Chapter 8 – The Announcement

POV: Elena

By the time we left the jewelry store, I felt sick. The diamond ring sitting on my finger was beautiful, expensive, and completely believable. That was the problem. Nobody looking at it would think it belonged to a fake fiancée being blackmailed into saving a basketball star's reputation. They would see a young woman in love. They would see a future. They would see exactly the story Jace wanted the world to believe.

I spent the drive back to Halden University twisting the ring around my finger while trying not to think about how quickly my life had spiraled out of control. The silence inside the SUV stretched for most of the journey, broken only by the occasional sound of traffic outside.

As we approached campus, Jace finally glanced in my direction. "Remember the story." I looked away from the window and frowned. "I wish you'd stop calling it that."

His attention remained on the road.

"It is a story." "No," I said quietly. "It's a lie."

His jaw tightened, but he didn't argue.

The certainty with which he carried himself irritated me more than I wanted to admit. He wasn't worried because he knew exactly how much leverage he had over me. The notebook was still in his possession, my mother's marriage still hung in the balance, and the threat of public humiliation remained very real. He knew I wasn't going anywhere.

The campus parking lot was already crowded when we arrived. Students moved between buildings carrying coffee cups and backpacks, completely unaware that my life was about to become their favorite topic of conversation.

I stared through the windshield and seriously considered refusing to get out.

Jace switched off the engine and glanced at me. "You look nervous. "I let out a short laugh. "Nervous is an understatement."

To my surprise, a faint smile appeared on his face. "You'll survive." The confidence in his voice only made me more anxious.

Before I could respond, he climbed out of the vehicle and walked around to my side.

A few seconds later, my door opened. I stepped onto the pavement and immediately felt several pairs of eyes turn toward us. That wasn't unusual for Jace. People noticed him wherever he went. What was unusual was the fact that they were now noticing me too.

A group of girls standing near the student center began whispering the moment they spotted us. One of them pulled out her phone while another pointed directly at my hand. A knot formed in my stomach.

"They're staring."

Jace looked completely unbothered. "They've been staring at me for years. You'll get used to it." "I don't want to get used to it." His expression suggested he found that amusing.

Unfortunately, I wasn't joking. We hadn't even reached the center walkway when my phone started vibrating. Then it vibrated again. And again. Confused, I pulled it from my pocket. The screen was flooded with notifications. Messages. Tags. Mentions. Comments. My stomach dropped.

"What did you do?"

Jace didn't answer immediately. The silence was enough. I opened social media and immediately located the source of the chaos.

There, at the top of my feed, was a photo of us standing outside the jewelry store. I didn't even remember the picture being taken. The caption was simple. Occasionally the best things happen when you least expect them. Meet my fiancée. I stopped walking so abruptly that someone nearly ran into me.

The post had already gathered thousands of likes. Thousands. Comments were appearing faster than I could read them.

Some people were congratulating him. Others were demanding explanations.

Several seemed convinced the world had lost its mind.

Slowly, I lowered my phone and stared at him. "You announced it online?" Jace shrugged. "It seemed efficient." My mouth fell open. "Efficient?" "It saves us from repeating the same conversation fifty times." I couldn't believe him. Actually, that wasn't true. I could believe him. That was the problem. Nothing Jace did surprised me anymore.

By lunchtime, the entire campus seemed to know. Students stared openly as we crossed the quad. Whispers followed us into lecture halls and cafeterias. More than once, I caught people discreetly zooming in on the ring for photos. The attention felt suffocating.

I had spent most of my life blending into the background. Overnight, I had become the most discussed girl at Halden University. The worst part was that people looked happy for me. They smiled. They congratulated me. They asked questions about wedding dates and future plans. Every conversation felt like another reminder that I was trapped inside a lie.

When we entered the student union for lunch, the noise level noticeably dropped.

Not completely. Just enough. Enough for people to look. Enough for people to whisper. Enough for me to want to turn around and leave. My pace slowed instinctively. Jace noticed immediately. Without saying a word, he reached for my hand. The unexpected contact sent a jolt through me.

I looked down at our joined hands before glaring up at him. "What are you doing?" "You look like you're about to bolt." "I am."

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He glared at me, making intense eye contact. "Don't." The simple gesture should have felt fake. It should have felt calculated. Instead, it looked disturbingly natural.

People smiled when they saw us. A few even took pictures. Nobody questioned it. Nobody doubted it. And as I looked at our hands and listened to the whispers around us, a troubling thought settled into the back of my mind.

The performance was working. It was working so well that the rest of the world had already accepted it as truth.

What frightened me most was the growing suspicion that if we kept pretending long enough, we might eventually start believing it too.