▌𝘔𝘈𝘚𝘖𝘕 𝘛𝘏𝘈𝘔𝘌𝘚
❛ do you know how 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘺 frustrating it is? ❜ he cut her off. ❛ to have to 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 you? to pretend like i don't feel 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 when i look at you?❜
starr's breath caught in her throat.
❛ because i do...
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chapter FORTY ONE digging deep .
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mason sat alone in his hotel room, the dim light from the bedside lamp casting long shadows across the walls. his body was still, but his mind was anything but. he had spent the past few days drowning in a relentless storm of accusations, heartbreak, and betrayal. the video. the media frenzy. starr cutting him off completely.
his fingers twitched against his thigh, restless, itching for something—anything—to make sense of it all.
for so long, he had let other people control his narrative. he had let his pr team craft his words, let ahliya dictate his image, let the world believe whatever suited their twisted version of reality. but not anymore. not after this.
because deep down, mason knew something wasn't right.
everything had escalated too perfectly, too conveniently. ahliya's breakup theatrics in front of the paparazzi. the way the video had been posted from his account. the way starr had instantly assumed it was him.
and dylan.
his stomach twisted at the thought of him. the way he'd inserted himself into starr's life at just the right moment, how he'd become her perfect escape from mason, how he'd been there, always there, ready to step in the second mason was painted as the villain. he was done sitting in the dark.
he grabbed his phone, pulling up his instagram account. the video had already been wiped from his story, deleted hours ago, but that didn't change the damage it had done. starr had seen it. the world had seen it. but mason knew one thing for certain—he hadn't posted it.
his jaw clenched as he tapped into his account settings, scrolling to the login activity. his location, his phone, all checked out, but then—
there.
a different device. a different location. not his.
his pulse spiked as he jotted down the details. someone else had logged in and posted the video. and there was only one person who had access to his phone that night.
ahliya.
his entire body tensed as he clicked out of the app, his fingers moving almost mechanically to his messages. if she had posted it, there was a chance she had sent it to someone first. a sick feeling coiled in his stomach as he scrolled through their texts, searching for anything—
but there was nothing.
no mention of the video. nothing that could prove she was the one who had done it.
until he remembered — recently deleted messages.
mason's breath hitched. his heart pounded so loudly he could hear it in his ears.
ahliya never deleted messages. if anything, she loved keeping receipts, loved throwing things back in his face whenever it benefitted her. she wouldn't erase something unless she had something to hide. mason's fingers shook as he worked to recover the chat. minutes passed, his frustration growing, but then—
his phone screen refreshed, and there it was.
a single message.
and a name.
dylan.
mason's body went still.
for a moment, he just stared at the screen, unblinking, willing it to change—to say anything else. but it didn't.
ahliya had sent the video to dylan.
the nausea hit first, a sickening wave that curled in his stomach. then, the fury. it started slow, simmering beneath his skin before rising, white-hot and all-consuming.
dylan.
the same dylan who had been comforting starr. the same dylan who had been whispering in her ear, turning her against him.
it was never just ahliya. she hadn't done this alone. they had been working together. mason shot up from his chair, pacing the length of the hotel room as his mind raced.
how long had this been going on? had they planned this from the beginning? had dylan approached starr just to break her and mason apart?
his hands curled into fists at his sides.
more importantly—did starr know?
his chest ached at the thought of her. she had already been through enough—through him and his mistakes, through the scrutiny of the public, through all the lies. and now, she was being manipulated by the one person she thought she could trust. mason couldn't let this continue. he had to tell her.
without hesitation, he grabbed his phone and called her.
it rang once.
twice.
three times.
voicemail.
mason grit his teeth and called again.
nothing.
his fingers hovered over the screen, debating whether to send a text, but what could he even say? would it even send? hey, i know you hate me with all your might right now but by the way, your new boyfriend is plotting against me with my psycho ex?
yeah. no.
he was done letting ahliya and dylan control the narrative.
now, it was his turn to fight back.
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