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"Hey, now you know how I felt during this conversation."
"Wait." Her head pops up. "You said Mr. Masters's daughter?" The pale look on her face is replaced with a look of confusion.
I nod in confirmation.
Confusion gives way to understanding. And she's not happy about it. "That means..."
I grin. "She's also Damien's ex-ex-fiancée..."
Paula stumbles over to one of the chairs opposite me and collapses into it. "I'm going to get fired."
"No, you're not. This is not a big deal. It's not your fault, and I'm not going to fire you. Where did you get these photos, anyway? I didn't see any paps there."
She points to the watermark. "My friend over at EntertainMe.com sent it to me. They're recording the video right now but the text is already on their website, which means it's going to be picked up at any time."
A thought occurs to me. "You're not the one leaking information, are you?" I get a glare my joke. "What's the accompanying text?"
She shakes her head and rests her hand on her forehead. "You donotwant to know."
"It can't be that bad."
She glares at me, and struggles to her feet before handing me her phone, open to an email.
"Serial womanizer and alleged soon-to-be father of at least two children, Matthias Baxter, was recently seen embracing his brother's former fiancée in West Village on Thursday. Do we now know the real reason that Damien Baxter and Clarissa Masters called it quits? Could Matthias Baxter be the reason Masters fled Sydney after the breakup and moved to New York? Matthias Baxter is fast winning the race of the most immoral man in Manhattan. Should investors be supporting a child care company under his watch?"
"Shit." I exhale. This couldn't have come at a worse time.
"Yeah,shit."
I've heard Paula swear more in the last week than in the entire time she's been with Baxter Enterprises. I guess I just bring that out in women.
With the IPO for Kids & Care happening in two months, though, this is monumentally bad timing. This has been in the works for the last year and a half and is expected to be big news in the business space. Which is probably exactly why this is the angle the tabloids are targeting.
Now I'm worried. "So, Paula, what am I supposed to do? Or should I say, what do you want me to do?"
The recent surveys have made it clear, investors did not want to buy into a child care company whose director had a reputation for whoring it up. The projected asking price for our IPO is dropping by the day. I'm the reason. And I'm not okay with that.
Paula sits down on the couch next to me. "You know how I said that you better not be photographed with another woman?"
I hesitate to answer. This sounds like a path that's not going to end in anything fun for me. "I guess..."
She sits up until she's eye level with me. "What did I say? Repeat it to me."
"You said that... if I did get photographed with a woman in the next three months...then it better be with thesamewoman."
Paula nods. "Right. I think you see where I'm going with this."
"I don't." A shake of my head. I refuse to see.
"I think you do, Mr. Baxter. "
"Yeah, I think I might, but I'm hoping that that's not really where you're going."
"You've now chosen the woman you're going to be taking photos with until the IPO." She holds up two fingers. "For two months."
I recoil just at her words. "No. You don't get it. She and I can't be in the same place for more than thirty seconds without wanting to rip each other's throats out. And it's always been this way. She's just a spoiled rich bitch. And I can promise you now, she's not going to want to have any part of this either."
"You can ask."
