Chapter 24

Serena's POV I woke up to my phone practically vibrating off the nightstand. Seventeen missed calls, over fifty text messages, and hundreds of notifications across all my social media accounts. What the hell? Groggily, I unlocked my phone, only to feel like I'd been punched in the stomach. There I was, plastered across gossip sites and trending topics, photos of Julian and me at dinner manipulated to look intimate, scandalous. The headlines were brutal: "HIGH SOCIETY SCANDAL: SERENA QUINN'S AFFAIR WITH BRITISH HEARTTHROB" "EXCLUSIVE: HOW SERENA QUINN STOLE Julian Clarke FROM HOLLYWOOD" "BLACKWOOD EX-WIFE CAUGHT WITH FAMOUS ACTOR—IS THIS WHY THEY DIVORCED?" My hands shook as I scrolled through the vicious comments. People I'd never met were calling me a slut, a homewrecker, a gold-digger. Julian apparently was being labeled a predator and a cheat. It took me approximately three seconds to figure out who was behind this. "Ivy," I whispered, rage building inside me. This was her revenge f