by A. C. Arthur
She hoped, but really, she wasn’t sure.
The entertainment channels were buzzing with the pictures, illicit text messages and pictures of Adriana from as far back as her first photo shoot. And just a few minutes before Jaydon had called, there’d been an announcement about a special interview with Carlo diMarco, “the famous Italian designer who remembers when Adriana Bennett had come on to him in his hotel suite and then threatened to cry rape”. That had been Adriana’s breaking point. She had run out of the living room where Parker’s parents, Sean and Dion and their spouses, Bruce and Janean and Regan and Gavin were talking about how they planned to deal with this. She’d closed herself in Parker’s room to be alone and now this.
“What truth Adriana? Nobody gives a damn about the truth in this business! It’s all about the here and now. I’m not even sure they’re going to want to keep you on the show after this scandal,” Jaydon continued.
Again shaking her head Adriana just couldn’t take it anymore. “You know what, that’s fine. If the Donovans want to fire me behind something they, of all people, know is a lie, then so be it. And whoever else chooses to believe the rumors, then they can just go to hell too!”
“That’s the wrong attitude to take,” Jaydon shot back.
“I don’t give a damn,” Adriana told her. “It’s the attitude I have. Now, I’m hanging up because I’ve had enough of this for one day.”
Adriana disconnected the phone well before Jaydon had a moment to say another word. She didn’t want to hear it anyway. She didn’t want to hear anything from anyone.
Tossing the phone across the bed she sat there with her legs crossed, staring out the window to the balcony. Somewhere in the back of her mind she was reminded that she didn’t like heights. And that thought led to the memory of Parker holding her so sweetly in his arms out there near the railing, kissing her and watching the stars with her.
“Dammit!” she yelled, covering her face with her hands and sobbing.
“Sweetie, you have to know that none of this is your fault,” Regan said coming to sit beside her on the bed.
Adriana hadn’t even realized she had come into the room. If she had there was no way she would have let the tears flow. As it was, she tried scrubbing her hands over her face before looking up.
“I’m so tired of trying to decipher what was my fault and what I could have done differently. I’m just trying to live my life and stuff just keeps happening to me. I don’t know what to do,” she said with another sigh, tears still burning her eyes.
Regan wrapped an arm around her, pulling her until Adriana gave in and rested her head on her shoulder. “My mother would say you were picked out to be picked on. But that the good Lord doesn’t make any mistakes,” she said in a voice that sounded oddly just like Ms. Carolyn’s.
“All that means that this too shall pass, honey. We’re all here for you and we believe in you,” Regan continued.
“But you don’t know what Carlo is going to say. You don’t know about his lies.”
“Regardless of what happened between you and him, Adriana, I think I know you well enough to say that you did not come on to him and if you did, you certainly wouldn’t threaten to cry rape. That’s not the type of person you are.”
Adriana sat up straighter, using the back of her hands to wipe her eyes again. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Thank you for saying that.”
Regan only shrugged. “No thanks needed, especially since I’m telling the truth. And that sexting stuff, well Parker is about to explode over that. He’s been on the phone with Sam Desdune for the last twenty minutes trying to find out how they can trace your phone and his to see how the text messages were sent from both your numbers.”
“They all looked so real, with our real cell numbers on national television for all to see. It’s a wonder that our phones aren’t ringing off the hook at this very moment. Wait a minute, did you say Parker called Sam? Why? I mean, why didn’t he call Trent? He’s your cousin, right? Shouldn’t he have just called him?”
She’d jumped up off the bed now and was pacing the room.
Regan stood too, looking a little perplexed for a moment.
“Trent’s out of the country with Tia. So instead of interrupting them while she and Camille are working, I told him he should reach out to Sam since he is Trent’s partner at D&D Investigations, and he’s closer.”
“But Sam will tell Bree because they work together and she’ll definitely tell Renny and then…”
“Sweetie,” Regan said taking hold of her shoulders and giving a little shake. “Your family is in the communications business. They all have cell phones and tablets and are as connected to social media as the rest of us are. Unfortunately, this is the hottest news of the day. It’s even giving us a reprieve from trying to figure out what happened at my parents’ place last night. What I’m trying to say is I’m almost positive they already know.”
She was right. Adriana knew that she was absolutely correct. Gabriella was always tweeting and Renny did too, sometimes posting sneak peeks at his new sculptures to gain new visitors to his museum. They knew and yet… “Nobody’s called me yet.”
“Do you want to talk to them?” Regan asked with a raised brow.
Adriana shook her head. “I don’t want to talk to anyone right now.”
When Regan folded her arms over her chest and fake-pouted she’d looked just like Parker and Adriana couldn’t help it, she smiled.
“This is a very serious situation, Regan. What do I look like standing here smiling with you?”
“You look like a strong woman facing a very difficult time but vowing to overcome. You’re going to square your shoulders and put your game face on and you’re going to go back out there while the people who love and care about you as if you were blood-related, try to figure this out.”
“Not all of them love me,” she said then clapped her lips shut.
“Girl, please,” Regan said with a wave of her hand. “If you’re talking about Parker, you need to have your eyes checked. He’s so in love he’s barely walking straight at this point. But he’s got a lot going on too, Adriana. We’re all worried about my dad and what just happened at the house and now this. DNT is his baby. There’s nothing he wouldn’t do to see it succeed. Having his name splashed all over the press like this is not good and he knows it. So like I said, it’s time to get it together and get out there. Stand by your man and let him stand by you.”
Adriana wrapped her arms quickly around Regan and pulled her close for a tight hug. “Thank you,” she said. “I’m used to being the big sister in my family. It’s good to have someone else to lean on for a change.”
“It’s no problem. I’m used to bossing my brothers and everyone else around so know that I’m here whenever you need me.”
And those words felt better than anything Adriana had heard today. To know that Regan believed that she could rise above this situation and that Parker might be in love with her, had lifted a tremendous load off Adriana’s shoulders. And it had made her feel like part of their family so that when she did follow Regan’s lead, walking out to the living room again, she felt like she could face anything.
Except her brothers.
#
By six o’clock that evening Parker’s house was full of people. His mother and Aunt Janean had been to the supermarket and were now in the kitchen preparing what smelled like fried chicken and whatever else they’d had the doorman bring up in those millions of bags. Regan and Lyra were sitting in the living room sipping the mixed drinks Regan had made for everyone, while Tate had gone into one of the guest bedrooms to see if Briana would take a nap before dinner. Bets were she wouldn’t, especially not with all the noise going on in here, but Tate was determined to try.
Parker still sat on his couch, with his brother, Dion and Sean sitting in various spots around the room. Right beside him, the second he reached out a hand, her fingers connecting with his, was Adriana. They hadn’t had a moment al
one since finding out what was going on, and there was a point when she’d left and he’d been worried about her.
“I’ll take care of it,” Regan had told him when he’d stood and was about to go after her.
“But—” he’d begun.
“But nothing. Sometimes a woman needs another woman to talk to, Parker. I’ll make sure she’s alright for you,” she’d told him with a pat to his shoulder that seemed a bit condescending, but he’d decided to let go.
And he’d been happier than he could imagine when Adriana had come back out with Regan, not smiling, but not crying either. For the duration of the day whenever he’d reached out for her, she’d been there. And whenever it looked as if something Sam said or something new that was reported was getting the best of her, he’d been there, taking her hand, kissing her lightly, and wrapping his arm around her for a tight hug. They’d both been leaning heavily on each other and he liked that. He really did.
“Nervous?” he asked when he’d finished staring at their entwined hands and looked up to her.
She nodded. “My brothers are intense,” she started. “I mean, Alex is intense by himself. With Rico and Renny with him, they’re like a tornado, or a tsunami. They’re going to blow in here and tear everything down until they find out what happened and why.”
Parker leaned in to kiss her cheek when she sighed heavily. “We can be that way sometimes so believe me we’re used to it. But Sam says he can figure out how the messages were sent and trace them back to the sender. We’re going to find out who did this and we’re going to put a stop to it. So if that means we have to deal with everyone being here now and even more probably on their way from the airport, then we’ll manage. Together.”
Her smile was his undoing.
“Yes, together,” she said about two seconds before there was a knock on the door.
“I’ll get it,” Savian said already standing and heading across the room.
Parker stood also, when in walked four men, three of them tall with curly hair cut in different lengths, and angry faces that each resembled the next. He took a step forward, extending his hand to the other one, the slightly shorter one who’d had enough good upbringing to smile.
“Sam Desdune?” he asked and was pleased when the man nodded. “Parker Donovan.”
“Good to meet you in person. This is,” his words trailed off as the tallest of the men stepped out of the line they’d formed when entering and reached around Parker to snap Adriana up in a tight hug.
“Are you alright? What the hell’s going on down here?” he was asking her.
Parker knew this was her brother, but that didn’t mean he had to like the way the guy was holding her so possessively. Before he could say a word, she’d gone from the first guy to the next and then finally to the one he recognized from his picture on his website, the sculptor.
“Mom and Dad are flying down tomorrow morning. Dad had some business meeting he couldn’t postpone. But they’re really ticked off so you’d better be prepared for that,” Renny said to her. “Correction, we’re all really pissed off.”
“Yeah. Really. Pissed. Off.” The one in the middle had said.
“I’m Parker Donovan,” he replied because this was his house and he wasn’t about to let the Bennett brothers storm through here, collect their sister then stare at him with disdain.
“Parker,” he heard Adriana say as she moved from the grasp of the middle guy.
She came back to stand beside him, where Parker felt like she belonged and hurriedly made the introductions. Parker added to that by introducing his family to the Bennetts and Sam Desdune.
“Now that the formalities are out of the way,” Sam said opening his computer.
Everyone quickly found seats and listened intently as Sam began to type and talk. “So what I found out about the emails is that they most likely used this software called YourDialLink. There’s several different versions of this software and it’s easy enough to find online. What it enables someone to do is type in your cell phone number here,” he said pointing to the screen.
Parker and Adriana could easily see because Sam had set his laptop on the frosted glass and steel coffee table directly in front of the couch. Savian, Dion and Alex Bennett had also moved so that they could lean in and see the screen as well. Sam typed Parker’s number into the first block.
“Then you type that same number again here.” He typed it into the second block. “And…”
Parker’s phone rang in his pocket. He pulled it out and looked down to see that his caller ID read an incoming call, from himself. “Sonofabitch,” he murmured. “I’m calling myself.
“This automatically gives the person access to your phone. All they have to do from this point is go to the next screen and select the text message option. They’ve hacked into your phone and can do whatever they want,” Sam finished for them.
“How can it be this easy?” Savian asked. “Anyone can just go online and download this software, then hack into your phone. It’s unreal.”
Sam shook his head as he typed in a few more places and the screen on his computer went black. “No. The kicker is here, just before you can successfully download the software. It’s going to take an experienced hacker to get the lines of code correct to enable the access. So say someone like Bree who does not like spending too much time sitting at a computer on the hunt for information, she’s not going to be able to figure out the code to get the software to download. While she might find it online, if she doesn’t get the code exactly right she’ll end up downloading a virus to her computer instead. Now, take your cousin Bailey,” Sam looked up to Parker and then to Savian. “She’s a genius on computers and once I called her to tell her what I suspected she knew exactly where to go to find this. Now, I’m going to do the same with Adriana’s number and then I’m going to leave this here. Bailey’s going to remotely connect into my computer and run a couple more programs to try and trace the number that may have hacked into your accounts.”
Beside him he could hear Adriana sigh. “And that’s going to tell us who put these pictures and text messages out there?”
“It should,” Sam replied.
“But how do we prove the pictures were fake?” she asked. “They are fake, you know. That’s not me and it’s not Parker and I just want to prove that. I want everyone to know that it’s not us, that we didn’t do this.”
Parker hugged her closer to him, knowing full well that there were eyes on them, a set of three in particular that were not at all happy with him at the moment. He ignored them, ignored everyone in this room for the moment except Adriana. “Nobody believes it’s us, sweetheart. Anyone who knows us, knows that this isn’t something that we would do.”
She shook her head. “But they’re out there in the world, Parker. The world that’s been talking negatively about us and the show, your network, all of it, for the better part of today. You’ve read the posts, saw the pictures plastered on every social media site out there. It’s everywhere!” Her eyes had gone wide, her breathing increasing as she talked and all Parker could think to do was fold her into his arms, rubbing his hand up and down her back.
“We’re Donovans,” Bruce spoke up from where he was seated across the room. “We don’t fall as easily as some might want. This is our business so we’re used to being in the spotlight. We’ll fight this just as we would any other type of defaming action.”
“He’s right,” Reginald chimed in. “We all know what’s what here, we’re not about to sit back and let this play out according to someone’s sick plot.”
“So this is directly related to this television show? Has anyone been giving you flack about it? Competing shows maybe?” This was Alex talking.
Just a few seconds ago he’d given a worried look to Parker as he held Adriana in his arms. Parker knew that look well. He’d seen it anytime a guy had come to the house to pick Regan up for a date. Savian would give it and Parker knew that he was mimicking it as well. It was designed to make th
e guy nervous, to warn him of the harm that would come if he messed with Regan in any way. The difference here was that Parker wasn’t one of those weak minded dudes. He knew exactly what type of man he was and felt confident that he could take care of Adriana, with or without the approval of her doting brothers. So he’d locked gazes with Alex, until the oldest Bennett brother had finally directed his attention to the Senior Donovans and their statements.
“That’s what we need to work through,” Sam said then. “We’ll go through a list of enemies, business deals gone wrong, anyone that can be construed as a potential threat. We’ll also look past Parker and Adriana because while this screams to be a personal shot against them, it could also be a bigger game at play.”
At that Parker and Dion both looked over to their fathers.
“Dinner’s ready,” Janean had come out of the kitchen to announce. “Oh, we’ve got more company. No worries, we have more than enough food for everyone. Just come on in so we can have prayer and then we’ll get started.”
“We’re talking about what’s going on, dear,” Bruce stood and attempted to tell his wife.
It was futile, Parker and the rest of the Donovans in the room knew that. Whenever the wives announced a meal, barring a natural disaster, everything else was put on hold.
“We’re having dinner, Bruce. Come on in this kitchen and get ready to say the grace,” Janean told her husband before turning her attention back to the Bennetts. “Hello, I’m Janean Donovan.”
The brothers introduced themselves and Sam had stood from his computer, crossing over to extend his had to Janean in introduction as well. “My parents wanted me to offer their prayers in this time of strife. They said if there’s anything the family needs to just let them know.”
Janean smiled warmly. “That’s very sweet of them. We’ll have to invite them down some time soon. We’re all family here so we might as well start acting like it. Now, leave that computer there and come along and get something to eat. You’ve been running around all day getting ready to fly down here because we called. The least we can do is feed you well. You three come on into the kitchen too, we’ll get everyone fed and then we can get to the bottom of this.”
