Page 121 of You Found Me
Sam held out her phone. “That Della sighting was a fake. See?”
Ward peered at it over the top of Elyse’s head and grunted. “Looks real to me.”
“That’s because you don’t know Della.” Sam pulled the phone back. “This Druj guy has a whole list of reasons why this is fake. Sounds legit to me.”
Ward sat next to Della. “It’s just gossip.”
“She’s right,” Della said as quietly as she could. Sam seemed busy explaining to her mother how it would be possible to fake a photo of someone. She held the cotton candy up to cover her face. “There’s no tattoo. That has to behim, right? He’d know there should be one.”
She thought he swore under his breath, but when he spoke, he sounded bored. “What are you doing reading trash sites like that anyway, Sam?”
He pulled out his phone and tapped a quick message.
Elyse raised an eyebrow. “Trash site?”
Samantha clutched her phone to her chest. “It’s not trash. It’sThe Post.”
Ward snorted, but she couldn’t tell if that was a reaction to his sister or to something Spencer had texted. “It’s gossip.”
“Sammy.” Elyse sounded like the exasperated mother of a teenage girl. “We talked about this.”
“It’snotone of those gossipy nonsense places, Mom. It’s a legitimate celebrity news site, likePeople. You read that one all the time.” Samantha jutted out her chin. “Besides, I only go there for news about people I’m really interested in. Did you know Della’s been missing for a month now? Her manager says she’sjust taking a break between tours, but I don’t buy that. She’s never been off the grid this long before. She’s a social bunny. She never misses a party, and she’s missed two big premieres. Plus the Gala.”
Della inwardly cringed. Sam was absolutely right. Usually she’d have been at those events.
Funny. She hadn’t missed them.
Ward put a foot on the bench in front of him, the very picture of casual and uninterested. “I’d trust her manager over that gossip crap any day.”
“Maybe.” Sam flicked her finger down the screen. “None of the other Bellamys are acting like there’s been a big family fight. Piper’s not even in the country. So I don’t see how that could be true, but then again, some people, naming no names, like to fight from a distance, so…”
“Who would do something like that?” The question burst out of Della. “Why? Why would anyone screw with someone’s family like that? It’s not fair.”
“I know, right?” Sam said. “I can’t believe someone would be so mean. Seriously, what a jerk.”
Ward avoided her gaze.
She knew by the guilty look in his eyes exactly who had started the rumor. She pushed the blanket to the side. “Show me where the bathrooms are, honey?”
“Game’s about to start,” he said. He kept his attention on his phone, like that would stop the conversation they were about to have.
Oh hell no.
She grabbed his hand and dragged him to his feet. “This won’t take long. Honey.”
“Hurry back,” Elyse said. “Kickoff is in five minutes.”
Della dragged Ward out of the stands and back to their spot under the bleachers. She whirled to face him. Fury and fear made her heart pound in her throat. “Did you plant that story?”
“Yes.” He said like it was nothing. Like he wasn’t messing with the most important relationships in her life.
“You had no right. No. Right. Especially without checking with me. That’s myfamily you’rescrewingwith.”
“Keep your voice down.” Ward took her by the arm and dragged her farther away from the people mingling near the food trucks. “We planted the story as bait, and it worked. He reacted. It’s a good, solid lead.”
“You used me…and Piper…as bait?”
“No.” His grip on her upper arm was tight. “We used astoryas bait.”