“I can’t believe it.” She stood again and paced the room as anger fired through her veins, her heart beating double time. She was furious—and hurt. Why is he doing this, God?

“You should call him,” her dad said. “Maybe there’s a—”

Her cell rang. She pulled it from her purse, hoping it was Lucas, because she had a few things to say to him. Her hand shook as she answered.

“Kate, what’s going on?” her friend Anna asked. “I just saw a promo for NewsWire—”

“I know. I saw it too.”

“You didn’t know about it?” She’d kept Anna up-to-date on everything through e-mail.

“No, I didn’t know. I can’t believe he’s done this.” Kate ran her hand through her hair.

“Just when everything was starting to die down,” Anna said. “Why would he do it?”

“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out. I’ll call you back after I talk to him.”

They hung up, and Kate looked at her dad. Her throat was tight, her head ached behind her eyes, and she wanted to hit something.

“Maybe there’s an explanation,” her dad said.

“Sure there is. About two hundred thousand of them. They probably paid him at least that for an exclusive.” Did Lucas hope to expand his shop with the money? She’d never thought him ambitious, yet what other reason could he have? And she’d thought he was so full of integrity.

She remembered how he’d turned down the opportunity to be interviewed on Live with Lisa alongside her. What had he said? “Talking’s not my thing. Words don’t come easy to me, like they do you.” She remembered the sob story he’d told her about being paralyzed with fright in front of a school assembly. Apparently he could keep his composure if enough money was involved.

The betrayal hurt.

Kate dialed Lucas’s number. He should be home by now, probably making a mess in the kitchen. I hope he chokes on his dinner.

“Maybe you should wait until you’ve calmed down.” Her dad flipped off the TV.

The phone rang over to voice mail. The beep sounded. Kate tried to swallow the lump in her throat, but it was firmly lodged. “What are you doing, Lucas? I just saw the NewsWire promo. I can’t believe—” Her voice wobbled, and she took a steadying breath. I am not going to let him know he has me in tears.

“I can’t believe you’d do this. Call me.” She disconnected the call.

She paced the room. She was a traveling earthquake, and Lucas was the epicenter.

“So, this is the guy you’ve been mooning over for weeks,” her dad said. “He doesn’t deserve you.”

“He doesn’t have me, Dad.” Not now. Not after this. She couldn’t stand the thought of him anymore.