Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107262 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107262 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
“Can you prove this?” I ask.
Like a cockroach living through a nuclear attack, Vanna is a survivor. And though I don’t think she would play me, there’s an outside chance she decided to back the Faulkners and is the one who wrote the article, published it, and is lying directly to me now.
“If you want, I’ll email you my original story,” Vanna offers. “Anonymous drop box, of course. I’ve sent it to a few concerned parties already, just so you’re aware. This shit may be out in public, but the truth is whispered in private. I do have lawyers involved as well. They put my name on something I didn’t write or approve. There is a potential copyright issue.”
“Who was concerned?” Austin presses, and Vanna tsks. “A number of people who doubted the story and have certain matters with Evan. “The water always finds its level and the truth comes to the surface. This isn’t the first time there’s been an obvious smear where Evan’s been protected. It’s good, I think, to let the real article circulate in private circles.”
“Yes,” I agree.
Austin tells Vanna to be careful, to let him know if he can be of service, and then hangs up.
A few minutes later, Austin pulls up the file, and I give it a read. Even skimming the first few paragraphs, it’s a completely different story. “Those motherfuckers.”
“You were blindsided,” Austin says. “That’s not like you. Normally, you know that sort of weakness.”
“I….”
I can’t argue that fact because he’s right. I should’ve known about the editor if I was putting Vanna into play.
I’m too close to the problem, too desperate to see the angles clearly. But Austin’s not.
“What now? What would you do if you were in my shoes?” I ask him, and Austin lifts an eyebrow. “You only look at me like that when you’ve got something to say that I won’t like.”
“You’re right, but you also know the truth,” Austin says. “Do nothing. This is lukewarm, grade-school shit at best, and by next quarter, everyone’s going to forget about it. Evan takes the win this time, but the battle isn’t over… unless you want it to be over.”
“If her lawyers—”
“He said nothing that you could sue him over,” Austin advises me. “Maybe Olivia and Raven have a case, but that’d just drag them into the public eye, put names to innuendo. It’d be a disaster for them. Especially Raven. The stories about her were some of the nastiest. And the cost of it? Astronomical, and for what? You can only sue for money lost and it's not like you’re going to fire Raven over this.” He pauses.
I sit back, shaking my head. “Would you be able to let something like this ride, knowing that it’s hurt someone you care about and could hurt your own bottom line financially?”
Austin’s answer is clear as he looks me dead in my eyes. He would destroy anyone and anything that threatened him. It’s a reason worth lighting the world on fire to him. But that doesn’t mean it has to be for me. We are different people, different men, with very different styles despite our friendship.
“That’s a decision you’re going to have to make for yourself,” Austin says. “What does Raven think?”
I can feel a small smile play on my lips. Amid all this ugliness, she is the most beautiful thing in my life, by far. “She said to do whatever I need to do, making it sound like that included leaving her to repair my reputation.”
Her willingness to sacrifice herself for me meant more than she will ever know, but there is no way I would or could do that. I would give up everything I own before I gave Raven up. She’s all I need now.
“I don’t think it will take much to repair this,” Austin says, interrupting my thoughts. “Gossip interests those of small minds, but your investors act based on bottom lines, and there, where it matters, you make them money. If anything, many of them will relate to fucking an intern or having a scandalous affair with a junior exec.” He waves a hand dismissively.
I growl, “That’s not what this is.”
His smile is easy, showing no reaction to my snappishness other than to put both of his palms up. “I know that, and you know that. I simply said they will relate your relationship with Raven to something all too familiar in our world and not jump to overreaction.”
My ire settles… slightly.
He takes a sip of his scotch, then stares into the amber liquid as if it’s a crystal ball. “You could go to the governor’s Young Leaders ball. You do qualify, you know.”
“And how would that help?”
“Simple appearances,” Austin says. “Evan and his family think that they’ve embarrassed you. Embarrassed her. And that you’ll go scurrying back to the hole they think you belong in. Well, throw it right back by acting like the article meant nothing and Evan’s beneath you. Because the truth is, he is. You go, you drop some gratuitously obscene donation for the governor’s reelection campaign, and walk out of there with the prettiest girl, the biggest dick, and the fastest growing bank account. Any chatter volleyed about by gossip rags or concerns by investors would be assuaged by a showing of you and Raven as a united force, unswayed by the lesser.” He pins me with a powerful glare as he says, “And then, you go on with your lives together, leaving Evan in your combined past.”