Fifty eight

Fifty eight
Fallon
I found him in his office — because of course I did.
The man practically lived in there, buried in his spreadsheets and power plays while the internet lost its collective mind over our so-called perfect marriage. And I… I was done being ignored.
I didn’t knock. I didn’t wait. I pushed the door open and walked in, my pulse already pounding.
“Are you allergic to your phone?” I demanded, not bothering with a hello.
Reid looked up slowly, his expression as cool and unreadable as ever. He barely even blinked. “Good evening to you too.”
“Don’t,” I warned, stepping inside and shutting the door harder than I needed to. “The video’s everywhere. It’s viral. People are obsessed — and you haven’t said a word.”
His eyes flicked back to his computer. Dismissive. Detached. “I’ve been busy.”
“Too busy to hit like?”
“Fallon—”
“Don’t Fallon me,” I snapped. “This is our image. Our marriage. And you can’t even pretend to care?”
He sighed, leaning back in his chair, and that calm, collected patience made my blood boil. “I didn’t realize social media validation was part of the deal.”
My throat tightened. “It’s not about the validation. It’s about you acting like none of this matters. Like I don’t matter.”
For the first time, something flickered in his eyes. Not anger — something sharper. Something closer to hurt. But it was gone before I could grab hold of it.
“You think I don’t care?” he asked, his voice quieter.
“You haven’t given me any reason to think otherwise.”
The silence that followed stretched thick and heavy, and my heart pounded so hard I was sure he could hear it.
The Breaking Point
“You’re right,” he said finally, his voice low and measured. “This is about our image. Which is exactly why I don’t see the point in fanning the flames of a fantasy.”
The words hit harder than they should have.
My stomach twisted. “A fantasy?”
“The internet believes what we show them,” he continued, his tone infuriatingly calm. “That doesn’t make it real.”
It shouldn’t have hurt. I knew what this was — we’d agreed from the start. But the way he said it, so cold and detached, made something in me crack.
“And what about when it feels real?” I challenged. My voice wavered, but I didn’t back down. “Or are you just that good at pretending?”
That did it.
Reid stood — slowly, deliberately — and moved around his desk until we were standing toe to toe.
“You tell me,” he said softly, his eyes locked on mine. “Are you pretending, Fallon?”
My breath caught.
He was too close — his voice too low, his scent too familiar. The air between us crackled with the same tension that had been building for weeks. My pulse jumped, and I hated how easy it was for him to affect me like this.
But I wasn’t going to let him turn this on me.
“You don’t get to deflect,” I said, my voice shaking. “This is about you. About the way you shut me out.”
“Maybe you should take a closer look at yourself,” he shot back. “You’ve been playing this game a lot longer than I have.”
It was a cheap shot, but it landed.
“Excuse me?”
“You built your whole career on image,” he said, his voice cool and cutting. “On perfect lighting and curated moments. Don’t act like you’re above pretending.”
The words sliced right through me, and the anger came fast and hot. “At least I don’t run every time things get complicated.”
His jaw tightened. “This isn’t complicated.”
“Isn’t it?” I took a step closer, my body practically vibrating with frustration. “Because it sure feels like it.”
We stood there, inches apart, the air thick and electric. For a second — just a second — I thought he was going to close the distance.
But instead, he stepped back.
And just like that, the moment was gone.
“I’m sorry the video’s getting more attention than you wanted,” I said after a long beat, my voice brittle and bitter. “But maybe if you hadn’t agreed to this marriage in the first place, we wouldn’t have to fake it so hard.”
The words landed. I saw it. The brief flash of something raw in his eyes before he shut it down.
But he didn’t respond.
He just turned away.
And this time, I was the one who walked out.
But I didn’t feel like I’d won anything.