Chapter 3
By the next afternoon, the internet had turned my marriage into an unrequited crush.
The backstage clip was nine seconds long.
I was adjusting Daniel's collar when Claire passed behind him. Someone froze the exact second I looked up.
The first caption read:
[Daniel Reed's stylist doesn't look happy about his chemistry with Claire Bennett.]
By morning, it had become:
[Has Evelyn Hart been obsessed with Daniel Reed for years?]
People started digging through old photographs.
Me beside Daniel at festivals.
Me leaving restaurants with him.
One airport photo from six years ago showed me asleep against his shoulder.
The caption underneath said:
[She's been following him everywhere.]
I didn't respond.
At ten, I had a client standing in my studio for a fitting.
I turned my phone facedown and worked.
Then reporters appeared outside.
They shouted through the glass.
"Evelyn! Have you always been in love with Daniel?"
"Does Claire know?"
"Has Daniel ever rejected you?"
My client's assistant pulled the curtains.
The room went quiet.
I stepped into the storage area and called Daniel.
"Your team needs to correct this."
His voice was low.
"Vanessa's handling it."
"I'm not asking you to announce the marriage."
I tightened my grip on the phone.
"Just say I wasn't chasing you."
A pause.
"I know."
"Then say it."
"I'll talk to her."
Two hours later, the statement went live.
[Daniel Reed and his team value Evelyn Hart as a longtime member of his styling team. Any speculation regarding a personal relationship between Daniel Reed and Ms. Hart is inaccurate.]
I read the last sentence three times.
Not private.
Not something they declined to discuss.
Inaccurate.
I grabbed my keys.
Daniel's set was forty minutes away.
He had just finished a scene when I arrived. He came out in costume, and when he saw me, the first thing on his face wasn't surprise.
It was irritation.
"Why are you here?"
I held out my phone.
"Remove the last line."
He barely looked at it.
"Changing it now makes this bigger."
"It says we don't have a personal relationship."
"Evelyn."
"I'm your wife."
My voice rose.
Two crew members nearby turned.
Daniel immediately lowered his.
"You want everyone investigating why we hid the marriage? Claire's campaign just signed. The movie is still in promotion. Give it a few days."
"So the safer option is letting me look like a woman who's been stalking you for years?"
"No one said that."
"Everyone online is saying it!"
His expression hardened.
"What exactly do you want me to do? Announce our marriage tonight?"
"I want you not to lie."
He didn't answer.
That was enough.
I left.
At five, my client's assistant called.
She was painfully polite.
"This isn't about your work, Evelyn. The brand just doesn't want to be pulled into the Daniel Reed situation right now."
Next week's campaign was canceled.
I sat in my car without starting it.
Daniel called thirty minutes later.
"I heard."
I said nothing.
"Send me the amount."
My hand tightened around the steering wheel.
"What?"
"Whatever fee you lost. I'll cover it."
I finally understood.
He truly believed that solved something.
"You think this is about the fee?"
"Evelyn, I'm trying to help."
"No."
I stared at my reflection in the windshield.
"You're trying to pay for it."
I ended the call.
A little after eleven, I was still at the studio organizing returns when my inbox chimed.
An internal email had been copied to me by mistake.
[DANIEL + CLAIRE: Q2 PARTNERSHIP / FINAL APPROVAL]
I opened it.
There was one name beside approval.
[Approved: Daniel Reed]
The date was three days earlier.
Three days ago, I was still waiting for this to end.
Daniel had already approved whatever came next.