Lola is not moving.
I take the phone from her hand gently and put it face down on the table. Her jaw is set, and she’s blinking fast.
“Hey,” I say.
“This is Daniel, right? For a second, I thought it could be Patrick, but I don’t think he’s capable of this. He’s a jerk sometimes, but he wouldn’t go this far.”
“No, I don’t think he would either,” I say.
She looks at me. “It makes me sound really slimy—” She stops. “People are going to believe it.”
“People who don’t know you, maybe,” I say. “Not the people who matter.”
“My clients matter. My following matters. I built that, Tully. That’s mine, I built it from nothing, and he just—” She presses her lips together.
Her phone lights up again. Even though it’s face down, we can both see the screen illuminating over and over.
She takes a deep breath. “I am not going to let this ruin my night. It’s your brother’s wedding. We are going to have fun.”
I lean in. “I love you. I promise you, no one here believes you’re after my wealth. They’ve seen the way you look at me in a suit.”
A laugh breaks free, and I’m relieved that I made her laugh.
“Want me to hold on to this?” I ask, picking up her phone.
She nods. I pick it up, and as I do, she gets another call. This time, it’s her dad.
I show her and she takes it, answering the call.
“Hey, Dad,” she says softly, then listens for a minute. “What? He called you?” Her voice lifts. “Yeah, I never toldyou all of it. It seemed like you didn’t want to know. How much does he want?”
My veins go cold.
When she gets off, I wait.
“Daniel called my dad. He’s threatening to go to the public and tell them my dad took money from him years ago. He’ll make it sound like I was a woman who went to her boyfriend’s agent and negotiated a price for my exit, rather than a scared twenty-one-year-old who was being blackmailed into leaving the man she loved.”
“What did your dad say?”
“He said he had no idea I’d been blackmailed. He couldn’t believe I didn’t tell him.”
“I’ll call Wade and let him know what’s going on.”
She nods, and I make the call, laying it out for Wade. He says what I was hoping he’d say.
“We’re narrowing in on him.”
“Enough to keep this from coming out?” I ask, squeezing Lola’s hand.
“I’ve got an eye on him right this minute, and I’ll call the journalist who’s listening to his bullshit…offer them a story that’s more enticing than this one.”
I nod. “Okay. I like that.”
“I know this is shitty timing, but try to enjoy your brother’s wedding. I’ve got this,” Wade says.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
STEPS DOWN A DARK ROAD
