Page 59 of Broken Empire
“I can’t think of anything,” I said in a tremulous voice. “If it was possible, I’d suggest using your family’s news network to get the information out there, but almost everyone in your family is a Schöneberg member, so we’d never be able to make that happen.”
Killian’s eyes widened slightly. “That actually gives me an idea,” he said. “Leah, can you check the Schöneberg membership list for the name Kendall Guilfoyle? Or any Guilfoyles, for that matter.”
Leah turned her attention back to the laptop. “There’s no one with that surname.”
“Good. That means none of them are members.”
“None of who?”
“The Guilfoyle family. They own the HBC network.”
Leah’s face brightened. “Oh,them.They’re one of your family’s biggest media rivals, right?”
“Yup. They’d jump at the chance to watch us go down in flames,” Killian said, cocking a brow.
“So what are you thinking?”
Killian scratched at his jaw. “I think I should call Kendall Guilfoyle. She’s the top exec at HBC right now, so she’s essentially in control of whatever goes to air,” he said. “HBC has a current affairs show that averages five million viewers every night. If we can convince Kendall to set up a prime interview spot for us on that show, we can get the information out to a ton of people all at once. It’ll snowball from there. The whole country will know everything within a couple of days. It’s the old-school way of going viral.”
“Do you really think this Kendall person would be willing to set all of that up for you? Seeing as your families are arch-rivals and all,” Leah said, wrinkling her brow. “She might think you’re trying to play her.”
“It would be the biggest news story of the decade—maybe even the century—and it would destroy my family’s media empire and put the Guilfoyle family on top of the game,” Killian said in a grim tone. “So yeah, I think Kendall would be more than happy to help. If she thinks I might be trying to play her by giving her fake news… well, it’s just a risk she’ll have to take.”
“I guess there’s only one way to find out if she’ll trust you as a source,” Leah said, fishing her phone out of her pocket.
Killian took the phone. Before he could do anything, I brushed my hand against his arm and leaned closer to him. “Are you sure you’re willing to do this?”
He nodded, and a look of steely resolve appeared in his eyes. “The Schöneberg Group took you from me,” he said in a low voice, hands clenched at his sides. “Now I’m taking everything from them.”
19
Killian
“We’re on in ten,Ms. Sinclair.”
Shay nodded at the production assistant who’d just called to her across the room. Then she turned back to face me, eyes flickering with panic. “I feel like I’m about to have a heart attack.”
I squeezed her hand. “You’ll be great. It’s not the first time you’ve been on live TV.”
A tiny smile spread across her face. “It didn’t exactly go well for me last time, did it?” she said, jabbing me in the chest.
“That wasn’t your fault,” I said. I leaned in to stroke her head. The blonde hair was gone now, and her natural brown color was back. She looked great either way, but I preferred her like this—the exact same girl I fell in love with. “You’ll be fine this time. The presenter will do most of the talking for the first few minutes, and he’ll guide you through the rest.”
Shay nodded and took a deep breath. “Yeah. You’re right.”
Before I could say anything else, Kendall Guilfoyle stepped into the room. She was a short redhead with a perpetually-stern expression and a phone that might as well have been surgically attached to her hand at birth.
“Killian,” she said, waving her free hand at me. “Can we talk in private for a second?”
I patted Shay’s hand and whispered ‘good luck’ in her ear before heading over to Kendall. “Thanks again for setting this up on such short notice,” I said. “I can’t even tell you how much I appreciate it.”
“It’s my pleasure. This is going to be the biggest news story since the moon landing,” she said, raising her brows. “To be honest, I thought you were totally full of shit at first, but then I saw everything on that laptop.” She shuddered and moved a little closer. “Anyway, that’s actually part of the reason I wanted to talk to you.”
“Is there a problem?”
“Yes, but we’re airing soon, so I think we’ll beat it.” Kendall paused for a second and lifted her phone. “The thing we were worried about has finally happened.”
“The Schöneberg Group released my Hellfire tape?”
