The Price of Scandal

by Score, Lucy

  I felt a strange anxiety creeping its way through my system. My reputation was repairing itself. The IPO seemed to be back on track. Everything I’d worked for was coming to fruition. To top it off, I’d finally stood up to one of the most disrespectful people in my life.

  And yet I felt that niggling of doubt. Something was off. Wrong.

  Had I made a mistake? Another misstep?

  I wished Derek were here. His trademark bluntness would snap me out of this funk. No one felt sorry for an empire-building CEO who was about to add more zeros to her portfolio.

  I peered into the educational lab again. It was a picture of chaotic energy. Interest.

  But it felt like there was more than just a wall and window standing between me and that vibe. Because my two greatest assets right now were my brand and my bank account. Not my brain. Not my ideas. Not my leadership. Not my contributions to fucking science. Not my ability to maneuver around a lab and wade through data.

  There was no one to blame but me.

  But this was necessary. This was the cost of business, of progress, of growth. Sometimes you had to take a step back from what you loved so you could do what needed to be done.

  My phone rang again. It was my mother. I sent the call straight to voicemail. There were only so many confrontations I could handle in a morning.

  “Ms. Stanton, we’re ready for you,” the assistant called from the doorway.

  They were going to have to redo the lipstick since I’d eaten half of it off.

  * * *

  Emily, it’s your mother. I was in an appointment with a tarot reader and had a message from Trey. The poor thing’s gotten himself into a bit of trouble. I need you to reach out to him and make arrangements with your legal team. Your father is being ridiculously stubborn and pretending like he’s not going to pay. So of course, you’ll need to cover the cost until he sees the error in his ways. Honestly, I don’t know what’s gotten into that man. He acts like family doesn’t deserve—Hang on. Trey is calling me back.

  * * *

  Emily! How could you turn your back on your brother like that? I’m appalled. He needs our help. I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but it isn’t attractive. You cut off all your beautiful hair, start dating a questionable man, and suddenly decide that you’re too busy to help your family? Call your brother and fix this. Immediately. You know he’d be there for you in a heartbeat if you ever needed anything. I’m just sick over this. You need to fix this.

  41

  Derek

  Ducking out of the briefing with Flawless’s publicist and the legal team, I dialed Emily’s number to check in. The IPO was officially back on track. As long as nothing else went catastrophically wrong.

  Given my profession, I was acutely aware of the hundreds of disasters that could still befall Emily, and I vowed to do whatever it took to protect her.

  The call went straight to voicemail. She was probably fake smiling her way through what she’d see as an unnecessarily time-consuming photo shoot.

  It was quite ironic that I’d fallen for a woman who couldn’t be bothered to care enough about image.

  “Just calling to tell you not to add yourself to Alpha Group’s letterhead yet. It sounds like the IPO is officially a go,” I said into the phone. “I’m thinking about you. Dinner tonight?”

  I hung up and started to dial the office.

  “What’s a handsome man like you doing wandering these halls?” Lita’s smokey voice caught me off guard. She wore white flared trousers and a cunning, curve-hugging cashmere shell. I wondered if she’d purposely appropriated an iconic Emily Stanton look in a bid to wear it better.

  I made a quick decision. “I’m escaping yet another meeting. I don’t know how you and Emily can spend so much time in conference rooms.”

  She sauntered closer and tucked her arm through mine. “I’ll tell you our secret,” she said coyly. “Very long lunches. With very dry martinis.”

  “Tell me more about this secret coping mechanism,” I mused, turning up the charm.

  “I’d rather show you.”

  Valerie, Emily’s second assistant, skirted past us in the hallway. The look she shot me was straight up “Do not fuck with my boss.”

  “Are you free for lunch now?” I asked Lita after Valerie disappeared down the hallway. No point in pissing off the boss unnecessarily.

  I was doing this for her.

  * * *

  Flirtation was a weapon that Lita and I took turns wielding. I had to admit, she was winning. I was bound, metaphorically, from unleashing my full powers. Every time I searched for something to say to Lita, Emily’s face appeared in my head.

  Be worthy of me, Price.

  Lita stirred her second martini with her skewer of olives and eyed me expectantly. “It looks like you’ve got the magic touch. You’ve put Lady Stanton back on her pedestal.” She raised her glass in a salute that felt mocking.

  I lifted my own glass. “Now you two are back on course. The IPO can proceed, and Flawless can grow,” I said.

  Her dark nails danced against the stem of the glass. “Yet another win.”

  “You should be used to it by now,” I pointed out. “Flawless is unstoppable.”

  “Mmm,” Lita mused. She took a sip of her drink and waited until I was watching before slowly licking her top lip.

  Unbidden, I recalled that praying mantis females decapitated their male lovers.

  I knew I was walking a fine line here between getting the information that I needed and not upsetting a woman who had quite literally swept my legs out from under me.

  “However will you celebrate?” I asked, tugging at my tie and reassuring myself that my head was indeed still attached.

  Flirtatious again, she fanned her fingers over her mouth and pretended to ponder. “Perhaps I’ll take a new lover.”

  Careful, Price. Do not stray too close to the fire.

  I wanted to return to Emily’s bed unsullied… and also with a head.

  “How very European of you,” I teased.

  “You really are impressive, Derek,” she said, laying her hand on mine. She flipped our hands so mine was on top.

  Mayday! Mayday! Pull up! I smelled a setup, but I couldn’t figure out the game.

  “Am I?” I slid my hand off hers and picked up my drink.

  “Not many people could have gotten Emily out of that situation. You single-handedly saved her. You’re quite the hero,” she said, plucking an olive from her drink and sucking it between her lips.

  I cleared my throat. “I aim to please.” I couldn’t play this game. Not in good conscience.

  “I didn’t think anyone would be able to clean up that mess,” she mused.

  “I’m very good at what I do.”

  She gave me a long, warm look. “I’m sure you are,” she purred. I felt her foot slide its way up my shin, and every muscle in my body went tense.

  Danger! Danger! I couldn’t afford to keep playing. The price was too high. I’d have to go the direct route.

  “Lita, I have very strong feelings for Emily,” I confessed, sliding my leg away from her exploratory foot.

  “Don’t we all?” Her tone was light, but there was a hard edge of annoyance. I saw it in her eyes. That shocking flash of hatred.

  “How did you know Merritt Van Winston was going to be arrested that night?” I asked.

  She leaned in close, looking smug. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Derek.” Her fingers climbed my tie until they got to the knot. She gave an uncomfortable tug. “But before you go accusing me of anything, remember that Emily and I have a very long history. She trusts me. And if it comes down to choosing sides, you won’t fare well.”

  “You’re awfully confident,” I said, gripping her hand and hoping I wouldn’t need to physically defend myself from a beautiful woman in a very public restaurant.

  “I know her better than anyone.”

  “Is that how you manipulated her into that date?” I pressed. I want
ed her to say the words.

  Lita’s phone buzzed quietly on the crisp white tablecloth. I frowned at the name I saw on the screen just before she picked it up and flipped it over.

  “I hate to cut this short, but I need to go.” She polished off the last of her drink and stood. “If you change your mind about… things, you know where to find me.”

  I grabbed her arm as she started to walk away. “Don’t fuck with her, Lita,” I warned.

  She leaned in, eyes sparkling. “Don’t fuck with me, Derek.”

  * * *

  I watched her leave and then made my way to the bar, loosening my tie as I went. There was a seat next to a great ox of a man. No one got too close to Jude Ellis. Not when he had his work face on.

  “Still worried?” he asked, nudging a fresh beer in my direction.

  “Now I’m fucking terrified,” I admitted.

  “Good, because I think she’s dirty,” he said. “Her dumb as shit assistant bought the ‘IT problem excuse’ and let me into her office.”

  “Find anything interesting?”

  “She’s careful. Better than good security on her desktop. Got a script on her computer that encodes all incoming and outgoing emails. I didn’t have enough time to crack it, but I found a few footprints. Some contact with a few people at La Sophia, Flawless’s rival. Couldn’t get any text from the messages, but a lot of back and forth.”

  “Job shopping?” I mused.

  Jude nodded. “Possible.”

  “It fits,” I muttered. “She’s tired of living in Emily’s shadow.”

  “Tired enough to try to destroy her?”

  I thought of the name on the screen of her phone. “Yeah. And she didn’t succeed with Van Winston.”

  “I fucking hate backstabbing. Why can’t everyone settle their differences civilly in the ring?” Jude complained.

  “Then you and I would be out of jobs,” I said, slapping him on the shoulder.

  “Would that be such a bad thing?”

  “Do me a favor,” I said. “Before you start planning your retirement, run this name through whatever appalling database you’ve got access to.” I scrawled the name on a bar napkin and handed it over.

  Jude’s eyebrows winged up. “Seriously?”

  “I’m afraid so. Something’s going down, and we need to get ahead of it.” I had a very bad feeling.

  “You going to give Dragon Lady a heads up?” Jude asked, tucking the napkin into his pocket.

  Lita’s words echoed in my head. “I need proof first.”

  42

  Emily

  I closed my eyes and enjoyed being completely alone for the first time all day. I kicked off my shoes and squished my abused toes in the thick carpet under my desk. Derek, who had been cryptically “busy” last night, was taking care of something in his own office. Lona, my constant shadow, was checking in with her office. And Jane was off either eating a burrito or flirting with a man.

  My cell phone and desk phones rang simultaneously. Derek was calling my cell.

  “Hey, how are you?” I asked.

  “Emily.” The tension in his voice on that one word, my name.

  “What is it?”

  Jane burst through my office door, Valerie and Easton were hot on her heels. She looked pissed. My assistants looked nauseated.

  “I’m emailing you an article,” Derek said tersely.

  Subject: Emergency.

  With dread oozing into my intestines, I opened the message.

  Flawless ‘miracle’ scar treatment a flawed disaster.

  “What the hell is this?” I asked, skimming the article. Nina.

  “There are others,” he said.

  “Where is this coming from? Why is my subject from the trial telling the press she was scarred by the treatment?” I demanded. I was a volcano nearing eruption. Nina, the bubbly girl who’d taken two dozen selfies after the biobandages came off, was now saying my scar treatment had permanently disfigured her.

  “I’m going to find that out,” Derek said.

  “Who do you want me to stun gun?” Jane asked.

  “Call me as soon as you know something,” I told Derek.

  “I will. She’s not going to win, Emily,” he promised.

  I didn’t have time to ask what he meant by that because my desk phone was ringing.

  I disconnected with Derek. “Get me Nina, now,” I told the hovering assistants.

  “Already dialing,” Valerie assured me as she hustled out of the room.

  “Hey, Luna. I’m in the middle of a crisis—” I began.

  “La Sophia has your formula,” she said breathlessly into the phone.

  “What? What formula?” I clutched my phone tighter.

  “I’ve got a distributor who works with my line and a La Sophia line. He let it slip that La Sophia was rushing a scar treatment through to market,” Luna said, the words spilling out of her mouth in a torrent. “So of course I got curious. No one keeps a secret that well in this business. I knew about their CC cream when it was just days into development back in 2016. They just launched it last fall.”

  I held onto my sanity by my fingernails. Luna’s storytelling was often ethereal and disjointed.

  “Anyway, I have a friendly source in their marketing department that I’ve been trying to woo onto my team. I’m totally digressing, but I’m so pissed off that I can’t think straight.”

  “What are you saying, Moon?” I asked, feeling something prickle at the back of my neck.

  “Bottom line is someone came to them with your formula and offered to sell it to them. I don’t know if the deal is done or not.”

  Damn it. The patent. Where were we with it? Could I fight this?

  It didn’t matter. I would fight this. This was corporate espionage.

  Anger woke in me like a sleeping dragon.

  Someone had stolen from me, from my team, my staff. From the families of my employees, and I would make them pay.

  “Who was it?” I asked, my voice low and controlled while my anger set off fireworks in my head.

  “My girl didn’t know, but she was so ethically horrified she put in her two weeks and is coming on board with Wild Heart next month. So yay for me. She heard through the rumor mill that they’re making room for some big executive. It’s not a done deal, but there’ve been a bunch of hush-hush meetings.”

  Something rang mystically on her end of the call.

  “Is that a gong?” I asked, surprised my brain had room for anything other than white hot anger.

  “Yes, I’m shopping for a new one for my living room.”

  Of course she was. Because Luna was the type who had a gong in her living room and the type who wore out the gongs in her living room.

  “I need to go, Luna,” I said. The anger was clawing its way up my throat looking for a way out. “Thank you for letting me know.”

  “I’ll chant for you tonight,” she promised.

  She would, and in some weird way, I’d probably feel the good vibes.

  “Thanks, Moon.”

  The phone was still in my hand when my door burst open. Lita whirled in like a hurricane. “Emily, I feel sick about this. I can explain everything.”

  “Hang on,” I said wearily. “Valerie? Any luck?”

  “The number we had for her on file is disconnected. I’ll see if I can find her home address,” she called back from her desk.

  “Jane, help her,” I said.

  Jane eyed Lita before leaving the room.

  “Emily, this is… I just don’t know how to say this.” Lita wrung her hands. “So I’m just going to say it. You and I have something that no man could ever come between.”

  “Lita, what are you talking about? Easton, get Jenny from legal on the line now. I need to know where we are with that patent,” I yelled.

  “Derek,” Lita said expectantly.

  “What about Derek?”

  Her hands fluttered to her mouth. “Oh, God. You don’t know. You haven’t seen it.” H
er bottom lip, painted a flawless red, quivered.

  “Seen what? I’m a little busy trying to squash some corporate espionage.” It was harsh. I was harsh. But I didn’t have time for her dramatics.

  “Derek came on to me. At lunch yesterday. I thought it was just harmless flirting, but… God.” She crossed to the couch and sank down gracefully, covering her face with her hands. “He suggested that we go back to his place to strategize.”

  My stomach turned to ice. My intestines tied themselves into Christmas light knots.

  “To strategize?” I asked hoarsely.

  Lita nodded and blinked back tears. “Emily, he wanted to talk about my position in the company once you’re gone. I swear nothing happened. I told him to go to hell and left him at the restaurant. But someone saw us. There are pictures.”

  “Pictures,” I repeated.

  “They make it look… intimate,” Lita said. “I’m so sorry. I should have told you. I just didn’t want to see you get hurt. Oh, God.” She brought her fingers to her mouth once again. “You don’t think Derek is behind that girl claiming we scarred her, do you? What could he possibly gain from that? What would he gain from any of this?”

  She was rambling. The words were spewing forth like runoff into a storm drain, and I just needed her to shut up.

  “You don’t hold me responsible, do you? Oh, I couldn’t stand it if you thought I had some part of all this. I would die inside. We’re a team, Emily.”

  “Ms. Stanton, I have your father on the line for you,” Easton said from the doorway.

  “I need to take this,” I said. My throat ached from the scream that wanted to be released.

  “Of course.” Lita rose and crossed to me. She laid a hand over mine that was fisted on the desk. “If you need anything from me, you know I’m there for you. I’m always here for you. I always have been.”