Page 115 of Bourbon Bliss
Scarlett rolled her eyes and groaned.
“What is this?” Andrea asked. “Are you all cops? What do you want from me?”
“I want you to withdraw your lawsuit,” I said.
Andrea stared at me. “My reputation in this industry is everything. He already fucking fired me. That’s bad enough. I have to do this to protect myself.”
I didn’t say a word. Just stared at her, my expression blank.
“What’s this all about?” she asked. “To tell me you found a forum where groupies trade secrets? That’s not illegal. Players want a certain type of woman. I’m simply making those connections happen. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“The way you go about it, there are about a million things wrong with it,” Cassidy said.
“What’s your point?” Andrea said, her expression smug.
“Ms. Wilson, we both know you’re responsible for George’s current predicament. But resolving that isn’t my responsibility. I’ll leave that to the lawyers and accountants. As I stated, I’m here to ask you to drop the civil lawsuit you’ve filed.”
“Or what?” she asked.
I didn’t answer her question. I wasn’t going to threaten her. Not openly. And often in a negotiation, people came up with their own answers to their questions if you gave them a little silence to work with.
“That forum is supposed to be private,” she said. “People say things there that they wouldn’t say in an open setting. You have to keep it in context.”
I waited, letting her stew over the implications of her posts becoming public knowledge. What would happen if she was exposed. I watched her glance up at my uniformed sister. At Scarlett, who looked like she could be law enforcement or an investigator of some kind. The ID card around her neck was a nice touch.
Andrea met my eyes again and I let my gaze drift to the window, to where Bowie stood outside a car, wearing a black jacket and dark sunglasses.
“Who is that outside?” she asked. “Are you going to arrest me? You don’t even have jurisdiction.”
I intentionally refrained from answering her question. “I wonder what would happen if word got out that an athlete’s assistant has been using private information about her client and his teammates for personal profit. That same assistant who’s allegedly involved in her client’s tax evasion case.”
“It’s a good story,” Scarlett said. “Lies, money, sex.”
“So blackmail?” Andrea asked. “Is that it? I drop my lawsuit, and you stay quiet aboutJersey Chaser?”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. Here was where I took the risk, but if anyone had an excellent poker face, it was June Bot. “I’m not going to blackmail you. That’s far too complicated. But you are going to drop your lawsuit against George.”
Her eye twitched again. “Then why even make me drive out here? Why not just go to the press?”
I glanced out the window at Bowie. Gibson walked by and ruffled his hair. I almost winced.Damn it, Gibson, you’re going to ruin it.
By the time Andrea looked out the window, Gibson was gone. Bowie almost looked a little scary, standing out there dressed in black, his chiseled jaw clenched.
Once again, I didn’t say a word. I let Andrea make up a story in her mind about what was happening. Obviously we weren’t going to arrest her, nor was Bowie some sort of federal agent who was ready to take her in. He was a high school vice principal. The worst he could do was give her detention.
But she didn’t know that. And if I waited long enough, let a few more seconds tick by, she might just—
“Is he FBI? Or something worse? What is this, some kind of mafia?” she asked. I still didn’t reply. “Oh my god, fine. I’ll drop the lawsuit. Just let me go. Please.”
“Call your lawyer,” I said.
“Now?”
I nodded.
Her hand trembled as she took out her phone and made a call. I watched with a blank expression while she talked to her lawyer, requesting that they drop the lawsuit against GT Thompson.
“Happy now?” she asked, slipping her phone back in her purse.
