Chapter 11
The day began like any other. Calm. Quiet. Almost too quiet.
Linsey sat on the edge of the bed, scrolling through messages. The media storm had slowed—finally. Some news outlets were even shifting attention to another scandal involving a politician’s affair. It felt like a breath of fresh air after being suffocated for so long.
But that calm didn’t last.
An email popped up in her inbox. No subject. No sender name.
Just one sentence.
“Does your husband know what you did at sixteen?”
Linsey froze.
Her finger hovered over the screen. She clicked it open, pulse racing.
Attached was a scanned document. A juvenile case file. Her name was there—Brooks, Linsey Marie. Words like property damage and reckless endangerment were highlighted in red. It had happened when she was sixteen. A mistake. A night that changed everything.
Her heart pounded as she stared at the screen.
She thought no one knew.
Even Felix never found out.
And now someone was threatening to use it.
Her mind raced. Joanna. It had to be Joanna. Who else would dig this deep?
Collin stepped into the room then, talking on the phone, but the second he saw her face, he stopped mid-sentence.
“Let me call you back,” he said quickly, ending the call.
He walked over, eyes searching hers. “What happened?”
She turned the screen toward him silently.
Collin took the phone, read the message, and didn’t say a word for a long moment.
Then he looked at her. “Is it true?”
Linsey’s voice cracked. “Yes. But I didn’t—I didn’t hurt anyone. I was just a scared kid. Someone tried to grab me outside a store. I broke a window to get away. But the owner pressed charges anyway. It got sealed… but not before it left a scar.”
Collin didn’t move.
She stood quickly, eyes stinging. “I should’ve told you. I just… I didn’t think it mattered anymore. I thought that part of me was gone.”
He was still quiet.
And then he did the last thing she expected—he stepped forward and wrapped her in his arms.
“It does matter,” he said gently, “but only because it made you who you are.”
She clung to him, a tear sliding down her cheek.
“You’re not angry?” she whispered.
“I’m angry someone’s trying to use it against you,” he said, voice hardening. “But I’m not angry at you. You survived. That doesn’t make you weak. It makes you unstoppable.”
She pulled back to look up at him. “They’re going to use this. They’re going to twist it.”
“Then let them,” Collin said. “We’ll tell the truth first.”
That afternoon, they scheduled another interview. This time, it was Collin who sat before the camera, Linsey at his side.
“I built my empire from mistakes,” he told the reporter. “So did my wife. She was sixteen. Alone. Cornered. And she fought back.”
Linsey looked at the camera and said clearly, “I’ve spent most of my life being underestimated. Ignored. Left behind. But I won’t apologize for surviving.”
The media storm flared again—but this time, the response was different.
People saw themselves in her. In her fight. In her fear.
She wasn’t perfect.
And that made her real.
That night, they lay in bed, side by side in the quiet. No cameras. No performance.
Just truth.
“You know what the world calls this?” Linsey said softly.
“What?”
“A scandal.”
Collin smiled faintly. “I call it the start of something real.”
She turned toward him. “Even if everything falls apart?”
He looked at her, unwavering. “Then we rebuild it. Together.”
She exhaled slowly and rested her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat.
Whatever tomorrow brought, she wasn’t afraid anymore.
Because this time, she wasn’t facing it alone.