Chapter 2

"Jessi, what are you doing?" Alex finally found his voice, pulling his arm free.

Jessi ignored him, her eyes still locked on Sarah.

"Tell them!" she demanded, her voice rising. "Tell them how you' re always around him! How you' re trying to break us up!"

Sarah took a breath, trying to regain her composure. This was a nightmare.

She thought, She' s just a kid. Insecure. A simple explanation will fix this.

How wrong she was.

"Jessi, that' s not true," Sarah said, her voice calm, measured. Too calm, perhaps, for the drama Jessi was orchestrating.

"Alex and I... we' ve known each other for years. We' re very close."

It was the truth, but not the whole truth. And in this viper pit, a partial truth was a weapon.

Jessi seized on it.

"See! She admits it! 'Very close'! What does that mean, huh?"

She turned to the cameras, tears now streaming convincingly.

"She' s obsessed with him! An older woman, trying to steal my boyfriend!"

The narrative was set. The online comments, Sarah knew, would be brutal.

Alex tried to intervene. "Jessi, stop. Sarah is my..."

"Your what?" Jessi shrieked, cutting him off. "Your mentor? Your 'friend'? I know what she is!"

The scene was spiraling. Sarah just wanted to disappear.

The club' s security, usually quick to handle disturbances, seemed to be holding back, letting the spectacle play out. The venue was probably loving the free publicity.

A few days later, the online storm was still raging. "Sarah Miller: Cougar or Predator?" one headline screamed.

Alex had been apologetic, mortified. Michael, her husband, was furious, wanting to unleash his lawyers, his influence.

Sarah had calmed him down. "It' ll blow over," she' d said, perhaps naively.

She was at a recording studio, a sanctuary, working on a new project. She needed the focus.

Then, the door to her private lounge burst open.

Jessi Vance.

"We need to talk," Jessi said, her eyes blazing. No tears this time. Just pure, unadulterated rage.

Her PR person hovered nervously in the doorway.

"Jessi, maybe this isn't the best time," the PR person started.

"Shut up, Mark," Jessi snapped. "I' m handling this."