“Glad you made it,” Todd said flatly, sounding not at all glad.
Without any further small talk, he turned his desktop screen around to show them a news article. The headline read:
“Fox and His New Media Fox: Bad-Boy Plays Squeaky-Clean to Tug at Heartstrings!”
Todd swiveled the desktop screen back, typed in a few more words, and then faced it in the pair’s direction once more. This time, the headline was:
“Playboy Fox Manipulates Fans, Continues Womanizing in the Tropics!”
Heidi cut in before Todd could turn the screen again.
“What the fuck is this?” she asked, forgoing good manners.
“This,” he replied, “is the havoc you sowed.”
He picked up a stack of torn-out pages on his desk, and passed half to her, and half to Bradley. More articles, Heidi could see at once.
“You bought every single one,” she stated with disgust.
“I sure as shit did.”
Heidi leafed through frantically, and found that the common theme in the articles wasn’t just Bradley’s debauchery—it was her. Page after page told a story of how she, Heidi Morris, had waltzed in to pick up the pieces after Bradley’s fall from grace.
According to the media, she’d doctored him up real good, fashioning him into the kind of man America could guiltlessly get behind. One article after another painted her as the wizard behind the curtain, orchestrating the whole show.
Jesus Christ. The words trembled through her mind.
Because the next thing she realized about the articles was that all of them featured pictures of her and Bradley cavorting on the beach.
“How did they even get these?” she whispered. “We were on a private beach.”
Todd chuckled. “Oh, sweetheart, it’s the 21st century. Nothing’s private.”
She shot him daggers, and in a voice dripping with venom, replied, “Don’t call me sweetheart.”
But she couldn’t concentrate on Todd’s chauvinism; she was too focused on the articles. And, at last, she understood the spin they were trying to give her.
“So, according to these, these…” she stumbled over the words, “pigs, I’m just some girl brought in to reimagine Bradley as the all-American QB, who then went behind the nation’s back and screwed him?” She began to speak faster. “What, I’m somehow at fault because we had—whatever, so that means nothing else about him was true?”
She threw the papers on Todd’s desk, outraged.
“It’s bullshit,” she cried, and turned to Bradley. “You know it’s bullshit, right?”
Todd interjected, “Is it, Heidi? Or is this exactly what you wanted all along?”
Her face drained of color, and the room seemed to spin around her. Was it only yesterday that she’d been in perfect bliss? No, that couldn’t be right. It must’ve been in another lifetime.
“You should know what I think this woman is up to,” Todd said to Bradley.
“No—” she began.
“Yes,” Todd continued. “You’ve got to hear this, Bradley. I think Heidi played us all like puppets. Got herself hired as your PR gal, then decided to make a little extra cash by bedding you—she knew she’d be up to the task—and selling the stories back to the magazines. Double payday. She wrapped you around her little finger and tugged the damn string.”
“How fucking dare you,” she shouted at the agent, who gave her a smarmy grin. “I didn’t mean to sleep with Bradley; it just happened. This wasn’t some big plot. How could you concoct a story this ludicrous?”
“How could you do something so ludicrous?”
“Todd,” Bradley said, interrupting at last. “Enough.”
Heidi looked at him gratefully. Finally, her knight in shining armor was stepping in to defend her honor. About damn time.
“Heidi obviously didn’t intend for any of this to happen,” he continued, “I can vouch for it. She tried hard—much harder than I did—to keep it professional. There was just a chemistry that we couldn’t seem to fight.
“I know it sounds unreal, but, fuck, most of my life feels unreal. But anyways. These papers, they’re just making shit up. They’ve gotta keep the subscribers coming back for more, get those ad buys. I don’t believe it, and I don’t know why you would either.”
As Bradley reclined in his chair, satisfied with his speech, Heidi found herself too incensed to do more than vigorously nod at his words. It felt humiliating to lose her cool in an office setting, in front of a man who would hopefully still be her client (and perhaps something else) after this whole fiasco had subsided.
“I thought you’d say that,” Todd replied slowly. He opened his desk drawer and pulled out a small stack of papers. He pushed it across the desktop in Bradley’s direction, making sure to keep it out of Heidi’s line of sight. She wouldn’t gratify this monster by craning to see what they said.
“Oh, more news articles? Great, just stellar,” she said with biting sarcasm.
“Nope,” Todd returned. “Bradley? Why don’t you tell Heidi what the papers say?”
She watched as Bradley’s eyes raced across the page, his brows furrowing, trying to make sense of what had been set before him.
“What is this?” Bradley asked in a low voice that bubbled over with barely-contained emotion.
She was on the edge of her seat, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“Heidi,” he continued, “why is your office a short-term rental, registered under your name on the lease applications? And why does it say you’re a solo operator?”
Suddenly, it clicked. Heidi understood what Todd had been building up to; the newspaper stories didn’t really mean shit. This…this was the final nail in her coffin.
“Does this mean,” Bradley said, choking on the words, “that you don’t work for Image-ine? That you’ve been running some kind of bullshit operation? Playing fast and loose with my media reputation?”
She sputtered. “Of course not—”
“When were you going to tell me?”
“About what?”
“About not being with the company, Heidi. Don’t play dumb.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a wide grin spread across Todd’s face. The little fucker was loving every second of this.
“I just, just needed some time—”
“We spent weeks together in the Bahamas. How much more time did you need?”
Ashamed, she felt a tear roll down her cheek.
God damn it, she screamed internally, do not fucking cry right now.
Todd, having check-mated her, steamrolled into the conversation.
“Oh, and Bradley, kiddo, sorry to say it, but Coach Simon is threatening to boot you from the team again. Something about how he ‘can’t handle any more of your antics.’”
Heidi refused to sob, no matter how much the lump in her throat was begging to emerge in an animal cry. Not only had she obfuscated the truth from Bradley, it had all been for nothing; even after all her hard work, Bradley’s career might still be in jeopardy.
“He can’t do that!” she cried. “Bradley is in the best shape of his life. It would be a disservice to the team to—”
“Enough,” Bradley said harshly. “We’re done here, Heidi. Get out.”
“But—”
“I said, get out. You’re fired.”
At last, the dam holding back Heidi’s tears broke, and she was racked with sobs that shook her whole body. For the third time in as many weeks, her life had completely changed on the turn of a dime. Suddenly, nothing felt safe. There was no point in trying to speak any further; Todd had seen to that. Bradley was convinced, and she knew it would take more than her blubbering words to convince him otherwise.
She rose from her seat, mustering a dignity she didn’t feel. She took one long, last look at Bradley’s face, but he refused to meet her eyes. She turned to Todd, gave him the finger, and strode out of the building, tears drenching the collar of her blouse.
Chapter 15
Heidi drove straight to Annie’s, where her friend immediately saw the red in her eyes and pulled her into a hug. Heidi sobbed into the woman’s shoulder, comforted by the kind affection. Slowly, she broke the hug, explaining that she had business to handle. Annie nodded, and indicated that Heidi’s usual seat was open. Grateful, Heidi slunk off into the corner and curled up in her armchair.
Despite the meltdown, she’d had the presence of mind on her flight from Todd’s office to stop at Bradley’s car and ask the driver to hand over her luggage. It would save her the awkward run-in down the line, of course, but for the moment, she was mostly grateful to have her laptop. She opened the device and waited for it to load up as Annie walked over with a cup of hot chocolate—Orlando weather be damned—and a brownie.
“Thanks,” Heidi mumbled, smiling sadly at her friend.
“Anytime, hon. You holler if you need anything.”
Once Annie had bustled through into the back room, Heidi began to dig through the web. While she was still upset, internet prowling was her specialty; in this day and age, you didn’t get to be a PR person without knowing your way around cyber profile stalking. The familiar action soothed her—it felt nice to be doing something she knew she was good at it.
Slowly, after a few hours of work—with some spent sifting through content retrieval sites and following source links at the bottom of blog posts—Heidi had begun to piece together the puzzle. But she wasn’t sure yet, and she’d need final confirmation. There was only one person who could help.
She took her phone out of her purse and dialed her best friend at Image-ine, Meredith. They hadn’t texted while Heidi had been at Edenix, but hopefully, their relationship could withstand a few weeks of distance—not to mention Heidi’s newfound reputation as America’s favorite villain.
Meredith picked up the phone on the third ring.
“Heidi?” she asked. “Is that you?”
“Yeah, Mere. It’s nice to hear your voice.”
“Oh Heidi, I’m so sorry about everything. You didn’t deserve this.”
“Thanks. It does kinda suck being hated by the whole country.”
“No—well, sorry, yes, of course, that’s true—but I mean what Image-ine did. Just awful.”
This was exactly what Heidi had been looking for.
She replied, “What did Image-ine do, exactly?”
On the other end, Meredith sighed, and launched into a story.
“So, on the day you left, Gary sent orders throughout the office, up and down the chain of command. We were all supposed to burn you, whenever we could and by whatever means necessary. You were, in his words, ‘an ungrateful bitch’ who deserved to watch her career die a painful death.”
Heidi had, in some ways, known to expect it. Gary was a tool. And while he had apparently made it seem like taking her down was business-motivated, she instinctively understood that it was personal. Gary was going to make her pay for embarrassing him in front of the entire office. He just needed a good excuse.
Meredith continued.
“I know I don’t need to tell you this, but just to be clear, almost everyone was on your side. No one wanted to assist Gary’s insane vengeance plot. It was around that time, though, that some paparazzi got pics of you and Bradley at the airport, boarding the private charter together. The photos were circulated to all the usual gossip rags, and shortly thereafter, Image-ine got word. I think Gary contacted one of the paps, and grilled him on what you and Bradley were doing at the airport together.
“The freelancer tracked down one of the receptionists for the charter company, who I guess overheard you guys talking PR work. And that was enough for Gary. He put it all together: that just as you were leaving Image-ine, you’d been hired out by Bradley, who thought you were still under the auspices of the company. He called an emergency exec meeting and informed everyone that you had, as he put it, ‘snatched’ a huge client from their grasps.”
Heidi interrupted, “But Bradley asked for me specifically.”
“Listen, girl, I know. I’m just telling you what happened. Anyways, you know Bob, Nancy, Steve and the rest,” she said, referring to the executives. “They felt cheated, and that bunch hates feeling cheated. They gave Gary the go-ahead to—by whatever means necessary—skin you alive.”
Meredith paused, her breathing growing shaky.
“When I think of the self-satisfied look on his stupid face… Jesus Christ, if I could get my hands around that fat neck—”
“Mere, it’s okay. Really.”
“It’s not okay. You gave years of hard work to the company, and now they’re treating you like shit.”
“I can handle it.”
“Oh, and get this—Gary’s wife just filed for divorce.”
Everything clicked into place; Heidi just needed final confirmation.
“So, what you’re saying,” she replied, “is that Gary isn’t on the war path because I left the company—it’s because I didn’t help him lie to his wife. Am I right?”
The line went silent for a moment, until Meredith at last said, “Obviously, I can’t know that for certain but…I’d say it’s the most likely explanation.”
Heidi felt faintly vindicated. She’d suspected it from the moment she’d heard of Gary’s involvement, but now, with his wife leaving and all, she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he’d put the wolves on her scent. Bastard.
“Thank you, Mere. I appreciate you risking your job like this, to tell me everything.”
“Anytime. Fuck Gary.”
Heidi smiled, repeated, “Fuck Gary,” and told her friend goodbye for now—she had work to do.
She hung up the phone, incensed, but relieved to have some clarity of mind. This was a situation that Bradley would understand—a sexual predator for a boss? Bradley was a stand-up guy; he would understand that none of this had been her fault. All she had to do was tell him.
She went to his contact info, prepared to ring him up and break the news, when suddenly, she received an incoming call from an unknown number.
Assuming it was probably some kind of automated telemarketing, she picked it up, and gruffly said, “What is it?”
“Hello, Ms. Morris. This is Adrian from Schwartz, Schwartz and Stubenmeister.”
Oh God. Heidi recognized the name immediately—it was the law firm that Image-ine hired to represent clients in public legal battles. This can’t be good, she thought helplessly.
“Ms. Morris,” the voice continued, “I’m calling on behalf of our client, Image-ine Inc. As a courtesy, we’d like to inform you that Image-ine will be suing you for the poaching of a valuable client under false pretenses, one Mr. Bradley Fox.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“No, I’m afraid not. I can email you the details in a minute, but I can tell you that while this case is pending, a judge has issued a cease and desist; your company is to cease trading immediately.”
“On what grounds?” she shot back.
“On the grounds that you registered the company while you were still technically employed by Image-ine.”
Her mouth fell open as she thought back to almost a month ago.
Heidi had founded her little company on the same day she’d left Image-ine. Obviously, she had quit, but no paperwork had been drawn up by that point; there had been no formalized severing of her contract. The lawyers were right; technically speaking, she’d violated her terms of employment.
“So that you’re aware, the judge may ask you to forfeit some or all of your earnings from Mr. Fox to Image-ine.”
Heidi was reeling. This was, for sure, the absolute worst-case scenario.
“Lastly, Bradley’s management, including Mr. Todd Beauregard, have gone on record, stating that they were unaware that you no longer worked for Image-ine at the time of your hiring by Mr. Fox, and that had they been informed of this detail, they would’ve counseled Mr. Fox to work with another PR firm.”
There was nothing she could say
. This wasn’t fair, but it had all happened as Adrian said it had.
“Mr. Beauregard and his company are insisting that you make no attempt to contact Mr. Fox, via phone, email, text, social media—”
“I get it, Adrian. No contact.”
“Yes, on the grounds that if you have any further involvement with Mr. Fox, it will only serve to worsen his public image, which has a quantifiable monetary value. Thus, if you do try to contact Mr. Fox, his management will sue you for defamation.” He paused. “Is all of this clear?”
“Crystal.”
“Very well, then. You’ll be hearing from Schwartz, Schwartz and Stubenmeister representatives in the coming weeks.”
Heidi hung up the phone and threw it on the floor with a small scream. Luckily, the sound of the espresso machine drowned out her cry, and Annie didn’t come running from the kitchen.
What have I done? she thought. What do I do?
It was astounding just how quickly this mess had metastasized, gobbling up her whole life. Two potential lawsuits on her doorstep, no means through which to grow her company, or even make an income, and she wasn’t even allowed to contact Bradley.
She knew Gary was angry, but to do all this? To actually ruin her life, and her livelihood? It somehow went beyond the cruelty of which she’d assumed him to be capable. He wasn’t just trying to enact revenge, no; he was trying to wipe her out of existence.
How could she ever work in this town again? PR was a tight, gossipy circle; she was certain every other firm already knew the painful details of her newfound legal battles. She would become an outcast, the exact opposite of a Midas touch in the business world. Public relations work was literally built on relations—how could she possibly conduct business if no one would talk to her?
But equally bad was this injunction that barred her from speaking with Bradley. She knew if she could just talk to him, just make him understand… He was a wonderful man. He’d move heaven and earth to get her justice.
Without the ability to reason with him and explain her side of the story, though, she was doomed. For all Bradley’s authority and star power, he had been managed and man-handled by “representatives” since he’d first gone D1 at U of Miami. He was accustomed to following orders, to trusting the folks who told him where to go and what hands to shake. He’d become woefully complacent in his own life.
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