“The emails? One hundred percent. The images of Dad and the commissioner? If those come out, we’re fucked.”
Nolan sighed. “What do you want me to do?”
“I want to find out who really is behind all of this. That’s why I need Kelly.”
“Wait? It’s not his daughter blackmailing you?”
“It might be, but I need to be sure.”
He sighed. “Yeah, Kelly’s good with that shit. As for a defamation lawyer. I will send you one of my own. I know a guy who will bankrupt that rag.”
“Thanks, bro.”
“Goddamn it, you two. A kid and a scandal?”
“Please don’t tell Seb that I told you about it. I had no idea he hadn’t let you guys know.”
“Fine, I won’t,” Nolan said.
I ended the call, and immediately a text came in. It was from Saffron.
Saffron: I think I have something you might want. Call me.
There were all sorts of innuendo that I was probably reading into the message. I highly doubt this was a booty call, but my hopes were high either way when I made the call. Her sultry voice answered after a couple of rings, making my blood rush to my groin.
“You have something that I want,” I said.
“The information I could find is limited, but I don’t think the person blackmailing you is my aunt or anyone in my family. It’s not his second wife either. I spoke to her, and she doesn’t seemto know anything about you or what deals you and my father struck. Plus, she seems happy with a new rich husband in Saint Tropez. The only person capable is his will executor—a lawyer named Bill. He was disbarred recently, and if there’s anyone in need of money, it’s him.”
“And I thought you were calling because your bed was too cold,” I said.
“Do you want my help or not?” She sounded so pissed off that I thought she was about to end the call, but she hung on.
“Sorry. Sorry. Thanks. But that doesn’t eliminate everybody. It could also be your father’s third wife. She might be involved. Did you reach her?”
She sighed. “Not yet. But I have a lead on her.”
“A lead. You sound like an investigator in a noir.”
“Shut up, Tyler.” There was no bite in her remark, which made me chuckle. “Like I said, I appreciate your help, but I am going to need more to work on. Don’t worry though, I have contracted someone who will look into it.”
She cursed. “So, you wanted me to help just so you could waste my time?”
“No. I wanted to see if I could trust you.” And I was beginning to believe her. She might not have been involved in the blackmail, but she was the only person who had information on who was behind it. But I was so over talking about it. I wanted to talk about something else. It was the weekend, and instead of going out and spending time with friends and family, I was holed up in my office working on putting out fires. Most had been tempered. We lost two clients in the ordeal. Both brought in small business, so it wasn’t so bad.
I needed a break. A distraction. And as much as my body was yearning for Saffron, I needed to get even her out of my mind.
“See you on Monday,” I said to her.
“I’ll send you the information on—”
I ended the call before I could renege on my thoughts and rush to her apartment instead. She responded to my abrupt cut-off with a middle-finger emoji. I deserved it. There was one person I should be talking to. I should be spending my time with, and I was embarrassed that I had forgotten all about her. I made the call.
“Hi, Lauren.”
“Wow.” She sounded surprised to get my call. “I thought you had forgotten all about me. We haven’t spoken in a while. I thought—”
“I haven’t forgotten our time together. I was just busy, that’s all.”
