DEAN

Lilith was obviously new to situations like this, so I gave her a moment to digest everything before asking,

“Do you understand now why I told you to hold back on releasing that footage?”

She looked a little dazed, but I could tell she was listening. She’d asked me to teach her, and I intended to keep that promise.

“With this post of his, you can already guess what would happen if you rashly release the footage. Not only would the public doubt you—they’d even see you as the villain.”

“Brandon has painted himself as a poor sap forced into an engagement by his family. So when people watch...