No Stranger to Scandal

by Rachel Bailey

  Another set of footsteps was coming down the corridor.

  As they heard the footsteps turn in to Angelica’s office, Hayden’s hand moved away from Lucy’s skin, and he redid her top button. “Later,” he murmured in her ear.

  She bit down on her lip. Later seemed an eternity away.

  “Thank you for coming down,” Angelica said. With the door open, the words were as clear as if Lucy and Hayden were standing right beside her. Hayden pulled his phone from his pocket and thumbed a button that she assumed started a recording program.

  “What the hell couldn’t wait for tomorrow morning?”

  Lucy jerked as she recognized Graham’s voice, but Hayden held her close against his chest, keeping her immobile. Meeting Angelica in the middle of the night didn’t look good, but Graham worked crazy hours. There would be an innocent explanation.

  “Something I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time,” Angelica said, clearly relishing the words.

  “Well, spit it out. I don’t have all night.” Lucy could imagine Graham checking his watch as he spoke.

  “No?” Angelica asked, her voice silky smooth. “Not even for your daughter?”

  “What the hell—” Silence filled the air as strongly as the voices had. “Are you telling me...?”

  Hayden tipped Lucy’s chin up, a question in his eyes, but she shrugged tight shoulders. She didn’t know any more than he did, but whatever it was, she didn’t like the sound of it.

  “Mom always said I had your chin.” Angelica’s voice was casual, as if she was chatting in a café about the color of her nails. “Surely you’ve noticed that before?”

  “Madeline?”

  “Madeline,” Angelica said, chuckling. “Now there’s a blast from the past. I haven’t used that name in a long time.”

  “Five years you’ve worked here. Five years without mentioning a thing. Why didn’t you tell me it was you?” Graham demanded.

  “And give you the chance to reject me a second time?”

  “I did not reject you! I paid child support. I paid your tuition. I made sure you had everything you needed.”

  Nausea filled Lucy’s stomach, threatening to rise. The only thing keeping her together was Hayden’s soothing hand stroking her hair. Angelica was Graham’s daughter? They were stepsisters? No wonder Angelica had always hated her—Lucy had Graham’s love, affection and public acknowledgment.

  “Oh, yes, I had everything,” Angelica said. “Except for that small matter of a father. Seems you were saving up all that fatherly affection for your precious Lucy.”

  Hayden held her more firmly against him. A part of her felt sympathy for Angelica—assuming her story was true—but still, she desperately wanted to run into that office and save Graham from the poison inside his so-called daughter. No matter what he’d done, Graham was worth a hundred Angelicas.

  “This has nothing to do with Lucy,” Graham growled.

  “You’re right,” Angelica said brightly. “It’s all about you. In fact, you’re the whole reason I’m here at ANS.”

  “What are you talking about? Of course you’re here because of me—I headhunted you from NCN.”

  “I’ve heard you’re having some trouble with the congressional hearings. You know, I don’t think arresting Brandon Ames and Troy Hall is enough to appease them. They’re after the mastermind.”

  There was a beat of silence, then Graham’s voice was incredulous. “It was you.”

  Angelica chuckled again. “There’s no evidence for that theory.”

  “You manipulated Ames and Hall. Brought out the worst in them.”

  “I think you have me confused with someone else. But whoever it was wouldn’t have had any trouble bringing out the worst in those two sniveling hacks.”

  “And Marnie? You’re the one who brought her in, as well.”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised if she was involved,” Angelica said, her tone clearly saying she knew Marnie was. “She’s so desperate to make her mark. To shoot to the top.”

  “And you manipulated that to get her to bring the scheme to me for my approval.”

  “Not me. She must have done that all on her own.”

  Graham let out a sigh that sounded as if it came from the bottom of his soul. “Look, I don’t want to talk about all that rubbish. Not when I’ve just found you again.”

  “And you were so obviously desperate to find me,” Angelica said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

  “Maybe not at first. When your mother told me she was pregnant, it threw me. I wasn’t expecting that.”

  “And then there were sixteen years of you still being thrown?”

  “I’m sorry,” he said gruffly. “But at least I’m not like our jerk of a president, who completely abandoned his baby, pretending she didn’t exist. I paid child support. Paid for everything you needed.”

  “Paid?” Her voice turned malicious. “Oh, you’re paying, all right. Good luck with that.”

  “Angelica—” Graham said, clearly confused, but he was cut off.

  “Goodbye, Daddy dear.” The staccato tap-tap of Angelica’s heels sounded as she headed down the hallway.

  Lucy flung herself from Hayden’s arms, out from under the desk, around the partition and into Angelica’s office, where Graham was standing as if struck by lightning. He looked up and his face drained of its last remnants of color. She stopped a few feet from him, not sure what to say now that she was here. They stood in silence, not even the sounds of other workers to disguise the emptiness that now stretched between them.

  Finally Graham slumped back to sit on Angelica’s desk. “So you heard.”

  “I heard,” she said softly, everything inside her breaking apart.

  “Lucy, I’m sorry. Of everyone who’s been hurt or will be hurt through this mess, I’m most sorry about you.” He looked down at his shoes. “I love you more than anyone on earth.”

  Part of her wanted to hug him and tell him it would be okay, but she’d be lying. And she couldn’t make her feet take those last few steps to his side. “You knew,” she said. “All this time I’ve been defending you, believing in you, and you’ve been authorizing Angelica’s corrupt scheme.”

  He recoiled from the accusation, but didn’t meet her eyes. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “How about you start by saying you’re sorry to Ariella Winthrop for letting her find out about her father’s identity live on national television?”

  He waved a wrist in the air. “That was an unfortunate side effect.”

  Her stomach dipped as she realized how little remorse he had. “Was it unfortunate that Ted Morrow had his name dragged through the mud, too?”

  “No,” he said, his jaw jutting.

  She’d heard him rant about the president before, about everything from his policies, to his speeches, to how arrogant he’d been back when they went to school together, but she’d never paid much attention. This time she took him seriously, wanted to understand. “You hate him that much?”

  “The truth of the matter is,” he said, looking out the dark window, “I’ve been in love twice in my life. Once was your mother. The other was Darla Sanders, back in college. I thought she loved me, too, that we had a future, but one look from Ted Morrow and she left me without a backward glance. The bastard didn’t even marry her.”

  She opened her mouth and closed it again, unable to believe what she’d heard. “All this has been over a thirty-year-old grudge?”

  “Most of it was about good news broadcasting,” he said, sounding more like his old self. “People have a right to know about the man who acts on their behalf as their president.”

  She planted her hands on her hips. “People also have a right to expect that their laws will be followed, no matter whose privacy is involved.”

  One side of his mouth hitched up. “You’re your mother’s daughter, Lucy. I’m proud of that.”

  The warm glow she would normally have felt at such a comment couldn’t break through the tumult o
f other emotions filling her body to the bursting point. She rubbed her temples, trying to keep herself from falling into pieces on the floor of Angelica’s office. There would be time enough for falling apart later, after she had some answers.

  “And Angelica?” she asked. “Whose daughter is she?”

  He heaved out a sigh. “She was raised by her mother, but it seems she’s ended up with my ruthlessness anyway.”

  Hayden stepped into the room and all the breath left Lucy’s body. She’d forgotten he was outside the door, listening to everything she and Graham said. She ran the conversation back through her mind, praying she hadn’t led Graham deeper into trouble.

  “What the hell is he doing here?” Graham boomed.

  Hayden drove his hands in his pockets, a picture of immovability. “I came with Lucy.”

  Graham turned to Lucy, his jaw slack. “You brought him here?”

  She looked up at Hayden, unsure how much she was allowed to divulge. He gave her a resigned shrug, followed by a nod. She opened her mouth, but now that she had permission, she didn’t know what to say. Couldn’t think of how to explain. Hayden nodded again, encouraging her.

  She turned back to her stepfather. “Hayden suspected you and Angelica were involved in the illegal hackings. I assured him you weren’t and I was helping him so I could clear your name.”

  “By eavesdropping on me?” Graham asked, looking from one to the other, outraged.

  Unused to being the target of her stepfather’s displeasure, Lucy flinched. Then she collected herself. He might have dug his own grave—she had no illusions now about that—but this would still be hard on him. And it was only going to get worse. She could be tolerant of his emotional reactions under stress—he’d certainly cut her some slack during her attempts at rebellion as a teenager.

  “Graham,” she said gently, “we had no idea you’d be in Angelica’s office.”

  Understanding dawned in his eyes. “You were after her.”

  Hayden nodded. “This time, yes.”

  “I guess you heard the conversation, too?” It was a question, but Graham already seemed resigned to the inevitability of the answer.

  “I did,” Hayden said, his face neutral.

  Graham narrowed his eyes. “Did you get enough on us?”

  “On you, yes. Angelica didn’t actually admit to anything.” Hayden picked up a glass paperweight from Angelica’s desk, looked it over and replaced it, timing the pause it created like the pro he was. “You know, it would help your case if you cooperated about her role in the hacking.”

  Graham groaned, then covered his eyes with a thick hand. “I can’t do that. She was right—I’ve failed her in almost every way a father could.” He dropped his hand and met Hayden’s gaze steadily. “The only thing I can do for her now is protect her in this.”

  “It won’t be enough to save her,” Hayden warned.

  “We’ll see.” Graham let out a slow lungful of air. “So what happens now?”

  “You, Marnie and Angelica will be called to testify before the congressional committee. They’ll have my notes, so they’ll be able to ask the right questions.”

  “I’ll make you a deal, Black,” he said gruffly. “I’ll confess to everything I’ve done if you’ll keep Angelica’s—and Madeline’s—name out of it.”

  Hayden rocked back on his heels as he considered, then nodded and thrust his hands back into his pockets. “I don’t have the authority to make that deal, but I’ll take it to the people who do, and see what they say.”

  “I appreciate it.” Graham scrubbed the pads of his fingers over his face and Lucy could almost see him growing smaller. “What’s next after I testify?”

  Hayden didn’t blink. “There will likely be a jail term, and you’ll have to sell ANS. The regulators won’t allow you to keep ownership of a broadcast network once you plead guilty to the crimes you’ve committed.”

  “No,” Lucy said, refusing to consider jail as an option.

  “Lucy.” Graham sounded heartbreakingly weary. “Sweetheart, it might be unavoidable once I testify.”

  “No,” she said again and turned to Hayden. “If a deal can be made to protect Angelica, then a deal can be made to protect Graham.”

  “It’s not the same thing,” Hayden said. “There’s nothing to bargain with for Graham’s freedom. What would you have me do?”

  “I don’t know—as you’ve said several times, this is your area of specialty.” She reached for Hayden’s hands and interlaced their fingers, bringing them to rest over her heart. “You can save him. He’s the only family I have. Please don’t take him.”

  “Lucy, I’m sorry,” he said, his voice strained. “There’s nothing I can do.”

  Damn him, he even had the gall to look torn, despite this being the outcome he’d wanted from the beginning—he’d always wanted Graham’s conviction more than any other. Of course he wouldn’t help simply because the woman he’d been having a fling with asked him to.

  She dropped his hands, straightened her spine and focused on the most important thing. “Can he at least go home?”

  Hayden cleared his throat. “Yes, but he’ll be called to appear before the congressional-committee hearing, probably in a couple of days.” He turned to Graham, expression stern. “You won’t leave town, will you?”

  “Of course he won’t,” Lucy snapped, moving beside her stepfather as he sat on the desk, providing a united front. “Come on, Graham. I’m taking you home.”

  Graham’s shoulders were rounded with defeat and when he looked up at her, his eyes were as bleak as a winter’s night. “Rosie’s up in my office.”

  “Hayden, can I trust that you’ll see yourself out of the building without stopping anywhere you shouldn’t?” Her voice had an edge of contempt that she hadn’t intended, but it was there anyway.

  A confused line appeared on Hayden’s forehead. “Sure.”

  “Then I’ll say goodbye.” She said the words quickly—like ripping a bandage off, it would surely hurt less if it happened fast. “We won’t be running our exposé now, so you’re in the clear. And you finally have the head you wanted on a platter. I guess we’re finished with what we’ve been working on together.”

  He looked at her for a long moment. “I guess we are,” he said and turned on his heel. She watched him walk to the elevator from Angelica’s office door—he didn’t glance backward once.

  With every step he took, something deep inside her pulled, as if it were attached to him and was being stretched to breaking point. Their rules had made it clear that what they had would only last so long. Both of them had wanted it that way. Catching Graham meant their time was up. But when Hayden stepped inside the elevator, whatever had been inside her was now gone, leaving her empty. Hollow. Gouged out.

  She closed her eyes against the emotion stinging them and turned back to Graham. She had a job to do—Graham needed her. She linked her elbow in his and pulled him to his feet. “Let’s go get Rosebud and go home.”

  “Lucy,” he said, letting her see emotion in his eyes without shying away from it for the first time since she’d known him. “I really am sorry.”

  “I know, Graham. It’s okay.” But her heart was dying inside. The only two people she loved in the world were going to leave her. One for—in all probability—jail, and the other for his life in New York.

  She’d just lied to Graham, because nothing was okay. And she couldn’t see things being okay again.

  Eleven

  Sitting on a kitchen stool in her pajamas as the sun peeked over the horizon, Lucy watched the early morning news, a steaming mug of coffee between her hands. It was blanket coverage of Graham’s testimony yesterday at the congressional committee’s hearing. She pointed the remote at the TV and flicked to NCN, where they were replaying yesterday’s footage of Graham being taken into custody. He’d also been ordered by the Federal Communications Commission to sell ANS, or else the network would lose its license. What they didn’t know yet was that L
iam Crowe, a self-made media mogul, had already made an offer to buy ANS—that would be announced later today.

  They were also reporting that Marnie Salloway would be testifying in a few hours, since Graham’s testimony had been that she’d been the one who’d kept him in the loop about the hacking and brought new developments to him to get approval. She was expected to be charged by week’s end. As Lucy had expected, Graham hadn’t mentioned Angelica once, and hadn’t been questioned about her. The prosecutors and congressional committee had taken the deal Graham had offered, including keeping his relationship with Angelica private, which meant the media hadn’t picked up on the story...yet.

  Lucy blinked away tears for Graham. She’d stayed with him the night she and Hayden had overheard his conversation with Angelica, the night her life had fallen apart. She’d taken him to his place and slept in a spare room. Or pretended to sleep—she’d barely had more than an hour’s sleep at a time since then. He’d been taken into custody yesterday afternoon and she’d brought Rosie back here. She’d fallen asleep for just over an hour at about three in the morning, and now she was wide-awake again.

  She couldn’t stop thinking about Graham’s miserable future, about his involvement in the illegal phone hacking, about him being Angelica’s father. It was almost too much to comprehend, as if everything she’d ever believed was wrong.

  And when she hadn’t been thinking about Graham, her mind stubbornly turned to the one subject she’d been fighting to avoid.

  Hayden.

  Her eyes drifted closed and she saw his face, his smoldering coffee-brown eyes, his darkened jaw needing a shave at the end of the day. Her chest ripped open, painfully exposing her vulnerable heart. She had no idea how long she’d been denying it, but it was clear now—she loved him. And she’d never been more miserable in her life. Wasn’t love supposed to be uplifting?