Sabrina motioned to the breakfast table. “They keep sniping at each other. It’s like I’m fourteen again, and they’re in the middle of the divorce.”
Holly rubbed Sabrina’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. “Sorry, sweetheart. Just try and block it out.”
Sabrina sniffed.
“What the hell?!” her father suddenly ground out.
Wondering what he and her mother were up to now, Sabrina whirled around, but her father wasn’t glaring at his ex-wife. He’d jumped up and was staring at Sabrina, his finger pointing at the newspaper.
“What is this? A joke?” His stabbed his finger at a spot on the newspaper.
Sabrina shuddered internally. No! This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be the paper from that day . . . .
“What are you on about, George?” her mother asked, her voice sharp.
“This!” He shoved the newspaper in front of her, pointing to a spot.
Sabrina’s legs carried her closer. And with every step, the knot in her stomach tightened as if it were a noose around her neck.
When she reached the table, her mother lifted her head from the paper and looked at her. Sabrina didn’t have to look at what she’d been reading; she could see it in her mother’s confused facial expression.
“Surely, that’s a mistake,” her mother said, looking at her with pleading eyes.
Sabrina felt Holly rush to her side and was glad to know she wasn’t alone, though she had no idea how to explain the situation to her parents.
“It’s all a lie,” she managed to say, her voice dry as sandpaper. She pointed to the article. “One of Daniel’s enemies is trying to cause trouble.”
Her father shook his head. “Trouble? I’d say that’s trouble!” His cheeks started to turn red.
“Then it’s not true what they say here about you and Daniel, that you’re his . . . uh . . . escort?” her mother asked, her voice sounding like she wanted to believe any explanation, as long as it meant that her daughter wasn’t what the article accused her of.
Frantically, Sabrina shook her head. “No, Mom, it’s all a lie. It’s all fabricated.”
Her mother closed her eyes and nodded to herself. “Good, then—”
“Fabricated? No newspaper prints a story like this without some sort of proof!” her father interrupted. “They must have a source for all this!”
“Their source lied. I’m not what they say I am!” Sabrina protested, leaning closer, hoping to convince her father of the truth.
“Then if it’s a lie, why haven’t you sued them yet?” He pointed to the date on the top right corner of the paper. “This was published five days ago.”
“It’s a misunderstanding. They got the wrong person. A lawsuit takes time. It’s complicated.” How could she tell her father that part of the evidence the paper had—Daniel’s credit card statements—wouldn’t help to discredit the reporter’s source?
“Complicated? Goddamn it, Sabrina! It’s in the paper! It’s in black and white! If you’re not suing immediately for defamation, everybody will believe it’s true!” Her father’s face turned even redder as if he were about to burst an artery. “Why would they publish something like this if there’s not an ounce of truth to it?”
“But it’s not true!” Helplessness spread over her. She knew how it looked to her parents, and the fact that she had no explanation she could give them, made things even worse. “Please, you have to trust me when I tell you that the story is false.”
Her father shook his head. “How can I trust you when you can’t tell me why they would say something like this about you? And why you’re not doing anything about it.” His mouth set into a grim line. “You leave me no choice but to believe what’s in the paper.”
Sabrina sniffed. “Please—”
But he cut her off. “How could you do this to me? How could you besmudge my good name like this?”
Her mother shot up from her chair. “Who are you gonna believe, your daughter or some slimy gossip columnist?”
“Selling her body like a common—”
“Don’t say it!” her mother warned, her voice cold as ice.
Tears shot to Sabrina’s eyes. “I’m not—“ She pointed to the paper. “—that. Please, Dad, you have to believe me.”
She felt Holly move next to her, putting her arm around Sabrina’s waist to support her, while her mother did the same on the other side.