Mariel glanced at Lina. “Lauren?”
“Another snake in the grass,” Lina replied. “Looks like there were two.”
“We’ll discuss that later,” Mariel said, turning back to Zoe. “For now there’s the issue of Miss Matheson’s future to discuss.”
“It wasn’t me! I swear it!” Zoe cried.
Mariel leveled her with a glance. “Save the tearful protests, Zoe. Consider your termination immediate.”
“But—”
“This is just social,” Chase said. “You can’t fire us for a personal relationship.”
“Maybe,” Alex spoke into the chaos. “Chase can prove it by giving me that flash drive I just saw him pocket.”
Chase turned his head to glare at him. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m just buying a girl a drink and you’re storming in here with all these bullshit accusations—”
Without another word, Alex leaned down and fisted the front of Chase’s neatly pressed blue Oxford shirt, hauling him halfway to his feet.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
While Chase shoved ineffectually at Alex’s shoulders, Alex reached his free hand into the pocket of Chase’s shirt, retrieving a flash drive. He released Chase, letting him fall heavily back into his chair.
He held the flash drive up to Zoe. “I suspect we’ll find the outlines of all the Daily Post’s latest stories on this? Am I right?”
Zoe looked uneasily from Mariel to Jess to Lina and back again. “Mariel—”
Mariel held up a hand to cut her off. “I really don’t want to hear the pathetic explanation you’re about to offer up. I hope whatever Mr. Bennett was able to offer you for this was worth it.”
“But—”
“Zoe,” Mariel said. Her voice was deceptively soft, like a sharpened steel blade hiding under a sheer silk scarf. “You know my position in this business as well as I do. I am not someone you want to cross. You’ve proved to be a thief and a liar. If I were you, I’d retool my resume for something outside of journalism. I have a very long reach.”
“But that’s not fair!”
Jess had been determined to stay out of it, but her patience finally snapped. “What’s not fair is that you had every advantage imaginable...money, education, family connections, and a great job at a fantastic paper...and you still chose to cheat your way up instead of earning it on your own merit. All that bullshit about taking care of each other in a tough business, when the whole time, you were stealing from all of us.”
Zoe turned to Jess, her wide-eyed innocent expression dropping away in a flash. “Look, why don’t you and Lina spare me your heartwarming stories about scrappy determination? You’re just as ambitious as I am and you know it. Yes, it is a tough business, and I did what I had to do to get ahead. You’d have done the same.”
Jess shook her head in bafflement. Who was this person? How had she fooled them all? “No, I wouldn’t betray a friend. Not for any job. And I thought that’s what you were.”
“You’re pathetic,” Lina hissed. “He must have offered you a hell of a job, because I know he’s not that good in bed.”
“You should probably also know,” Alex interjected, “that you weren’t the only one.”
Zoe’s eyes flew to Chase. “What’s he talking about?”
“You want to tell her about your arrangement with reporters from the New York Post and the Daily News, Chase, or should I? Judging from the nature of your conversations with them, there was more being exchanged than stories.”
Despite her career currently in flames around her, Zoe lashed out at Chase. “You lying piece of shit!”
Mariel didn’t wait to see how the next chapter of the Zoe and Chase scandal unfolded. She turned to face Jess. “Jessica, we should talk.”
“There’s more,” Lina said.
Mariel sighed wearily. “Right. You mentioned something about Lauren. I believe I need a drink for this one.”
Jess and Lina began to follow her downstairs, but Jess could feel Alex behind her, his presence a magnet holding her in place. She turned back to him.
All she wanted was to go to him, to start putting this to rights, but she couldn’t, at least, not yet. She and Lina owed Mariel the full story and he and his father had their own mopping up to do with Chase. This wasn’t over quite yet.
But she couldn’t leave him without a word. “Thank you, Alex. Thank you for doing this for me.”
He nodded briefly in acknowledgment but his frozen expression, his flat eyes, gave nothing away. Not a flash of hope, not a spark of happiness.
Jess felt chilled to the bone as she turned to follow Lina downstairs.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Downstairs, Mariel turned to Jess and Lina. “Okay, fill me in on the Lauren piece of this puzzle.”
“Well,” Lina began. “We thought it was the same situation. We were as surprised as you to see Zoe up there.”
“You thought Lauren was stealing the stories? Why?”
Lina briefly filled her in about the evidence Griffin had uncovered linking Lauren to the incriminating tweet.
“She’s always had a grudge against Jess,” Lina concluded. “I thought the tweet was just her way of taking a swipe at her on the way out the door, but now Zoe’s turned out to be the thief, so—”
“I fired Lauren today,” Mariel interjected.
Jess and Lina exchanged a glance. “You did?”
“It was based on her substandard job performance, but I wish I’d known about this, too. Ladies, I believe I owe you a drink. And probably dinner. And possibly promotions. But let’s start with the drinks.”
Mariel corralled the bartender with one commanding glance. “Vodka martini, dirty, two olives. Strong enough to stand up and walk out of here on its own. Ladies?”
When the drinks were delivered—Mariel’s martini and beers for Jess and Lina—Mariel took a long, slow sip of hers and carefully set it down. She braced her palms on the bar and inhaled deeply. “I owe you a profound apology, Jess. I can’t tell you how sorry I am for all this.”
“It’s okay.”
Mariel shook her head angrily. “After spending so many years as a reporter, I pride myself on my ability to suss out a person. Lauren was a bad hire. Sometimes it happens, no matter how carefully you vet. But Zoe... I missed the clues.”
“Trust me, there weren’t any,” Jess assured her. “We’ve been close with her since we started and neither of us ever suspected.”
“But I let Lauren guide my opinion on this Twitter thing, despite my misgivings about her. And looking back, she was the first to suggest you might be behind the thefts. She planted the seed.”
“Come to think of it,” Lina said. “She probably truly thought it was Jess. She already hated her, and she was suspicious of Jess’s relationship with Alex. She just got it wrong.”
“But you saw me talking to Alex yourself, Mariel,” Jess added. “And I covered up my relationship with him, which didn’t help. I’m sorry. Looking at the whole thing objectively, I can see it would have been easy to believe. It looked like I was lying about something.”
“I’m guessing there’s more to Zoe’s computer contractor story, isn’t there?”
Jess nodded. “That was my story. Zoe said she could land me an interview with the agency head in Albany, but afterward, she said he’d only agree to talk to her, so you told her she was the one who had to write it up.”
Mariel closed her eyes and angrily exhaled. “She never mentioned your involvement. She’s a talented writer. I can’t believe she decided to stoop so low.”
“Well, Chase is sleeping with her. That might have been a factor, too.” Mariel glanced up and Jess shrugged. “We’ve known Chase since college. He sleeps with everybody.”
“Truth,” Lina murmured.
Mariel’s
elegantly arched eyebrows hiked up. “Well. Tonight has just been full of surprises. It goes without saying that you have your job back, Jess, along with my sincere apologies.”
“Thank you. Honestly, the worst part of all of this was knowing you thought so poorly of me. You’ve been such a...” Earlier, she’d been running on adrenaline. Now, she felt shaky with nerves as it all began to hit home. “You’ve been a role model for me my whole life. It was awful, knowing that you thought I’d do something like that.”
Mariel, who always seemed so polished, so ruthlessly controlled, momentarily paled. The fine skin around her eyes crinkled as she winced, as if in pain. “I should have known better. I’ve known you since you were a girl. I should have trusted that.”
Jess wasn’t sure she could speak without crying, swallowing hard around the painful lump in her throat. “I’m glad you believe me now,” she finally choked out.
Mariel reached out, laying a hand on her arm. “I won’t doubt your integrity and dedication again. I promise you that.”
“Thank you.”
“Ladies!” Dan Drake was striding across the bar toward them, arms outspread, white smile dazzling. “What an interesting night this has turned out to be.”
“To put it mildly,” Mariel said.
“Mariel, I believe I lured you here with the promise of a drink. At this point, I think I may owe you more than one. Shall we?” He gestured expansively toward the sparsely populated back of the bar.
“You know, Dan, after this night, I think I just might let you buy me those drinks.” She scooped up her half-empty martini glass. “And you can start with buying this round. Jess? I’ll see you at the paper tomorrow?”
For the first time all night, Jess felt able to smile. “You will. I can’t wait to be back.”
“And you’ll be coming back with a killer story ready to go. Get me a draft about all of this by next Friday.”
“Oh.” It hadn’t even occurred to her that what happened might be newsworthy. But actually, it was a huge story. A juicy story. And Mariel had just tossed it right into her lap.
“Sure thing. Absolutely. And thank you. Again.”
“Thank you, for coming back. I wouldn’t have blamed you if you didn’t.” Mariel turned to Lina. “Lina, ClickNews broke your story about Assemblyman Stevens, and we can’t undo that. But the story isn’t over. There’s going to be fallout in the construction industry. Projects under new scrutiny. State criminal charges. A trial.”
Lina nodded in confusion.
“I want you to cover it, Lina. Let’s make it a featured series.”
Lina’s eyes went wide. “Are you sure? I mean, thank you. Thank you so much, Mariel.”
“You’re a good reporter. I was impressed with the way your story had been coming together, and you’ve already done the background on this. I’m looking forward to seeing your coverage of the rest of it. Dan? I’m ready for that drink now.” She turned and let Dan escort her to the back of the bar.
“Well, we got you your job back and we both have great stories to work on,” Lina said, tapping her glass against Jess’s. “I’d say that was a huge success.”
Jess forced a smile and sipped her beer. It was all good news—fantastic news—but she couldn’t relax and enjoy any of it until she’d dealt with the most important thing—Alex.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Dan Drake might have spent the past twenty years ensconced in a penthouse office, leaving the nitty-gritty of running his businesses to others, but that didn’t mean he’d lost his edge, as Chase was quickly finding out. He hadn’t gotten where he was in life by going soft on shitheads, and right now, Alex was very much enjoying watching his father verbally strip the hide off his one-time best friend. When Dan had said his fill, he turned, smiling at Alex like nothing had happened.
“Good work, son. I’ll leave you to take out the trash. There’s an aggrieved woman downstairs who needs a drink.”
Alex watched his father depart in silence before turning back to face Chase. Zoe had slipped away while Dan was tearing Chase apart, and now he was sitting with his arm casually draped over the back of his chair, smug expression firmly back in place. The bastard didn’t even look sorry. Alex knew him well enough to know he was probably frantically scrambling through his options in his mind right now, but Chase wasn’t the type to let even a hint of self-doubt appear on the surface.
“You’re lucky we’re still inside,” Alex said conversationally. “Or you’d be dealing with my fist in your fucking face right now.”
“Don’t hold back, bro. Let me have it.”
All day long, Alex had been channeling his rage into controlled action, but now that the goal had been achieved, he felt the fragile tether inside snap. His hand shot out, grasping Chase by his shirt, jerking him to his feet so rapidly, his chair fell over, clattering on the floor. The few patrons still seated in the balcony had long since given up attempting to have their own conversations. They were avidly observing the drama going down in the corner like it was a Jerry Springer episode. Some latent instinct warned Alex that he and his father had undoubtedly been identified and that cell phone videos of tonight’s events would probably be all over social media by morning.
Oh, well. Too late to keep it quiet, so he might as well give them a really good show.
“Let you have it?” he snarled, his face just inches from Chase’s. “With pleasure.”
“You don’t have the guts,” Chase snapped, that maddening, lazy grin finally wiped off his face. “Not about this or anything else in your blessed fucking life.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Why do you think I did it?”
“Because you’re a lazy, greedy motherfucker without a shred of loyalty.”
“You’d like to believe that, wouldn’t you? But it wasn’t about greed. It was about ambition.”
“Obviously.”
“You think my goal was running that crap news department at that crap website?”
Scowling, Alex finally released his hold on Chase and shoved him away. “Then why? What was the point of all this?”
“I was going to turn that department around and show your dad what real ambition looks like. Not this noble, suffering, brave face you wear all the time.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Poor Alex Drake,” Chase sneered contemptuously. “It must be so hard to have your father’s media empire dumped in your lap when you haven’t done a damned thing to earn it. When you don’t even want it.”
Alex’s breath left him in a rush, like he’d been gut-punched. “You’re full of shit.” The words were still full of anger, even if his voice wasn’t.
“Am I? I’ve known you since we were twelve, Alex. You think I can’t tell you hate every second of your existence?”
As furious as he still was, a tiny voice in his head was whispering that Chase was right. Chase had seen the truth he’d tried so hard to hide from everyone. “And this is how you repay that friendship.”
“Hey, I just got tired of watching you drag around the opportunity of a lifetime like it was your own personal cross to bear.”
“So you thought you’d cheat your way to the top in my place?”
“Eventually your father’s going to have to face the fact that he backed the wrong horse with you. And when that day came, I planned to be right there, ready to step up. You might not want to be the heir to Drake Media, but I have no problem with it.”
He didn’t know what propelled him forward—rage or terror. His hands came up, shoving Chase hard, knocking him back into the wall. “You’re never going to set one filthy hand on Dad’s company.”
“Maybe not anymore,” Chase conceded. “Which means he’s stuck with you. How long before you run it all into the ground?”
“Shut up,” he bit out through clench
ed teeth. But now his anger had two targets—Chase and himself. Because he couldn’t deny what Chase was saying. He hated Drake Media. He didn’t want it. Did that mean he was doomed to ruin it, as Chase alleged? If he thought being trapped in a life he didn’t want was bad, he hadn’t factored in the possibility of failing at it—ruining everything his father had built. That would be even worse.
He fell back a step, his taste for blood deserting him. “Drake Media is mine to worry about. You’re going to be busy picking up the pieces of your career. You’ll never work in journalism again.”
Chase laughed softly as he straightened his shirt and ran a hand through his hair. “You think I give a shit about being a journalist? I never did. I’ll land on my feet. Drake Media hasn’t seen the last of me, but next time it’ll be because I’m leaving your company in the dust.”
Alex didn’t doubt Chase’s assertion that he’d find some way out of this. He always did. He was an opportunist of the first order, and he’d find some scheme to weasel into.
“Well, then get the fuck out of my face and get started on the rest of your life. If you ever come within a hundred yards of Drake Media, you’ll find yourself under arrest.”
“Trust me, that’s not gonna happen.”
Alex let out a bitter scoff of humorless laughter. “Trust you? I’ve made that mistake for the last time.”
Chase shoved off the wall and strode past Alex, knocking him hard in the shoulder. The temptation to haul him back by the collar and slam his fucking head against the floor was nearly overwhelming, but the last thing this night needed was police involvement, or the resulting lawsuit.
So he let him go, the frustration and rage ebbing out of his blood as his heartbeat slowed and the adrenaline stopped pumping. Downstairs, he snagged a waiter and handed him a roll of bills to cover the drinks for everyone up on the balcony, along with fat tips for the staff. When he looked for everyone else, his father and Mariel had disappeared, but Jess was with Lina by the bar. His heart gave one painful thud at the sight of the two of them, chattering away happily. Jess had her best friend and her job back. Everybody was back where they belonged. He’d done what he came here to do. Now it was time to go.
The One I Love to Hate Page 27
