The Ex-Change novel · Chapter 6 of 24

Chapter 6: We Forgive You

Jude hammered on my door at ten past seven, still in yesterday's shirt.

"Tell me you didn't do this," I said.

"Tell me you think I did."

"I think somebody turned that camera on."

"So do I." He held up his phone. The grainy elevator video was already playing on it, over and over, with a counter showing six million views. "I haven't slept. I've called my manager, my lawyer and my driver. Nobody did this from my side."

"Then it was the show."

"Or someone the show lets in."

On the television in my room, a morning host was saying the word "cheaters" in a delighted voice.

Then the picture cut to the hotel's front steps.

Colton stood on them in a dark coat with his jaw set bravely.

Vanessa stood next to him, and she was holding his hand.

I watched his thumb move across her knuckles, tender and unhurried.

"Colton, Vanessa," shouted a reporter. "What do you say to the footage?"

Colton took a breath that shook just enough.

"We're heartbroken," he said. "But we came on this show to heal, and we're not going to let anger win. We forgive them."

"We forgive them," Vanessa repeated, and her eyes shone. "Both of them. We'd just like them to be honest with themselves."

The crowd on the steps went wild.

A dozen phones lifted at once.

I turned the volume down until it was only a low buzz and heard myself laugh, quietly and horribly.

"They forgive us," I said. "For one kiss in an elevator, on a show about two divorces."

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