled her eyes and tapped on her phone before Nicholas’s chimed.

“That’s the last time I let you outbet me,” she said, tossing her phone back on the table.

I lifted my head slowly, staring at them through puffy eyes.

“What?”

Nicholas dropped into the armchair by the window.

“We made a bet after the strip club. Victoria said you’d give in within a year. I said less than six months. Guess who just made fifty grand?”

What the hell?

Victoria smiled softly and climbed onto the bed.

“Oh, come on, Scar. You weren’t exactly subtle. Two years ago, when he walked in? Your jaw damn near hit the floor. And honestly? Who could blame you? Have you seen him? He’s unreal. If he looked at me like that, I’d be on my knees before I remembered his name.”

I didn’t answer, genuinely shocked. My whole body felt hot and sticky and sick.

Nicholas leaned back in the chair.

“Oh, and on bonfire night? Don’t think I didn’t hear you two sneaking behind the villa. Had to distract Liya and Pierre so they wouldn’t catch you. Nasty little rabbits.”

My head shot up. “Are you serious right now?”

He shrugged with zero shame. “Pretty sure the whole town heard you, sunshine.”

Victoria snorted. “That’s disgusting. I love it.”

I grabbed a pillow and threw it at him, which Nicholas dodged with dramatic flair.

“It’s not funny! My life and yours are on the line, Nic! Ugh, I hate both of you.”

Victoria flopped backward on the bed beside me.

“You don’t. You’re just embarrassed and scared. Which is fair, because the whole world just heard you moan his name like a pornstar.”

I buried my face into the sheets and groaned. “Please stop talking.”

The tears swelled up in my eyes again, and the second a sob slipped out, I tried to hide it, but I couldn’t. It broke through, ugly and loud.

I felt their arms around me almost instantly.

Victoria crawled closer, hugging me tightly from behind, and Nicholas pressed his hand to my back.

I was completely overwhelmed. Everything felt twisted. I didn’t know what to do or what to say.

The party had actually been good.Better than good. I’d had fun.

Jade and Caia had made me laugh so hard my stomach hurt, and I’d finally met Sofiya, the girl Jade couldn’t stop gushing about. We’d danced, gossiped, and ate the most insane food. It felt easy. Safe.

For a second, it felt like life was good.

Then the music had stopped. Cut off like someone had yanked the cord out of the wall.

Jade had grabbed my arm, eyes wide, and handed me her phone without saying a word.

I didn’t want to look.

But I did.

The video was already playing.

My heart dropped. I was mortified .

Someone had followed us, recorded what was supposed to be one of the most beautiful nights of my entire life, and dumped it into the hands of strangers.

Everyone at the party had seen it.

And I could feel it. Every single pair of eyes turning toward me.

Shock . Laughter . Whispering . Awe . Confusion . Mockery .

I ran.

I didn’t even think.

My legs carried me, but my brain was a step behind, lagging, screaming at me to stop. My heels slipped on the marble, the sound of people gasping around me turning to static.

I could feel the stares like knives in my back.

The heat of judgment. The freeze of humiliation.

Every camera flash felt like a punch to the ribs.

Angelo and Alexsei were fast. They caught up to me before I could hit the sidewalk. Neither of them said a word.

They had gotten me into the car, sitting beside me in silence.

The whole ride back to the hotel had been quiet except for the sound of my sobs and the occasional buzz of notifications from a phone I hadn’t wanted to check.

I’d stared out the window, but hadn’t seen anything.

Not really.

The city could’ve been burning, and I wouldn’t have noticed.

Angelo’s eyes had stayed on me the entire time. He hadn’t touched me, but I could feel his worry.

It sat heavily between us, but it hadn’t changed anything.

Nothing was ever truly mine .

I groaned again, my tears forming a small lake on the bedsheets.

“Let’s just say the pictures are fake. Deepfakes. AI. Impersonators,” Nicholas said, stroking my back.

“Or,” Victoria added, barely holding in a grin, “it was actually Nicholas in the video. And he just has a kink. Loves being called Théo while getting fu?—”

Nicholas gasped. “Let’s not get carried away now.”

I let out a watery chuckle through hiccupped sobs, my vision a blur.

“My father’s going to kill me. He’s going to send me away for good this time.”

That shut them up.

The room fell quiet. Even they knew the mess had gone from scandal to something bigger, something no PR team could bury with a fake statement and a Vogue cover.

It had already made the national news.

Fucking hell .

“And Nicholas?…?the Oscars are tonight. I’m so sorry. Everyone’s going to be talking, it’s going to ruin?—”

He stopped me, cupping my cheeks so gently I could barely stand it.

“Stop, Scar. I agreed to the PR thing too. This isn’t all on you, okay? Don’t carry it like it is.”

I looked at him, my lip trembling. “What are we gonna do?”

Nicholas didn’t answer right away. He just looked at me, his hands still on my cheeks, his jaw tight like he wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words.

Then he let go.

Victoria shifted beside me on the bed, her voice quieter now. “Where is Théo?”

The question hit harder than I expected.

I blinked. My throat closed.

“I don’t know.”

And that terrified me.

Because what if this was the moment he finally stopped showing up?

He should have been here by now.

He always showed up. Every time I’d spiraled, every time I’d screamed or sobbed or nearly broken something, he’d been there.

But not now.

Now that the whole world had seen us, while my father was probably plotting my murder and my name was being dragged through every headline, he was nowhere in sight.

My chest tightened, and I looked away.

Had he run away?

Or worse .

Was he staying away for my sake?

Was I a liability now?

A knock on the door shattered the silence, and I froze.

“Open the door, sweetheart. It’s Caia and I.”

Alexsei .

“We even brought snacks, Scarlett!”

Caia .

I faintly waved a hand at Nicholas. “Please, let them in.”

He opened the door, and in they came like a crime scene cleanup crew, still dressed in their pristine white outfits, glowing like angels.

Alexsei took one look at me, sprawled on the bed in tear-stained misery, and let out a laugh.

Arms crossed. Smirk fully loaded.

“Look at you,” he said. “One more meltdown, and we could bottle your tears and sell them as holy water.”

“ Zaychik , stop!” Caia rushed over to the bed, and dropped to her knees beside me. “I’m so sorry, Scarlett. Is there anything I can do? Anything at all?”

I snorted. “Murder me. That should do the trick.”

Alexsei made a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a scoff.

“She’ll have to get in line. Your father’s looking for you too.”

My head snapped up. “Is he here?”

He shrugged. “ Nyet . Told him you ran away to Saint Petersburg with a plane ticket under the name Anastasia Romanova. Figured it’d buy you a few hours.”

Caia slapped his arm. “Alexsei!”

“What? It’s not like it’s not something she’d do.”

I shoved my face back into the pillow. “You’re all demons.”

Caia patted my hair as Victoria and Nic laughed.

Alexsei leaned back in the chair, looking far too pleased with himself, like watching me unravel was his favorite form of entertainment.

“So, you’re with the French officer now? Damn. Thought you hated him.”

Caia scoffed. “I hated you too. Still married you, didn’t I?”

He glanced over at her, that grin slipping into something softer.

“And thank God you did, moya dorogaya .”

Nicholas sighed and reached for the chocolate snack in Caia’s hand.

“At the end of the day, love always wins. Right?”

Je t’aime, Scarlett .

There’s no blade I wouldn’t kneel for, no hell I wouldn’t crawl through, no ocean I wouldn’t drown in if the price was you in my arms, Scarlett .

Mon étoile filante .

My eyes drifted across the room. Everyone was here. Trying. Reaching for me in their own messy, awkward ways. And for the first time in hours, I let myself feel it. The weight. The love. The ache that hadn’t gone anywhere.

That’s when I knew what I had to do.

But before anything else, I grabbed my phone and typed the message with shaking fingers and throat tight.

I stared at it, every letter carved from something fragile.

Then I hit send.

My hand was still shaking, but my voice wasn’t.

“Alexsei, give me your gun.”