Page 28 of Nothing to No One

“You’d be surprised how common it is in these situations.”

With a shove, Struan skimmed the folder back to Mieux. “I don’t want her to sign it.”

“Well, she’s not your girlfriend, Stru.” In another pass, the folder came to stop with her again. “This is a formality.”

“How can I sign this then do interviews about our relationship?”

“It’s a balancing act.” Mieux smiled. “Truth is fluid in these situations. People are less interested in the truth than they arethe image.” That didn’t help. “You’ll be coached. We’ll get you the best.”

Invisible weight crushed her chest. “This is a lot.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Struan said. “I’ll talk to him.”

Mieux didn’t have his confidence. “You know this won’t be from Roman.”

“Yeah, but he can stop it.”

“Why would he?” she asked, raising her eyes to his concern.

From the conversation so far, it didn’t sound like Mieux knew the truth of what was really happening. And Roman wasn’t her biggest fan, wasn’t any kind of fan. Struan might think he had sway with his brother. He didn’t. Yeah, he was the only one to speak up against Roman, but his brother did what he wanted regardless.

“I can get you a lawyer,” Mieux offered. “If you want someone to go over it on your behalf. It’ll cost—”

“I’ll pay for it.”

“You don’t get to pay for it, Stru. You’re on the Lowe train, it’s another conflict of interest.”

“Priest’ll pay for it.”

The best friend she’d never seen. What kind of best friend avoided said friend at all times?

On a single nod, Mieux smiled. “That works.”

“He’s got to have a tab with Brooker already, or Breckenridge do, and—”

“He has his own account,” Mieux said then faltered a little. “I mean, I—”

“With Brooker?”

“No. A private account.”

“Oh, yeah?” Struan smirked again, clearly amused. “With little Mieux Penrose? The woman who takes on no regular clients?”

“Ha, yeah, ha, it’s nothing sordid, he had some… personal business. I took care of it for him.”

Her curiosity couldn’t stretch into someone else’s relationship when her own was a hot mess. A real hot mess and a fake relationship, man, she had talent in all the wrong places.

“It’s a conflict of interest for Struan to pay for my lawyer?”

“Yeah, because he works with, and is related to, the other party in your NDA. It could be argued, if it came to it, that the lawyer they paid was biased.”

“Yeah, I get that one. How does it relate to what you said before, a conflict of interest, about the interviews?”

“The show Roman’s on, the one he signed on for, it’s produced by WMC.”

“I don’t understand what that—”

“Whey Media Conglomerates,” Struan answered.

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