I was sitting curled up on a sofa wearing my favorite loose Gudetama sweatshirt and black shorts. All the makeup was gone, and my chestnut hair was tied in a messy bun on top of my head. I had a mug of hot, dramatically oversweetened cocoa in hand and a half-empty box of mint chocolate ice cream lying next to me. On the table, there were open boxes of cream-onion, paprika, and barbeque-style flavor chickpea chips, pretending to be healthy snacks instead of more comfort food. Yes, I needed a lot of comfort. I needed to deal with the fact that I was an absolute idiot.I called Emily and Bastian on my way back home. Emily had an urgent meeting with her client before Monday's court trial—yes, her salary was worth sacrificing free Saturdays from time to time. I told her about what had happened, and she said that she would cut the meeting short and be back in our apartment in less than two hours.Calling Bastian required more courage, and perhaps I should be grateful that my phone woke him
"Oh. My. Fucking. God!" Emily was laughing so hard she couldn't sit on the sofa, whereas I might have lost my ability to breathe.We were watching another video from the Palais des Roses pool party, but this one had been posted from an anonymous account, which was deleted only hours after the video had begun to spread. Someone caught Mildred Harris smoking and later throwing her cigarette into someone else's champagne glass. There was also a scene where she and a friend of hers said rather nasty things about Angelica Butterfly and a few other actresses. In two additional scenes, well-known male models discussed liposuction and badmouthed one of the young designers, but the unquestionable star of this video was Mildred, aka the Bitch.The video was almost a five-minute-long record of shame, and its sudden appearance online was nearly too convenient for me and Aiden. People loved drama far more than sweet love scenes. Tabloid reporters loved drama even more than ordinary people, and thi
The air left me in a rush as I sat on the sofa, staring at the actress I had once seen with nothing aside from lace panties on. She had just called my boss her fiancé—not her boyfriend, but fiancé!I felt sick. My head was spinning. I clamped my hand over my mouth, fearing that I might throw up. I knew that they had slept together, but I had seen Aiden with more than a few women in tabloid pictures, so I naively assumed that it was nothing more than a one-night stand…I saw Aiden's jaw clench and his hands fist into balls, knuckles whitening. "Are you insane?" The edges of his tone sharpened with anger. "Why the fuck did you come here?" he hissed.She stumbled back, her eyes widening. She looked at him in disbelief for a few heartbeats before shifting her eyes to me. "It's you!" She pointed her finger at me. "You were with Aiden in Hamptons, usurping my place!"I flinched, but then something occurred to me. Even if she had seen me in that video with Aiden, how would she know that I'd
It took me a while before I was able to focus on anything aside from Aiden's scent, touch, and taste. He wasn't in any way helpful, distracting me with his closeness as he sat beside me. He insisted on looking at my laptop screen even if I told him that I could email him all the documents I had found so he could examine them on his own computer. He claimed that it would be more efficient that way because I could point out the most problematic issues with my finger. Well, for this to work, he would have to pay attention to the screen first…"You smell nice," he murmured, all but nuzzling my hair.My heart tripped for the millionth time since I'd entered his office. "You're doing it again." I sighed and leaned away from him. "You are distracting me."A breathy chuckle escaped him. "You're easy to distract.""You're also wasting time," I argued."My first meeting starts at ten. I have plenty of time to waste."I smirked. "Nine thirty."He frowned. "What?""I heard Agnes reschedule your f
Finding out what was hidden behind the big sums on the paper was much easier said than done. The next day, I searched through Hart Global's virtual drive, and, after a few hours, I found the company hired to destroy all the products of Caesar's terminated projects. Unfortunately, the company—Telum Omnes Agency—no longer existed, and the little information I could find online gave no suspicious vibes.Officially, the research I had been working on for Aiden was finished. With a few pieces of evidence Aiden found before and the ones I delivered, he and Logan had everything they needed to call an emergency board members' meeting and force Caesar to resign. The date had been set for Friday, which meant I had only three days left to find proof of anything illegal he committed. Not that I feared that the evidence might later disappear; I was rather afraid that the one disappearing would be Caesar...Aiden called the four of us, his secretaries, together, and we were currently standing in hi
Fuck. I was suffocating. I felt as if invisible fingers curled around my windpipes and slowly crushed them. My heart hammered against my ribcage. My vision blurred, and I could barely hear the voices of Logan and Aidan as I tried to comprehend this situation. This couldn't be happening. How was it even possible?! Could someone restore the picture I had taken that night?!When I returned the equipment I borrowed from Bombshell News storage, I made sure that I wiped every single photo from the memory card. I remembered to check it a few times, and I was hundred percent positive that there was nothing left—not a single shot of Angelica or Aiden. Could someone restore what I had deleted and use it?!"That must have been that freak you saw on a tree!" Logan's words felt like an icy spike pierced through my heart.Aiden cursed and shook his head. "But why would he wait that long? It doesn't make any sense."My answer to that question was that it took a while because whoever used those photo
I wasn't lying about knowing someone who could prove the photo's authenticity. The only problem I had was that the last time I contacted him was right after I began my studies, and even then we only had a brief conversation. Now, I knew that he lived in New York City, and I hoped that he hadn't changed his number. I took a deep breath and made the call. I waited for a few signals, but he finally answered."Hello?" I heard a raspy and weak voice over the phone. "Charlie?""Hi, Kevin," I started hesitantly. "Are you all right?"He yawned. "Yes. You woke me up, but that's OK. I need to get back to work anyway."I knew that Kevin worked freelance, and even a few years ago, when he merely graduated from high school, he was already a sought-after specialist. I cleared my throat. "Um... I guess you are still extremely busy…" An awkward chuckle rushed through my throat."I am, but I am still willing to do anything for my favorite super-girl," he said, and I could almost see him grinning.I si
Michelle and I miraculously managed to book a conference room in Waldorf Astoria. Aiden was going to meet the press at 4:30. It was quite amusing that Angelica was holding her press conference at Four Seasons, which was blocks away from our spot. That gave the reporters a fair chance to participate in both events, although I highly doubted if they still wanted to hear Angelica's story once they received the complete package of evidence."Why is Mr. Hart doing this?" Michelle asked me since Aiden was too busy to explain. "Is it because of that article with Ms. Butterfly?" She smiled wryly.I nodded and grimaced. "Did Agnes and Louise see those articles too?"She gave me a meaningful look. "I would have been surprised if you found one person in the whole company who didn't see it."I could feel the incoming headache, and the desire to punch Angelica returned. I truly hoped that people would listen to Aiden's explanation. It was ironic that the pictures I had taken while sitting on that