Danielle awoke to a loud knock and opened tired eyes to find her brother already standing in her open doorway. Covering a yawn when her hand, she sat up. "David, what's wrong?"

Stepping into the room, he presented a tabloid to her. "I'm afraid we have a problem." Her attention moved from his face to the trash magazine held before her and the headline in bold black letters. "Businesswoman Trades 10 Year Relationship For Gargoyle Affair."

Snatching the magazine from his hand, panic began to fill Danielle as she stood. The picture below was one they'd posed for. Angela had taken on her phone a year ago, not two weeks after she'd moved in. It was her and Brooklyn out on the battlements, his arms around her, and they were both smiling. Opening the magazine, she found most of the pages blank but flipped to the article and read aloud.

"Danielle Xanatos, younger sister to David Xanatos, and Senior Accounts Manager of North Carolina's own Bank of the South, now in engaged in romantic affair with gargoyle lover despite proposal from longtime estranged partner Travis Baker."

"I'm afraid it gets worse."

She met her brother's concerned gaze and threw the magazine onto the bed. "How the hell could it get worse?!"

He sighed, knowing this was not the way she'd hoped to start the morning. "It would seem that Travis had this mocked up. Every tabloid in the country will have this in production within hours of receiving it."

Danielle met his gaze. "How do you know?"

He stepped forward, handing her a folded note. "This was accompanying the magazine."

Stealing her nerves, she opened the note.

"Take time to absorb this Danni, but not too much.

I'll be awaiting your call.

Love Travis."

She stepped out from the bed and turned, her attention moving to the stone sleeping gargoyle in her balcony doorway. "Who else has seen this?"

David shook his head. "Aside from Fox and myself, I don't know. The packaging was odd, hand delivered. Fox decided open it and we went through its contents together. When's the last time you had contact with Travis?"

Danielle met his gaze again. "A month ago, he came by the office after I'd returned from Thanksgiving."

"What did he want?"

She sighed. "What he's wanted for a year now. To talk about getting back together, he swore he still loved me, that there'd never be anyone else for him." She crossed her arms. "I told him it would never happen, that I was happy with the way things were."

David picked the magazine from her bed. "Did all the pictures come from your phone?"

Taking it from him, she flipped back to the article, her heart dropping. In the four-page spread there were two rather large pictures, and three smaller ones. All but two of them were "selfies" they'd taken together either not long after she moved in or during her time home at Thanksgiving. Most of these could be passed off as friendship with the right amount of P.R. attention. Even the cover could be passed as friendship.

A smaller picture she'd saved from Elisa however was another story. The picture showed the two of them in a doorway, decorated for Christmas, mistletoe hanging above their heads. Brooklyn had stopped to press an affectionate kiss to her right check. Her left hand could be seen cupping his check, and his own eyes were closed, and a smile could be seen spreading across his features as well. The clan had decorated the castle together the night before she left.

The last image was not one of hers though. To the left-hand side was a small cutout of Travis clearly looking at the contents of a ring box. Danielle sighed, realizing just how damning of all the pictures were together.

Her attention turned back to her brother. "Yes, these were all on my phone, all but the one of Travis."

David remained silent for the moment and pulled her into a strong hug. "Hate to admit it but the article is quite damning." He tightened the embrace, feeling her shoulders shake. "He calms your relationship was stronger than ever until the last few days."

Danielle scoffed. "That's bullshit and we all know it. He came by the office months ago, first time I'd seen him in a year. Asking me for another try then, but I turned him down. We'd go weeks without talking at all and then he'd be blowing up my phone all hours for days."

He brother nodded and rubbed his chin. "Nevertheless, his claims do present us with a growing problem. Not only for the two you but Elisa and Goliath as well."

"You can say that again."

They turned to see the detective in question standing in her open doorway, pulling on her signature red jacket. "Captain Chavez called five minutes ago, she's ordered me and Matt in. Seems a copy of that wound up on her desk."

Danielle frowned; this stunt of Travis' would reach far past her relationship with Brooklyn if it wasn't buried quickly. "I'm sorry, Elisa."

Her adopted sister stepped into the room and wrapped her in a warm hug before stepping back with a smile. "Don't sweat it. We've been in predicaments before, and your brother is a master of turning the tide."

David smiled. "I'm honored, Detective."

She returned his smile and turned back towards the door. "You would be. Just see if you two can't get a handle on this before the clan wakes up."

At mention of the clan, Danielle turned from Elisa departing and her gaze fell on Brooklyn's sleeping form. "He won't be happy."

Her brother nodded, his arm once again coming around her with a smile. "No, none of them will be but we do have all day to take back some advantage."

She smiled and allowed him to begin leading her from the room. "What do you have in mind?"

His smile morphed into a smirk. "Let's show Mr. Baker how we play the game."