Chapter 17: Beneath the Storm

Elina’s POV

Waking up still in Ryan’s bed was nerve-wracking after the foolish words I’d blurted out at dawn. When he stormed off without letting me explain, I half-expected him to barge back in, yell at me, or worse—sack me from his villa. After all, in a way, I’d ruined his career.

Thinking about it, I grabbed my phone.

It was 7 AM now, and instead of dying down, the news had exploded. With over two million tweets, # NBAStarSexScandal was the most popular topic on X, followed by #RapistCastro and #NBABeast. It was a mess.

The comments were a battlefield—nasty and biting, some with blurry photos of Ryan towering over a crowd, his jaw tight.

Someone had dug up who the “defiled woman” was, and now my entire life, down to my school days, was out there.