Trent's press conference the next morning turned out to be a masterclass in saying nothing new while making it sound catastrophic, and Ivy watched it from Reagan's office with her jaw clenched tight enough to ache, listening to a man she'd met once at a party describe her, in careful, lawyerly language, as evidence of Sterling Vane's compromised judgment.

"He's not wrong that it looks bad," Reagan admitted afterward, rubbing her temples. "A billionaire falling for a woman he initially hired for optics is exactly the kind of headline that makes shareholders nervous, regardless of how genuine it's actually become."

"So what do we do," Ivy asked. "Hide? Pretend it...