Page 36 of The Last Affair
“Hi,” Desta responded with less enthusiasm as questions pressed in. “How’d you know where I worked?”
“Oh, well, once Maurice said the two of you were coworkers, it was a no-brainer.”
She was right about that, so Desta relaxed a bit. “Well, are you from New York? We didn’t really get a chance to get to know each other during that weekend.” The times they had been together, Kelli had done most of the talking, and truth be told Desta hadn’t gone to the Finger Lakes to make another female friend.
“Oh no. I’m originally from Louisiana, but my parents moved to Miami when I was sixteen. Then I went to college in Delaware and ended up in Virginia.”
None of which explained why she was sitting across from Desta right now. She didn’t know how to say that without being rude.
“But the ski resort was so nice, I decided to stay on another week after the event ended. And then when I saw this while I was on the road, I knew I just had to make a detour and come make sure you were all right.” Kelli had been pulling her phone out of her purse while she talked. Now, she was leaning over to hand the phone to Desta.
For endless moments Desta just stared at the woman wondering what in the world was going on. She didn’t know Kelli well enough for her to be sitting in her office, hadn’t even known her last name until Nessa said it a few minutes ago.
“I find it hard to believe you’d see something on your phone that warranted a detour from Virginia to come here and show me.” Yet, Desta reached for the phone and pressed the Play button at the center of the screen.
It started with music, some slow, dramatic orchestra piece, and then the wordsBreaking Newsscrolled across the screen in bright red letters. She was about to ask what type of foolishness this was when the first picture of Maurice appeared on-screen. He was helping a woman get out of a car, taking her by the hand, then bringing that hand up to his lips to kiss. The music faded, and a woman’s voice she didn’t recognize began talking about the night she’d met Maurice Gold. For the next two minutes and twenty-seven seconds, Desta’s heart slowed to an almost nonexistent beat.
Throughout the video there’d been many pictures of Maurice with other women, but the clincher was the pictures ofherwith Maurice, which had been taken during the ski trip. Her chest constricted, and she struggled to remain calm as the woman speaking on the video continued to narrate. “I’m taking this time to share with the world the type of man Maurice Gold really is. He’s the father of my child, yet he refuses to acknowledge it. That’s the man these women are dating. That’s the man selling clothes to you and smiling at you, mesmerizing you through a camera.”
Desta dropped the phone, and it clamored across her desk. “What the hell is this? And why would you come all the way here to show it to me?”
“I thought you should see it before the rest of the world does.” Kelli picked up the phone and looked down at the screen. “Well, I guess that might be a little late because it’s had half a million views already. Traffic was really tight on the highway today.”
In the next seconds Desta recalled how Kelli always seemed to pop up where she was during the Dear Lover retreat. When Kelli had admitted she knew who Maurice was, Desta had been alarmed. But when she’d tried to tell Maurice they should be careful about being seen together, he’d dismissed her concern. Now she wondered if that’d been a mistake. “Who are you?” she asked before standing.
Kelli smiled sweetly. “I’m your friend, Desta. Looking out for your best interests. You wouldn’t want to get tangled up in another very public love triangle, would you?”
Desta’s heart pounded, her hands fisting at her sides. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said through gritted teeth. But she knew exactly what Kelli was referring to. The question was, how did Kelli know about the press conference in Denver when Gordon was officially cut from the team after his affair with the coach’s wife?
“Come on, now. I know you’re too smart to play dumb with me. I really am just here as your friend. But I see you’re not really welcome to that idea.” Kelli reached for her phone and shrugged. “That’s a pity. Anyway, all you need to know now is that this could’ve been avoided. Maurice could’ve saved you, his family and this company the embarrassment, but he chose not to.” She was walking to the door now, still smiling brightly. “Oh, and when you see him, because I know you’re gonna run right to his office and tell him about this, tell him I said hello!” With a wave of her hand Kelli walked out of the office, and Desta struggled to breathe.
After a few moments of thinking she might actually hyperventilate, she picked up the phone and dialed Maurice’s extension.
“Yeah, I can’t talk right now. I’ll get back to you.”
“What? No. I need to talk to you. It’s serious.”
“Okay. Okay. We’re meeting at my place at six. We can talk then.”
“Maurice, I mean it. We need to talk now.”
“I can’t right now. I’ll see you at my place.”
The sound of him hanging up on her sent Desta into a tailspin. Her hands shook as she tried to put the phone back into its cradle. She swayed as the room seemed to tilt around her, and she finally dropped down into her chair to keep from collapsing. So many thoughts were going through her mind right now, so many questions. All she could do was drop her head in her hands and close her eyes.
What was she doing? Was she really reliving everything that had happened when she was back in Denver?
She wasn’t naïve—she’d known what she was getting into by continuing to date Maurice. His entire job was based on being the public face for this company. He knew reporters and photographers by name. There were always pictures of Maurice with women in the tabloids, so seeing some of them in that video wasn’t what had shocked her. It was the pictures of her and Maurice taken while they were at the ski resort that caused alarm. Despite not trying to keep their relationship a secret, having it revealed that they’d been on a dating app meet ’n’ greet wasn’t something she wanted the public to know.
What had made her entire body tremble was hearing that unknown woman talk about Maurice fathering a child. She’d never imagined him as a father, and the thought of him being a father to someone else’s child sent a quick jab of annoyance and pain through her chest.
Sitting back in her chair now, she let loose a nervous chuckle. She couldn’t make this stuff up: her life might read like a movie script, but it was real. And now she needed to get home and change for this dinner with Maurice, where she’d have to tell him that their secret was not only out, it was exploding for the entire world to see on social media.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“YOUMISSEDTHEDEADLINE?I thought you said your guy was going to have the IP address of the blackmailer this morning and you’d have this wrapped up by the end of the day.” RJ slammed the door to Maurice’s office a few minutes after five that afternoon.
Major was already there standing across from Maurice’s desk, and Chaz was in the far corner talking on his cell phone. RJ was technically late to the party.
