Fuck. I was suffocating. I felt as if invisible fingers curled around my windpipes and slowly crushed them. My heart hammered against my ribcage. My vision blurred, and I could barely hear the voices of Logan and Aidan as I tried to comprehend this situation. This couldn't be happening. How was it even possible?! Could someone restore the picture I had taken that night?!When I returned the equipment I borrowed from Bombshell News storage, I made sure that I wiped every single photo from the memory card. I remembered to check it a few times, and I was hundred percent positive that there was nothing left—not a single shot of Angelica or Aiden. Could someone restore what I had deleted and use it?!"That must have been that freak you saw on a tree!" Logan's words felt like an icy spike pierced through my heart.Aiden cursed and shook his head. "But why would he wait that long? It doesn't make any sense."My answer to that question was that it took a while because whoever used those photo
I wasn't lying about knowing someone who could prove the photo's authenticity. The only problem I had was that the last time I contacted him was right after I began my studies, and even then we only had a brief conversation. Now, I knew that he lived in New York City, and I hoped that he hadn't changed his number. I took a deep breath and made the call. I waited for a few signals, but he finally answered."Hello?" I heard a raspy and weak voice over the phone. "Charlie?""Hi, Kevin," I started hesitantly. "Are you all right?"He yawned. "Yes. You woke me up, but that's OK. I need to get back to work anyway."I knew that Kevin worked freelance, and even a few years ago, when he merely graduated from high school, he was already a sought-after specialist. I cleared my throat. "Um... I guess you are still extremely busy…" An awkward chuckle rushed through my throat."I am, but I am still willing to do anything for my favorite super-girl," he said, and I could almost see him grinning.I si
Michelle and I miraculously managed to book a conference room in Waldorf Astoria. Aiden was going to meet the press at 4:30. It was quite amusing that Angelica was holding her press conference at Four Seasons, which was blocks away from our spot. That gave the reporters a fair chance to participate in both events, although I highly doubted if they still wanted to hear Angelica's story once they received the complete package of evidence."Why is Mr. Hart doing this?" Michelle asked me since Aiden was too busy to explain. "Is it because of that article with Ms. Butterfly?" She smiled wryly.I nodded and grimaced. "Did Agnes and Louise see those articles too?"She gave me a meaningful look. "I would have been surprised if you found one person in the whole company who didn't see it."I could feel the incoming headache, and the desire to punch Angelica returned. I truly hoped that people would listen to Aiden's explanation. It was ironic that the pictures I had taken while sitting on that
Matthews made sure that every reporter present received a complete package of the evidence by the end of the conference. Everyone was leaving the room. Michelle rushed to collect our materials from the technician while I stood against the wall and numbly stared at Aiden. Logan strode toward him, laughing and clapping his hands. "Great job, man!" He gave Aiden's shoulder a little punch. "This is seriously going to be a bad day for Angelica."I took a deep breath and walked toward them. "Maybe someone should warn her and inform her not to do anything stupid? If those reporters see her confused face, they will cut her open and watch her bleed." I was talking from experience. I would have been merciless that way as well… if I was after more important matters than someone's sex life.Aiden shook his head. "We do nothing. If she had any brain cells inside that small head of hers, she would have sent someone from her staff to tell her what happened here. If she decides to focus on herself li
The shades covered every window, and the dim lights appeared, quickly turning the large screen behind me into the brightest object in the room. Aiden and Logan explained why it was necessary to call for an emergency board meeting. They made a boring introduction, and now it was up to me to reveal a few seemingly dry facts. We figured that it would be best not to reveal anything specific from the start. We wanted to build the tension, exposing the final piece of the puzzle at the right moment.I wasn't nervous—I was terrified. My hands were trembling, and I tried to rub them together, hoping the trembling would stop. It wouldn't look too well if I started to aim the highly-unsteady laser pointer at the screen when my entire arm rattled..."Charlie, relax," Aiden whispered, giving me his dimple-showing smile. He might have been sitting only two feet away from the place where I stood, but his closeness gave me little comfort.I felt the stares of all the board members and the few present
"Did they cuff Caesar Hart when they led him out?" Emily's agitation rose by the second as I told her and Bastian what had happened.After the eventful emergency board meeting, Emily, Bastian, and I had our own emergency meeting in our apartment. We had a lot to discuss. We needed to find a new approach since none of the things I had discovered so far had brought us any closer to finding the truth about Julienne's death.Emily and I sat on the sofa while Bastian made himself comfortable on our fluffy carpet, sitting right next to the coffee table, currently occupied by a few bottles of beer."They escorted Caesar out of the company, no cuffs. He isn't arrested," I reminded Emily, and she rolled her eyes."Well, he should be, for threatening you," she stated, crossing her arms.I smiled wryly. "I doubt that he would go to prison for something like that.""We need to find something solid." Bastian sighed, reaching for another bottle of beer.My mimic muscles twitched in annoyance. "Do y
Aiden wasn't joking. The black Bentley parked by my building at 6 AM sharp. Feeling giddy and blushing, I rushed down the stairs, holding nothing but a purse. I decided to dress casually, choosing my favorite jeans and a pink fitted top. A BB cream, a tiny bit of mascara, and lip gloss were all I used for so-called makeup while my brown hair was tied in a less-than-neat ponytail. For the first time, I wasn't trying to impress him. I just wanted to be me.I left my worries in the apartment, promising myself that this weekend would be about having a good time, exploring, and giving my heart a chance to feel. Was it wise? Probably not, but I was too tired of trying not to feel. All I wanted was to give myself a chance—give Aiden and me a chance—but I also knew that I couldn't build a relationship on a lie…The voice of rationality thundered at the back of my head, telling me that I should consider the fact that the part of me that Aiden was fascinated by could have been the part that was
It took a small eternity for my heart to stop pounding. We were in the air, sitting opposite each other, laughing, drinking champagne, and talking about the most trivial things. I thought that I would never calm down after Aiden's confession, but I did. I didn't know when or how, but he started talking about the weather. He told me that he always loved staring at the rain and that he used to count raindrops falling on the window. He said that it calmed him down. It was sunny, just a few innocent clouds as we crossed the sky, but his story made my eyes shift to the window and smile. I imagined Aiden as a child, standing by the window and counting raindrops. Somehow, that vision took away all the tension within me."I love snow," I blurted out suddenly. "Not in the summer, of course." I laughed, and so did he. "When I was a kid, we had our snowball fighting competition with my father and brother. It was the only game that I could defeat my brother, and it probably was the main reason wh