Page 113 of The Oscar Escape
The knot in her stomach tightened. “What do I need to know?”
Don shared a pensive look with Malik.
“The facts are the facts, Dom,” Malik said, stone-faced.
“Just tell me,” she pleaded.
Her manager nodded. “Malik and his team uncovered who sent the kidnapping threats. The first two came from a cell phone belonging to—”
She waved her hand and stopped him. “Let me guess. Lisa Sheehan.”
The pouty panty lady stomped her foot like a toddler. “You said they couldn’t trace my phone if we called next to a cell tower. You promised that there’d be too much phone static.”
“That’s what I read online,” Justin exclaimed.
Aria glared at her ex. “Why would you call in kidnapping threats?”
“The first time was a joke, but it kept you from going out. We did it again because it allowed me to—”
“Cheat on me,” she supplied. “Wow, Justin, you know you could have simply broken up with me.”
He looked away. “I wasn’t sure how that would look to my fans.”
“We also learned that Justin was the insider who provided the scathing review of your album,” Malik added.
And the blows kept coming.
She scowled at the boy band bastard. “Why would you do that?”
He shrugged. “Same reason I made the calls. I knew it would light a fire under you to work harder and—”
Aria seethed. “Give you more time to chase tail.”
The man kicked a pebble down the trail. “And bolster publicity. People love to read about celebrities getting knocked down a peg.”
Yes, Justin was a grade A jerk, but she wasn’t completely innocent. She’d kept up her relationship with him for the same reason. Still, she was working, not cheating.
“And the third kidnapping threat?” she pressed. “Is there another Panty Princess out there banging my ex?”
The color drained from Dom’s face. He turned to Oscar. “We’re friends. I know you must have had your reasons, but . . .” The man trailed off.
Aria studied her husband as ice crystallized in her veins. “It was you?”
“I can explain.” Oscar took her hand, but she pulled away.
“Stop talking,” she bit out, schooling her features. “I want to hear what Malik has to say. Tell me everything.”
Malik handed her his cell. “Boston PD found a phone in a trash can near the club. A surveillance camera from a nearby business picked up footage of the alley.”
She swiped through a series of grainy images showing a man in a hoodie dropping a cell phone into a garbage bin. She returned the phone to Malik and zeroed in on Oscar. “Why?”
He cupped her face in his hands. “Because I knew what was happening to you.”
Her world was spinning, spiraling out of control.
“How did you even know to call in a kidnapping threat?”
“I’d followed your tour through the northeast. I overheard two of your security guards mention there had been two threats. I thought a third might—”
