Page 113 of Snapshot

“And a homewrecker,” Spencer adds, then dramatically coughs into her fist. “Sorry. Subtlety is not my strong suit.”

“His wife cheated first,” Kat mumbles. “He’s been unhappy for a long time.”

“Kat, I’m really not interested in your sob story. Or any more nudes of you, for that matter. What did you want to talk about? And what are you trying to insinuate about Denny?” I ask in a hurry.

“She’s not a good person, Lennox.”

“And you are? There are only two people in Miami I trust. My husband and the young woman next to me who looks like she wants to clock you. I’m tired of all the manipulative games. I don’t understand why everyone I encounter seems to have a vendetta against me.”

She breathes out heavily. “Which is why I wanted to warn you about the article that’s being published next week. I did my best to convince my boss it wasn’t a good story idea, but she’s already hooked.”

“What article?” Spencer asks.

Kat is tapping on her phone again, pulling up an email. She swivels her phone around, and I see the headline:

A LEGACY IN SHAMBLES.

Dottie Hessler, the devil in disguise. How she stole a family just for her grandson to run the Hessler name straight into the ground.

My stomach sinks as bile bubbles up in my throat. I’m breathless for a while as the sickening realization washes over me. “Kat…you can’t publish this. It’ll crush him. Dex loved his grandma more than anyone in the world. If he finds out his entire life has been a lie…”

“I have no choice,” Kat replies. “If I don’t release the article, Denise is going to put my pictures all over the internet. I have to protect myself, Lennox. I’m sorry. I don’t even know where Denise got the tip-off to concoct a story like this.”

Me.Me and my stupid, big mouth. I clasp my hand over my heart, feeling the heavy thudding. “Please don’t do this,” I plead to Kat, clasping my hands together.

“It’s already done,” she says. “I’m just trying to warn you.”

“You know something?” Spencer asks, her eyes narrowed at Kat. “You are exactly what’s wrong with the world. You run your mouth, never thinking of the ripple effect of your bullshit. Families are breaking apart, kids are hurting themselves, people have become angry and reclusive all because of thisgarbage.You use humiliation as entertainment and never stop to think how badly you’re hurting people. You’re a poisonous sludge. I hope your nudes flood the internet one day. A little taste of your own medicine. Then let’s see if you can let it slide right off your back like it’sno big deal.”

Spencer’s eyes are watering. Her rant is clearly personally motivated. There’s a story there, but right now, I don’t have time to press. I think I just ruined my husband’s life. I have no idea what the implications are if Dex isn’t technically a Hessler.Can they take everything away from him?

“Spencer, let’s go,” I say. “I need to call Dex. He needs to hear all of this from me.” We both stand, scooting out our chairs with loud screeches against the wooden floor. Kat’s face is buried in her hands, and for the briefest moment, I feel bad for her.

I let Spencer get a few paces in front of me, then I double back to address Kat once more. “You know, secrets tend to ruin lives. I’m about to come clean. So should you. Then maybe you can go back to being a journalist who matters.” I shrug. “Something to think about. And anyway, the world has a short attention span, right?”

Her eyes glued to the table, she nods. “I’ll think about it.”

32

Dex

Lennox

Baby, can we please talk? I keep calling and it’s going to voicemail.

It’s really important. Not exaggerating.

Please call me. Please, please call me as soon as you get this.

Shit.How long have I been tied up on the phone? I missed all of Lennox’s messages. Since the moment disaster hit, I’ve been in crisis mode. I ignored all notifications, my sole mission getting the entire leadership team into one room to figure out this Royal Bahamas explosion that just went off.

Richard Spellman is an arrogant, boisterous son of a bitch, far more concerned with his status than the well-being of his company. I was hardly surprised that he rejected my counteroffer. The major issue is that early this morning, Royal Bahamas released a press statement announcing new investors who had full faith in their new endeavor, ‘Once in a Lifetime’ cruises to host a one-week feature of celebrity musicians. Theirfirst headliner…Shaylin, and a quarter of their proceeds were being donated to her favorite charity, Guardian.

And now I have to get to the bottom of this because there’s a rat on my team. A rat that just cost me nearly a billion dollars and tens of thousands of people their jobs.

I’ve never been this livid before about work. Every cell in my body is on fire, inflamed with putrid hate. All I’ve done is break my back for this company. Years of education prepared me for this position—all the grunt work I did earning my stripes, and now, even after losing my grandma, going as far as getting married in a hurry just to secure the company’s future. My family has been nothing but generous and forgiving, and yet…there’s still an ungrateful fucking weasel on the team.

This is why Grandpa had very few friends. “Kindness is a distraction,” he’d always tell me. Be a leader who makes no exceptions. Better to be respected and feared than liked.

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