Page 74 of One Last Shot

I school my face into a neutral expression. “What look?”

“The look you got when I said I initially thought Tom was a total asshole?”

“Oh”—I shrug it off—“nothing. It just made me remember the last guy I dated, who turned out to be the worst when I thought he was one of the good guys.”

“He really was the worst,” Emily says with a wry little laugh.

“Oh no, what happened?” Avery asks, her concern evident in her voice. I can tell she has a big heart, and I hope for her sake that Tom guards it like it deserves to be protected.

“Well, he ended up in jail, so ...” I never tell anyone this story. Emily knows, because she was involved, as were a few other women we used to model with. It’s a well-known story in the industry, but outside of that, the only other person I’ve ever told is Jackson.

“He was our agent,” Emily supplies when I stop talking. “And he was literally stealing from us—creating fake contracts that undersold what the companies we were modeling for were actually paying us so he could pocket the difference. He did this for years, to six of the models he represented. He and Petra happened to be in a relationship, so it was even worse that she was one of the women he was stealing from.”

“Oh, wow,” Avery breathes. “How did you find out?”

“I started to suspect something shady was going on, so I hired a private investigator who wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty.”

“What does that even mean?” Avery asks.

“I needed her to gather evidence, and I didn’t care how she got it. Was there breaking and entering involved? Did she somehow pick her way into his safe? I don’t know, and I don’t care. She got me what I needed.”

“Sounds like an utter badass to me,” Avery smiles.

Alicia was a badass and a saint. Some people come into our lives just when we need them, and Alicia was that person for me. A chance meeting at a party and my fascination with her career choice led us to exchange numbers. I never thought I’d need to hire her, but I was so glad I had her in my contact list when I needed her.

“In a lot of ways,” I tell Avery, “she saved me.”

“You saved yourself, Petra,” Emily insists. “You’re the one who hired her, and when he was prosecuted, you testified against him.”

“You had to testify against your boyfriend in court?” Avery gasps as she turns her head toward me.

“Hell no. He wasn’t my boyfriend anymore at that point,” I tell her. “I cut him loose the minute I had the evidence I needed to turn over to the DA. The worst part was realizing that I’d internalized a lot of things he’d said to me, like that I’d get paid more if I lost a few pounds. He was trying to make it look like I wasn’t earning as much as I deserved by some deficit of my own doing, when really I was being paid fairly and he was just making excuses to cover that he was stealing from me.”

“Wow, Petra. I’m so sorry that happened to you,” Avery says. “And you, too, Emily.”

“It wasn’t as bad for me, for obvious reasons,” Emily tells her. “But this is why Petra generally hates men.”

What Emily doesn’t know—actually, what no one knows—is that Ryan was thelastin a string of men who did me wrong. She sees him as the thousand pound weight that broke the camel’s back, when really he was just the final straw.

“That which doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger,” I quip. That little saying got me through a lot of heartache, and has helped me rebuild my life time and time again.

“I can’t really imagine anyone being stronger than you,” Emily says. “For real.” Her words are supportive, but her smile is sad, so I direct our attention back to the game now that the commercial break is over.

CHAPTER20

ALEKSANDR

“The good news is that you do have options.”

The lawyer that Tom recommended sits behind her desk, across from Petra and me. She’s a severe looking woman in her midthirties, with dark hair that’s pulled tight into a low ponytail and dark magenta lips. “The bad news,” she says, and Petra reaches across the small space between our chairs to grasp my hand, “is that none of them are as easy as what you’re hoping for.”

“What is ourbestoption?” Petra asks.

“Your fastest option for adopting Stella is to stay married. Petra, you can legally adopt her because you’re a citizen, and once you’ve adopted her, Aleksandr can also legally adopt her because you’re married.”

“But I’m moving to LA. We won’t be living together. Stella will be here in New York with Aleksandr, and I’ll be across the country.”

“You could claim residency in New York, using Aleksandr’s address as your permanent residence. Then wherever you live in LA could be a temporary residence you stay in while you’re there filming. You’d have to come back to New York frequently though, at least every other weekend if you want it to be believable that you’re married and want to adopt Stella together. And you’ll need to move your event planning business to New York too, if you’re going to continue with that.”

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