Abby kept her voice low. "No... Star, do you want to juste over and see for yourself?"


    Ste had been trying to y matchmaker for Antoney and Lauretta, but because she''d been so consumed with researching Joshua''s conditiontely, she hadn''t actually set them up on any dates.


    Joshua had been right-Antoney and Lauretta were both incredibly guarded people. You couldn''t rush these things.


    So how in the world had they skipped straight to jumping into bed together?


    No wonder Abby was panicking; this was a PR nightmare waiting to happen.


    "Send me the address. I''m on my way," Ste said firmly.


    After grabbing the location from Abby, Ste threw on her coat and headed for the door.


    She ran right into Joshua as he was walking in.


    He paused, taking in her rushed state. "Heading out, Star?"


    Ste frowned slightly. "Yeah. Something happened with Antoney and Lauretta, and Abby''s in over her head. I need to go handle it."


    Joshua''s eyes darkened for a fraction of a second. "What happened?"


    Ste tried to put it delicately. "Antoney and Lauretta... well, I''m not exactly sure how, but they ended up in a reallypromising situation. I''m going to see what''s going on."


    She honestly couldn''t picture how those two had ended up in bed together.


    Joshua lowered his gaze, masking the dark swirl of emotions in his eyes.


    "Let me drive you."


    Ste didn''t argue. "Okay."


    Half an hourter, they arrived at the hotel.


    Because she''d gotten the call early and was close by, Abby had beaten Ste to the


    scene.


    But she was stuck out in the hallway, barred from entering the room, which was now swarming with people.


    Ste immediately spotted paparazzi in the crowd, their cameras shing aggressively.


    Her expression hardened. She signaled her personal bodyguards to start physically clearing the press, then turned to Abby. "Abby, kill the story. Do whatever it takes."


    Abby looked sick to her stomach. "Star, half these reporters are livestreaming right now. I don''t think we can put a lid on this.


    I was checking my phone on the way up. It''s already trending online."


    Ste scowled but decided she needed the full story before doing damage control.


    Inside the suite, Antoney was


    slumped on the sofa, looking utterly


    defeated Lauretta sat on a chair


    the room, her face pare and


    content belongs to


    They were both wearing fresh clothes, but there was torn clothing scattered across the floor.


    The massive king-sized bed waspletely trashed-a clear indicator that whatever happened had been intense.


    The second Ste walked in, both Antoney and Lauretta stiffened.


    Antoney shot up from the couch, his voiceced with pure panic.


    "Star, let me exin. Ms. Chapman and I just ran into each other at a mutual friend''s partyst night had a few too many drinks, and when t woke up...


    He couldn''t even finish the sentence.


    After all, he hadn''t just slept with a random woman; he had slept with his own junior colleague''s best friend.


    Antoney had no idea Ste had been nning to set them up. He just felt too ashamed to even look her in the eye.


    Lauretta wasn''t faring much better It wasn''t that she disliked Antoney, and she hadn''t beenpletely. opposed to the idea of an arranged marriage with him.  fo


    But that didn''t mean she was okay with waking up in bed with a man she wasn''t even officially dating.


    It hadn''t taken Lauretta long to piece together exactly what had happened.


    Her voice was remarkably steady. "Star, don''t me Mr. Watson. I was set up by someone I thought was my oldest friend.


    A guy she used to be obsessed with asked me out years ago.


    Recently, when the news broke that my engagement with the Williams family was off, he reached out to me again.


    I turned him down, but she... she must have harbored a grudge.


    She probably figured that if I was ruined or tied to someone else, I wouldn''t be a threat to her anymore."


    Lauretta hadn''t touched a drop of alcoholst night. She had only taken one sip of juice.


    A drink that had been handed to her directly by her "best friend."


    When they woke up, their clothes werepletely ruined, so they had to call down for fresh ones.


    But the moment they were dressed, the paparazzi miraculously kicked the door in. Lauretta wasn''t stupid. This was a highly coordinated hit.