“I don’t either,” he says with a cruel huff before shoving the phone away. “What’d you get for those, huh? Heard offers were hitting seven figures.”
Despite the fact that this situation is hardly hilarious, I manage a laugh. “Seven figures?”
“Is that all this was worth to you?”
“Wait, someone is selling that image for a million dollars?” I point. “Can … can you do that?”
He drags a hand through his hair, which is already mussed from his flight, and groans. “You can drop the act, Rossi. I know it was you.”
“It absolutely was not me.” I march across the room, invading his space, hands on my hips. “I would never.”
“Then explain how that image went from your phone and into the hands of tabloids all over the country,” he says.
“I can’t explain it.” I toss my hands in the air the way my father does when he’s trying to fix a sink leak and keeps dropping the wrench. “Maybe I got hacked?”
“Really? Some random person just happened to randomly hack into your phone, go through your pictures, find these specific images, lift them, then—”
“—yes!” I yell. “That’s exactly what I’m saying because there’s no other explanation. Why would I jeopardize my daughter’s privacy?”
“That’s what I’ve been asking myself all day.”’
“I didn’t do this, Fabian.” I step closer to him.
He steps away. “I was going to ask you to move in with me. You and Lucia. Because you’re the one that I want, Rossi. And maybe we were moving too fast, but I wanted to see where this would lead. And you were right. Jetting back and forth, it isn’t realistic. But I was prepared to do whatever it took to make it work … and then you pulled this. You betrayed my trust—you used me.”
“I didn’t pull anything.” I run my fingers through my hair and tug a fistful. “And I never used you, Fabian. I certainly didn’t sell you out. I don’t know how this happened, but I swear to you, it wasn’t me.”
Swiping my phone off my desk, I pull up my settings.
“All of my images are backed up to my iCloud, which is connected to my Apple ID. My password is encrypted and I have two-factor on everything.” Pulling up my iCloud, I whiz through a few menu items before pulling up log-in and user activity. “Look at my most recent log ins. They’ve all been here, same IP address. No one’s accessed my phone except for me. And I didn’t send those pictures.”
“Who else has access to your phone during the day?” he asks.
I begin to answer, then stop.
“If you’re suggesting my sister did this, you’re out of your mind. She would never.”
“How are you so sure?” he asks. “If it wasn’t you and she’s the only one who had access to your phone …”
I take a seat on the edge of my desk. There’s no way Carina would do something like that. She’s my sister. My best friend. Family. Lucia’s the closest thing to a daughter she’ll ever have. She wouldn’t throw all of us under the bus for five minutes of fame.
“I’ll ask her.” I keep my voice low. “But I’m one hundred percent sure she wouldn’t do that.”
He points to the door. “What are you waiting for?”
Condescension colors his voice.
Fabian has never used that tone with me.
“She’s watching the baby right now—I’m not going to bother her with this,” I return the favor, snipping my words at him just the same.
Chin tucked, he rubs his eyes with his thumb and index finger, chest filling with hard, heavy breaths.
“My daughter’s image is going to be plastered all over social media and every news outlet this time tomorrow,” he says. “So unless you come clean about this—and put a stop to it immediately—”
Grabbing fistfuls of air, I groan. “I’m not coming clean about something I didn’t do.”
We lock eyes in a feverish stare down.
“Why would I do anything like that?” I ask. “I don’t need money, and I made that clear from the first time we spoke. And my daughter’s privacy is my first priority. Another thing I’ve made abundantly clear.”
“I don’t know, Rossi.” His lips press into a hard line and his fingers dig into his hips as he shifts. “All I know is last weekend, you became cold and distant when I told you I was going home for a few days. And when I told you the news about my ex, you congratulated me and told me I had no obligation to be with you and Lucia. Then magically these pictures are being shopped around, pictures from your phone that you took.”
“So you think I’m jealous that your ex is pregnant and I did all of this out of spite? Is that what you think?” My vision narrows.
I realize he hardly knows me, but for the love of God, he knows me better than that.