Trust in Advertising (61 page)

“Oh, and Vincent?” When he turned, she wiped the tear that was skimming down her cheek. “I swear on Harry’s soul that I’m not the mole. Jade is.”

And with that, she slammed the door shut and walked away from Vincent Drake.

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Lexi! Wait.” Anna spun around as her friend tore past her down the hall, tears and mascara staining her cheeks.

“Can’t now, Anna.” Lexi slowed her pace, falling against the wall and slowly sliding to the floor.

Panic hit Anna, hard. “Lexi, honey, what happened?”

“Vincent happened. He thinks I’m the mole,” Lexi sobbed, her eyes wide and fearful. “I’m not, Anna. I swear.”

Anna hugged her friend. “Of course you’re not. You would never. Why would he say that? Is he drunk?” There was no way Lexi would sell out the family. She wasn’t that kind of person; Anna was certain of that. It had to be a set up, and if it was, there was only one person hateful enough to do it, and that was Jade.

“No, he’s not drunk, just stupid.”

Loud voices came from the office, and Lexi scrambled to her feet. “I—I have to go. I can’t stomach either one of them right now.” She pulled the papers from her purse and tucked them into Anna’s hand. “I swear, Jade’s the mole.

She’s selling information to Reid and Parketti for sure. There might be others.

Erica gave me these a couple minutes ago.”

The wrinkled papers crackled as Anna unfolded them and began scouring the pages. “How the hell?”

Victoria Michaels

“Jade. All roads lead back to her.” Lexi took a few steps away, then turned and paused. “But that’s not the worst part. She’s also sleeping with Reid.”

Anna’s eyebrows shot up. “Does Vincent know?”

“That she’s the mole? I told him before I left, but I don’t know if he believed me. I didn’t tell him about Reid and Jade. I couldn’t.”

Out of the darkness came more yelling. “Don’t touch me!” Vincent’s roar echoed down the hall.

Both women glanced toward the office and held their breath, expecting someone to come storming out. When things finally quieted, Anna exhaled.

“Come with me. We’ll talk to him. I’ll beat some sense into him if I have to.”

She hooked her arm in Lexi’s and tried to guide her toward the office.

Lexi shook her head emphatically. “No way. I’m done talking. I asked him to trust me and he paused. He paused, Anna.” Her eyes filled with tears again. The sadness in her voice made Anna’s chest ache. “It doesn’t matter now. I’m leaving.”

Lexi hurried down the hall, never once looking back. All Anna could do was stare at the silhouette of her broken friend as she vanished from view. It wasn’t until she heard the voices again that she suddenly found herself enraged and went over and threw open the office door.

“Vincent Drake, what the hell have you done?”

“Not now, Anna.” Anna had never seen him so pale and frenzied, pacing the room like a caged animal desperate for escape. “I have to go. I have to talk to Lexi.”

“You aren’t going anywhere until you calm down.” Anna stopped him from making a break for the door.

“Move, Anna,” he growled, looming over her, full of menace.

“Make me.” Anna stood toe-to-toe with her brother, refusing to allow him to intimidate her. There was no way she was going to let him run off after Lexi half-crazed. She was already distraught, and the last thing she needed was to deal with an out of control Vincent. “Lexi just ran out of here on the verge of hysterics. She said you accused her of being the mole. Did you do something stupid? Did you hurt her?” Anna gave her brother a hard shove in the chest that had him staggering back a few steps. The stunned look on his face answered her question.

“I—I would never do that. You know me better than that,” Vincent roared.

“I thought I did,” Anna snipped. “But you’re acting like a lunatic right now.”

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“Why don’t you move so I can go talk to Lexi?
Then
I’ll calm down.” He took a deep breath. “Please, Anna. I need to see her.”

“Get out, Anna!” Jade snarled from the corner of the room from where she had silently watched the family interaction play out. “Vincent, you aren’t going anywhere near Lexi.”

Anna pointed her perfectly manicured fingernail at Jade. “You need to shut your mouth now, or I’m gonna do it for you. I’ve had it with you.” Her normally sweet, jovial voice was laced with venom and rage.

“Fuck you,” Jade spat.

“No thanks, I don’t take sloppy seconds from Reid. You’re such a miserable tramp.” Anna turned and faced her brother. “You and I need to have a conversation before you go anywhere. Either you get rid of her or I will. But if I do it, she’ll need medical attention, I can promise you that.”

Sensing things were slipping away, Jade began screeching. “She hates me, Vincent. She’s going to fill your head with lies. Lexi’s her friend. She wants you to dump me for her.”

Anna snorted. “He could dump you for the potted plant in that corner or a prize winning dairy cow for all I care. As long as you’re gone, it makes no difference to me who he ends up with. But if I get a vote, you bet I’d pick Lexi!

She’s ten times the woman you’ll ever be.”

“Will you both just shut up!” Vincent shouted, his hands laced tightly into his hair. “Anna, you need to move, now.”

“No. You need to calm down. Lexi—”

“Lexi this, Lexi that. She makes me sick! She betrayed Vincent, you know.”

Jade’s demented rant earned a savage glare from Anna.

“Enough!” Vincent’s hands slammed down on the desk, his eyes black with fury. “She didn’t betray me.” He rubbed his hand across his face. “I betrayed her.”

There was a long pause during which no one in the room spoke or even dared to breathe. The menace on Vincent’s face made both women take pause.

They stood frozen in silence, each wondering who would say something first.

“Leave, Jade,” Vincent finally commanded.

With a glance in Anna’s direction, she sashayed forward then reached out to run her hand down his chest, but Vincent swatted her wrist away before she could make contact.

“Don’t ever touch me again. Don’t ever talk to me again. If you see me, turn in the other direction and walk away. I am now, from this moment on, 371

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your worst enemy. Leave.” When Jade’s face paled and her mouth opened to protest, Vincent stepped closer to her until their noses were almost touching.

His anger came off of him in waves. “I’d advise you to get a good attorney too.

You’re going to need one. I plan on suing you and your worthless partners in crime for every cent you’ve got and every cent you might potentially make in the future. When I get done with you, you’ll owe me so much money, you’ll spend the rest of your worthless modeling career working just to pay me. I’ll also make sure that your name’s on every blacklist in the industry by the time I’m through.” Vincent’s dead eyes never left Jade’s face. “Get out!” His voice thundered as he fought a losing battle to remain in control.

In that moment, Anna saw her brother as the ruthless man she had always heard he could be, one devoid of emotion and full of rage. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that he would do exactly what he promised, not only to Jade, but to anyone else who deceived him. With great pleasure, he would ruin them all professionally and financially if he lost Lexi. He was livid, his temper barely held in control as he faced off with Jade. His expression was filled with wild, uncontrollable disgust for the woman standing before him.

“But I—I didn’t …”

His expression turned deadly. “You have ten seconds to get out of this room or I’m calling security. The paparazzi would have a field day snapping pictures as they kick you to the curb. Or I could always do it myself.” Vincent stepped toward the phone, and Anna moved quickly to his side. Shoulder to shoulder they stood, daring Jade to make a scene. “Ten, nine, eight …”

With a murderous glare, Jade slowly backed toward the door. “You’re going to be sorry.”

There was a long silence, and then Vincent responded as she turned her back, “I already am.” With a loud crash, the door slammed shut, and Jade was finally gone.

Jade’s exit should have been a time for rejoicing, but Anna felt more like throwing up. The moment Jade left the room, Vincent’s body language changed.

He was no longer rigid and furious. As he fell into the chair, his shoulders slumped forward, his chin dropping to his chest. He buried his face in his hands and was broken. Anna wanted to scream at him. She wanted to rub his stupidity in his face and scream “I told you so” about Jade, but she couldn’t. Whatever had gone down with Lexi must have been awful. Anna’s stomach dropped.

“What happened?”

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She sat quietly and listened to him explain the last fifteen minutes to her.

The words exploded from him with such deep sorrow and regret that it brought tears to her eyes. A few times she had to stop her jaw from falling open at his stupidity. When he finished the awful tale, he finally looked up at her, his eyes full of heartbreak.

“I’m so stupid. This should have been the greatest night of my life. I was going to break up with Jade, as I should have done weeks ago. Finding out the identity of the mole wasn’t a good enough reason to keep Jade around. I couldn’t stay away from Lexi another second. I had to be with her and prayed that she wanted to be with me. Anna, I love her.” There was devotion in his eyes as he spoke of Lexi, but then a shadow washed over his face. “She’s never going to speak to me again. I said such awful things.”

“How could you accuse her? There isn’t a more loyal person on the planet.

She loves you, you big idiot. She’s loved you since the moment she laid eyes on you back in high school.” Anna threw her hands into the air.

“What? Lexi doesn’t love me. I think, I hope, she’s attracted to me, but there’s no way …”

Anna snorted. “Men. You really are the dumbest creatures on the planet.”

Anna grabbed his shoulders and gave him a shake. “She wants to be with you. The girl takes care of everything for you, knows all your favorites, sneaks you burgers, stays at work all night to help you when something goes wrong. You two work seamlessly together, like you share a brain. You know what one another is thinking.

It’s like you can read each other’s minds or something. Her eyes light up when you walk into a room, and when you compliment her, she blushes every time.”

“Harmless flirting.” Vincent downplayed their interactions, still not allowing himself to hope.

“Real y?” Anna arched an eyebrow at him. “So you’re saying Lexi goes around kissing random men she has no interest in? That doesn’t sound like her to me.”

Vincent exhaled. “That first kiss was supposed to just be a taste, a little something to answer all the confusion I had about my feelings when I was near her. I thought if I got it out of my system, I’d be able to get her out of my head and out of my dreams. But as soon has her lips brushed against mine, I was lost. The taste of her intoxicated me like a drug. The second kiss was something I needed from her. I craved her in ways I couldn’t explain and was helpless to stop it from happening. I wanted that kiss to get under her skin, to brand her as mine in some way. Ever since, I can’t think of anything but Lexi.”

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He looked at Anna, his face the picture of devastation. She’d never seen him so distraught.

“I have to find her and apologize.” His voice came out as a shaky whisper as he rose to his feet. “If—if she doesn’t forgive me, I don’t know what I’m going to do. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Anna.”

Anna held him and felt him shaking in her grasp. She patted him on the back and whispered reassurances in his ear, not entirely believing them herself, but she needed to give him something, some hope that he still might have a chance to make this right.

After providing her brother a few moments of comfort, she held him at arm’s length and quickly wiped her tears. “You seem to be more in control.” Vincent nodded his head. She took a deep breath, becoming very serious. “So, what do you plan on doing to fix this?”

“I have to find her and beg her to forgive me. I’ll walk through the fires of hell if I have to.”

There was a small grin on Anna’s face as she patted his cheek. “Good man.”

Vincent kissed her hand, then grabbed his jacket and took off for the door.

“I have to go.”

“How are you going to find her? She could be anywhere, even at the airport booking the next flight out of town.”

Vincent thought about it, then suddenly seemed very sure of himself. “I know where she is.” He cast one quick look back at his sister. “Can you explain everything to Mom? She needs to know.”

“Sure, leave me to clean up your mess like always.” Anna gave him a weak smile. “Go find her. Fix this.”

“I love you. I know I’m a jerk and don’t say it enough, but I do.”

“I love you too, Vincent. Go!”

Vincent made his way down the dimly illuminated street on the cool, dark night. The stars twinkled overhead, and the full moon hung low in the night sky. Couples strolled past, their fingers intertwined as they watched the water, whispering to one another. Their happiness made him long for Lexi even more.