Chapter Eighteen
“What is the name of your lover?” Liann began, sounding more like a cop than a TV host.
“So formal,” Justine muttered. She wanted to say, “You’re a shit interviewer,” but why make matters worse? She let her gaze settle where her mother had been and shielded her eyes. She’d hoped her father had dragged Thea out, carried her out by now, if necessary. Something. But, no. Her mother was fighting him when he tried to get her to budge. She had no intention of leaving her daughter.
“Answer the question.”
So much for telling her father in her own time. This might rival the sex tape fiasco. “You know damn well who he is.” She pointed off-stage.
“So everyone will know, tell us his name.”
“Nobody will see this. They cut the cameras five minutes ago.”
“I think you’ve forgotten nearly every member of your audience possesses a smart phone and is recording this so they can get two million views by midnight.”
“Fair enough.” Justine had forgotten. She looked toward where the audience sat. A decent percentage of them were TV reporters themselves, looking to write up the new show produced by Montgomery-Chase for daytime television. Damn. “Sawyer, our co-producer.”
“But what’s his full name? Do you know?”
Her insides went icy. This would be the price he paid for being with her; the loss of his privacy, his identity. She now realized it’s what Travis had threatened him with yesterday. Still, she had to say something. “Eric Sawyer. I checked his driver’s license myself.”
Liann turned her head to the left where Thea stood, arms crossed. “Mrs. Montgomery, please encourage your daughter to stop bullshitting me. I can get real ugly when I’m pissed.”
“Hang on.” Justine held her hands out in front of her like a shield, tears prickling her eyes. She had to make a choice, right away. Sawyer nodded his head. She said, “I don’t know his real name.”
A triumphant smile broke out on the star’s face. “And when you came to visit me, when I invited you into my home in the spirit of hospitality, what did y’all do?” Her Southern accent became more pronounced by the minute.
“We…we made love for the first time.”
“With a man whose name you don’t even know.”
“I suppose.” She made a point of looking toward her mother then back to Sawyer with pleading eyes.
“Have you slept with him since you returned from Greasy Ridge?”
“Yes,” she hissed. “I’ve slept with him since then.” She fought the urge to defend herself, to defend them both. Liann was doing her best to make this sound like a cheap and tawdry affair, but this mattered to her.
Sawyer stood and began making his way to where Thea was, hands covering her mouth and tears streaming down her face. Justine turned to the drunken star, hoping to distract her while Sawyer removed her mother from the soundstage. “You’re not as good at interviewing as I thought you’d be, You’re not even asking the questions I’ve refused to ever answer.”
“Oh, yeah? Like what?”
“Who was the guy on the tape? Did I like being recorded? The real dirt.”
Liann, refocused her attention on her. “Good point. Bitchy, but true. Fine. Who was he?”
“My driver. We were in a relationship.”
“Yet another of Daddy’s employees.” Liann gave a nasty little laugh. “You had a driver when you were eighteen?”
“You’re all over things when you’re drunk, aren’t you? Yes, and nineteen, too. I come from a wealthy family. I’m very fortunate in that way, but my father had a legitimate concern about my safety so he hired someone to drive and keep an eye on me.”
“And did you like it? Being recorded?”
She relaxed into fielding the questions she’d heard for the last ten years, but never bothered to answer, and thought about how to phrase her reply. With any luck, her mother was out of here, and Sawyer would stop this soon. “The video was made from an empty condo across the street. It was dark, and we didn’t turn on the lights but left the blinds open…I’ve thought about the decision a thousand times. It was a reckless choice that I’ve paid for. I had no way of knowing someone was watching, much less recording in night vision.”
Sawyer crossed the stage and took the microphone from her numb fingers. “It’s over.”
Justine turned to where Thea had stood offstage and found only Veronica there, who nodded all clear. Justine held her hand out for the microphone and Sawyer, confusion marring his brow, handed it back. “Just for clarity, I’ll use the mic for this. You’re fired, Liann. Get out of my sight.”
After her words had bounced around the room, she dropped the mic and walked away. Right before the door slammed behind her, Sawyer called for security.
****
Justine left the soundstage, and as he made the call for security, everything in him wanted to run after her. He wanted to soothe her, to tell her it would be okay, which wasn’t even true…he knew this would all blow up. But he’d had years of experience spinning things for the press, and she had her own way with them. They were crazy for her, even when they said harsh things. Maybe they could still make this work in their favor.
In the moment, when she’d looked at him with tearful eyes, her hands out…no matter whatever happened on the pages of some magazine, he wanted to be with her for the rest of his life.
So, he’d nodded. Go ahead, tell them all. He’d told her that even though it meant there would be no avoiding the news people now, digging into his life, his family, and his past. Right then, she needed him. And he could no more tell her no than he could decide not to breathe.
But now, instead of taking care of her, he had to clean up this mess. He grabbed the tissues strategically hidden behind a table and carried them over to Liann. “Here,” he said, and she took them without a word. “I’m going to have security escort you to get your things and leave the building. I’ll have Veronica get you a ticket home and a car to the airport.”
Liann plopped down on the edge of the stage, clutching a handful of tissues. Tears created rivulets through her makeup and down her face.
The security guys came in, wearing suits and earpieces. He waved them away for the moment and sat down beside her. “I told you not to use her, not to try to hurt her. What the hell were you thinking?”
“You act like she was so sweet and kind. She said some pretty mean things, too.” Her voice hitched as she continued to cry on the stage. The audience was all but gone, and he gave Veronica a signal to make sure the room had been cleared. Liann went on as if no time had passed. “Anyway, I wasn’t trying to…exactly. I saw her mama there, and it all came back to me. How dirty and used I felt. Daniel treated me like he’d walked through a shit pile, and he couldn’t wait to get the muck off his shoes.”
“My mom was an alcoholic. She made about as much sense as you, lashing out like that.” He kept his voice low, controlled. “Justine was a kid then. Why her? Why not tell Thea what happened, if Daniel was the one you wanted to hurt?”
“Because he loves nothing more than his little princess.”
“You don’t get to call her that,” he growled. “She’s got a goddamn name.”
She turned to look at him speculatively, blinking through the tears that were dried up. “She loves you.”
“I know,” he replied. He sure as hell wasn’t spilling his guts about any feelings he had here, in front of Veronica and a security team. Or the vindictive Liann.
“And?”
And…he loved her. She was everything he’d never experienced about home, and family, and love. He would always make sure she was okay, no matter what that took. “And it’s time for you to go. Veronica will take care of anything you need. Just call.”
He paused on his way out to tell Veronica to see to Liann’s needs and get her out of the city.
She glared at him. “I will take care of her? Does ‘taking care of her’ include kicking her ass all the way back to Greasy Spoon or wherever she’s from?”
That wouldn’t help any of them, or he’d have done it himself. He’d dealt with an alcoholic before, hadn’t he? None of this would be her fault unless she got clean again and worked the steps. He put a hand on Veronica’s arm. “I get it, but it won’t change anything now. Get her out of here. That’s the best thing you can do for Justine.”
“But where are you going?” she asked.
“To find Justine. I’m going to make sure she’s all right after everything, and then I’m going to tell her I’m in love with her until she gets it.”
She stared at him, her mouth agape. An absolute first he’d have to remember to savor later. Until then, “Get back to work. I don’t pay you to look at me like that.”
Sawyer’s phone rang as he headed down the hall. Justine had a ‘safe’ place in this building from the very beginning, and that’s where he’d find her. Find her and tell her everything would be okay.
With an exasperated sound, Sawyer tapped the button to answer Larry’s call. “You’ve already heard about the chaos at the studio?”
“What chaos? I’m calling to give you some info.”
“Okay, do that, because I’ve got a lot—”
“What chaos?” Larry repeated.
“I’ll give you an exclusive if you can wait a few hours.” He stepped into an empty corridor and pressed the phone closer to his ear. “For now, info.”
“Well, see, I’ve built up my reputation over the years. When I worked for a tabloid I didn’t have the connections I do now.”
“Oh, my God. What are you doing, asking me out? Spit it out.”
Larry’s laughter rumbled through the earpiece. “Remember I told you I never could trace who sold that Justine Montgomery sex tape?”
“Damn, Larry, I don’t know how she does it. I’m sick of hearing about it. What’s the point?”
“But listen. You know the guy.”
Sawyer stopped pacing the corridor. “Who?”
“The records have been sealed. But I managed to get my hands on an unsealed copy. I—”
“Larry, no shit, if you don’t tell me who the son-of-a-bitch is, I’m going to come to your office and kick the living—”
“Yeah, yeah. Chase Corp. At the time, run by one Travis Chase.”
“I’ll kill him. He set her up.”
“I did not expect you to be this pissed, man. Did you… What happened to ‘don’t shit where you eat?’”
“That’s not what this is. I love her. I’ll call you back in an hour, okay?”
“Damn. Hey, remember, you promised me an exclusive.”
Sawyer hung up, turned on his heel, and headed for the elevator. Savagely, he punched the number that would take him to Travis’s floor.