AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His arrow hits on target and pierces deep. My phone pings in my back pocket. I turn away from O’Malley but not his accusation; my head pounding, my thoughts reeling. I retrieve my phone and look down at the text from Stiles.
Meet me back at the car. It’s not O’Malley.
ChapterThirty-Five
Dee
Asher’s cheerful face appears onthe iPad for our video call. I settle in beside Mick on the sofa and press my hand to his back. Through the ribbed Henley, his skin is feverishly warm, his muscles rigid and tight.
A lot has gone down in the last several hours and my husband was bearing it all.
“This is great news!” Asher beams. “Your man, Stiles, came through.”
Apparently, his tech whiz had unraveled the elaborate process used to conceal the originator’s identity. That unmasking led to Kyle Duncan, avid technology buff, who also happened to work in the CCTV room at Mick’s condo. It didn’t take much for him to point the finger straight at Lisa.
According to Duncan, the former Knaughty Kitten model approached him during his Sunday night shift after the interview aired, and used her ample wiles and bank account to entice him into posting the video and covering their tracks. The twenty-three-year-old said when faced with a cool challenge, hot woman, and cash, he couldn’t say no, as if that somehow let him off the hook. They were both guilty as sin. It had cost Lisa $5,000 to exact her revenge. While my husband’s reputation, worth more than money, was put through the wringer.
Duncan has since been fired and management is in the process of releasing the video with groveling apologies to Mick. They have alsoopened an investigation into Lisa’s conduct and the condo board will decide the fate of her continued residence. Not nearly enough. But she’s not worth the energy.
“We need to get out there,” Asher continues. “Fast. The press is at your condo where Lisa Manning is denying all of Duncan’s allegations. We can’t let her narrative hog the limelight.”
“I don’t give a shit about what Lisa says,” Mick rebuts, heatedly. “Once we have the video as proof, I’ll make a statement. I’m not going to entertain her denials.”
“That’s the way this works, Mick. You make another statement to pre-empt the video.”
“To say what I’ve already said? Waste of time.”
“Sure. Of course,” Asher mocks. “Let’s do it your way. I’m only the media expert.”
“Now what, you’re going to sulk like a baby?”
“I’m not the one sulking, Mick. You are and I don’t get it. Why aren’t you happy about this development?”
“What the fuck is there to be happy about? Proving something I already knew was a lie.”
I send Asher a look of apology. “Thank you for your advice and all you’ve been doing. We both appreciate it. Let’s just take a breather and circle back.”
“Alright,” he relents, somewhat mollified. “We’ll touch base in another hour.”
“Sounds good. Bye, Ash.”
“You don’t have to coddle him.” Mick turns to me when I kill the call. “It’s his job to give advice and my prerogative not to take it.”
“True.” I study the deepening shadows in his eyes and the ticking of his jaw muscle. “But we both know that’s not what this is about.”
“I’m fine, Dee.”
“You’re not fine, Mick. You’re churned up about what O’Malley said.”
“Really?” His tone drips with sarcasm. “Don’t most fathers plant evidence and send death threats?”
“No, they don’t. But Malcolm did and that has nothing to do with you.”
“Whatever.” He pushes to his feet and stalks out of the room.
He’s halfway to the office when I catch up with him. I grab his arm. He comes to a halt, his whole body radiating an angry guilt.
“Talk to me. Please.”
