Page 29 of Give Me More
Here, on the island, the villas that RJ and his family were staying in were much larger than Grace’s room, but in her room they had privacy. For all intents and purposes, her room was now like his penthouse had been, all except for RJ spending the night. She never asked him why he didn’t. She hated the thought that she was once again allowing fear to take up space in her life.
Her vibrating phone disrupted her thoughts and she rolled over in the bed again, catching herself before she tumbled over the edge. With a shake of her head, she reached for the phone on the nightstand and removed it from the charger. The notification was a text message from Riley.
Truth or dare at 2 p.m. in the café.
Grace groaned and buried her head in the pillow. Did she really want to play truth or dare with Riley and the gang, which was the name Maurice had given the group of four couples? Were she and RJ a couple again? Another groan escaped at the question because she was so confused. She was beginning to believe that was her natural state of being now—at least it had been since setting foot on this island.
Her phone vibrated and chimed in her hand. She startled and then lifted her head from the pillow to stare at the screen. “Dammit.”
She answered it with a bland, “Hi, Eddie.” Eddie’s gravelly voice was the last thing she wanted to hear this morning.
“What’s going on? Is the story almost done? I was thinking of sending Tiege down to get some pictures of the wedding. He says he has a connection that could get him onto the property without any detection,” he rattled off without pause.
She bolted up in the bed. “Absolutely not!” Shaking her head as if she thought he could see her, Grace frowned. “I mean, why would I need Tiege here if I’m just doing interviews?”
Tiege was Veronica’s former stepson, so Grace knew exactly how the guy would get in undetected. Veronica really was planning her exit strategy if she’d told him about the wedding being here this week.
“Don’t try that stunt with me,” he replied. “The only reason I’m sitting on the fact that Riley Gold’s wedding is taking place this week is because this story is a lot bigger.”
“Look, I’m getting a lot of good material. The story is coming along nicely and will be in your inbox early next week.”
The wedding was Saturday, three days away, and her flight out was already booked for early Sunday morning. She planned to give the story one final pass on Monday and send it off to Eddie that afternoon.
“Send me what you’ve got so far. I want to make sure you’re on the right track.”
“Not a chance. That’s not how I work. I’ll send you the complete story when it’s done andnopictures.”
“Do you have any idea how much circulation we’d get if we landed the first and only wedding photos?”
“Do you have any idea how powerful both these families are? You sneak into this venue to get pictures and they’ll come after you. I mean, they’ll go over your head to the owner of the paper and they’ll make his life a living hell as payback. How do you think he’s gonna react when he finds out you’re the one who brought that type of heat to his doorstep?” She was bluffing, sort of.
Grace really had no idea how RJ, his family or Tobias dealt with the media when they overstepped boundaries. That wasn’t a conversation she and RJ ever needed to have, because up until this point she’d represented his family and their business with the utmost respect on the few occasions she’d written about them. Sure, this story was a totally different ball game, and she’d taken a very calculated risk in coming here to do it in the first place. But she did know that after several recent debacles—the blogger who’d printed those designs from King Designs and insinuated Riley had stolen them from Chaz, the reporter who’d revealed Nina and Major’s business connection, and the woman who’d made a fake video depicting Maurice as an absentee dad—the Golds had met their quota of dealing peacefully with the media. Any intrusion into Riley’s wedding wasn’t going to go over well, Grace knew that for certain.
“Look, I’ll meet my deadline. That’s all you need to worry about.”
“You’d better, or you’re through. Not only will I never work with you again, but if I’m ever asked about you—”
“Okay, I get it, Eddie. Like I said, the story will be in your inbox by close of business on Monday.” She didn’t wait for Eddie to say another word, but disconnected the call on her own terms. Having him threaten her when the sun was barely up wasn’t her idea of good morning conversation.
She fell back onto the bed, feeling the urge to toss her phone again. But recalling how that had turned out last time, she simply dropped it onto the mattress and closed her eyes. She was definitely going to have a story for Eddie come Monday morning. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the story she’d pitched to him. Well, not exactly. The new angle she’d told RJ she would take on the story had turned out to be a great call. What she’d written so far was informative and enlightening; it was inspirational and touching. Not surprisingly each of the Gold siblings and Chaz spoke not only highly of Ron and Tobias, but also of what the two companies meant to them, to the people they’d ultimately become. She’d felt motivated just writing it, pressed to take everything her parents had taught her about resilience and courage to be the very best reporter she could be. She didn’t want to toss that aside.
She climbed off the bed, went to the table where her laptop was and opened it. Plopping down into the chair, she waited for it to boot up and clicked on the file with her story draft. After reading over what she had so far, Grace knew she couldn’t change it. Not just because she really liked it, but also because it was exactly what she’d promised RJ she would write. It wasn’t the juicy exposé she’d promised theDaily Gazette. It was a story about how RJ’s family had broken the mold of all fashion houses and become number one all while facing adversity. No, she wasn’t going to change a word, not even if it meant Eddie would probably try to ruin her career.
“I dare you to kiss RJ.” Maurice chuckled heartily after saying those words.
Grace froze, obviously regretting choosing a dare over the truth. RJ didn’t move either, but not for the same reason. He’d come into this game knowing exactly what his siblings would try to do. They’d each been on him about what happened in the past between him and Grace. Riley had been especially emotional, which he totally chalked up to her impending nuptials and new outlook on love.
“I don’t think she’s here by mistake,” she’d said a couple nights ago when they were the last two at the table after dinner.
“She’s not. She’s writing a story about our family, remember?” he’d replied, and Riley had smirked.
“You’re a goof, but you’re not stupid. She could’ve stayed in New York and written that story.”
“We’re all here—what better time to come and interview us?” he’d countered.
“There’s such a thing as a phone. Zoom, Skype, email. Besides those other options, she wasn’t guaranteed an interview with any of us. She had no idea we would agree to this story. Yet she used money from her savings to pay for the room and airfare just to spend two weeks on this island.”
“How do you know she used her savings?” Because of everything Riley had just said, that was the most important part to RJ. Grace hadn’t cared that she didn’t make a lot of money being a reporter. Even when her parents had compared her salary range to that of her sisters’, she’d argued that she made enough to live comfortably and that she was following her passion, doing what she was meant to do. And he’d championed her courage and determination. But the thought of her taking any type of financial hit because of this trip didn’t sit well with him.
