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about this idea, the more sense it makes. I’m
already feeling less defeated. “You know, that’s a pretty
great idea.”
    “I’ve
been known to have a few,” Ash smirks.
    “The
mystery could be part of the draw,” I brainstorm out loud.
“Guests could be picked up by a limo, taken to a private jet...
They’d only find out the destination once they were in the
air.”
    “A
tropical island one month, a ski lodge the next...” Cam
finishes. “There you go. Business problem solved, and we’re
barely one drink down.”
    I
exhale, for the first time feeling the weight lift from my shoulders.
This won’t solve my immediate problems with the press, but it’s
good to know my business empire will survive. I’ll just need to
evolve, think of something new.
    “So
who was it who blew the whistle?” Cam asks. “I’m
surprised you haven’t got them strung up in your office for
fifty lashes by now.”
    My
tension returns.
    “Zoe,”
I answer shortly.
    “The
hot hostess?” Cam asks.
    I
nod.
    He
chuckles. “I wouldn’t like to be in her shoes right about
now. Did you set the lawyers on her first, or Griffin?”
    “Neither.”
    They
both look at me, confused. Then Ash’s face changes. He snorts
with laughter. “Wow. You sure know how to pick them.”
    “Tell
me about it,” I grumble. “If I hadn’t let my dick
do the thinking, I would have sent her packing out the door the very
first night we met.”
    Then
there’s no way this story could have ever run, no way my
client’s secrets would be out in the open.
    Unless
Andrew was right. This was inevitable. If not him, then some other
high-profile client, some other leak. Sex and secrets can never mix
for long without someone letting something slip.
    Maybe
my empire was really just a house of cards, ready to fall.
    Which
means Zoe isn’t to blame, after all.
    I
pause, the thought sinking through me like a lead weight. Because if
she’s not at fault, then I might have just walked away from the
best thing that’s ever happened to me.
    And
what kind of fool does that make me?

 

CHAPTER NINE
     
    ZOE
     
    As
soon as I leave Dax’s apartment, I head to the New York Daily
offices. It feels like I’ve got a bullet lodged in my chest,
but I can’t break down yet. I have to channel all my pain into
anger to go confront Granger.
    I
can’t believe he did this--
    No: I
can’t believe I didn’t see it coming. From the start, the
minute I mentioned Andrew Landsley, that was all he wanted to talk
about. I was so naive, thinking that just because I backed out of the
story, he wouldn’t find a way to plaster the sex scandal all
across the front pages.
    He
used me to get what he wanted, and I was dumb enough to believe my
investigation was about ethics and corruption, not some splashy,
sensationalized story.
    By
the time I hit the lobby, I’m spitting mad. I steam straight
past the receptionist, and back into the newsroom. It’s Sunday
evening, but the place is still half-full with people working.
    Granger
is in his office talking on the phone when I storm in.
    He
looks up, surprised. “I’ll call you right back,” he
says, and hangs up. Then he smiles at me. “Come to thank me?”
    My
mouth drops open. “Thank you?” I echo in shock. “You
stole my story!”
    “I
did no such thing,” Granger frowns. “You’ve got
your byline, just like I promised. Front page, above the fold. All my
other cub reporters are green with envy,” he adds.
    He
ruined Dax, and Landsley too, and I’m supposed to be pleased?
    “I
pulled the story!” I yell. “I told you, it’s not
public interest what anyone does in the bedroom!”
    “And
I told you, I disagree.” Granger rises behind his desk.
“Someone’s private life tells us about their morals,
their character. The people deserve to know.”
    “And
what the hell does his sex life say about his morals?” I
counter, furious. “Everything that happens at that club is
between two consenting adults. What gives you the