Aftermath

by Tricia Owens

  This Poole fellow. Ethan found the phrasing strange, almost as though Wilson didn’t actually know Max’s father.

  “How do you get paid?”

  Wilson snorted as the elevator car arrived at the casino level. “All you need to worry about it getting out of town.”

  “I can pay you more.”

  “I doubt it.”

  The certainty in Wilson’s voice convinced Ethan that indeed big money was at stake. Max’s father was going all out on this. Ethan despised him and his wealth even more.

  “Why did this take so long to play out?” Ethan asked, not because he cared about the details but maybe Wilson would slip up and say something he shouldn’t. “Why not confront me at dinner at the steakhouse when you were pretending to be Merrick’s client?”

  “The way I understand it, my client wanted you to look complicit. Leaking dirty photos from your past is shocking, sure, but not as bad as leaking current photos of you that you posed for while working for Maxmillian Poole. That makes it recent and lets us tie it into the agency, makes the place look like a front for prostitution.”

  “Who came up with the idea?” Ethan ground out.

  “No idea. I’m just the hired help.” The elevator doors opened. “Let’s go. The sooner you’re out of Las Vegas, the quicker you can forget about all this.”

  The casino floor was crowded. Ethan knew the layout like the back of his hand, however, and found his way through easily, walking alongside one of the gaming pits. As he walked, he thought of Merrick upstairs. Though his ex had obviously betrayed him, Ethan struggled with the realization that this was as much his own fault as it was Merrick’s. Ethan had made a bad call, trusted someone when he shouldn’t have, and now here they were.

  They passed by a double bank of progressive slot machines. Ethan glanced to the left, saw the security podium, where the Head of Security, a friend of Ethan’s named Joe, sat staring at the monitors in front of him.

  Merrick had done the unthinkable by betraying Ethan this way, but what if there was more to the story? What if Merrick hadn’t willingly gone along with any of this? If he were under pressure, Ethan might be able to alleviate that pressure. Could any of this be reversed if Merrick were back on his side?

  Joe looked up, noting Ethan’s passage. Ethan raised his hand to the Head of Security in a salute.

  “They’re not going to help you,” Wilson muttered.

  “Professional courtesy. I work with casino security teams all the time. He’d find it strange if I didn’t acknowledge him.”

  “Turn right up here. Head for valet.”

  Ethan obeyed without comment. Ahead, he saw the signs for registration and valet. His heart began to race. A few more yards and he’d be gone—

  A firm, authoritative voice said, “Sir, you’re going to need to come with me.”

  Ethan spun around and found Wilson being held by the arm by Joe, who was flanked by two more security guards. Onlookers streamed past them, looking on curiously. Wilson had finally lost his tough guy apathy. His shocked expression quickly gave way to anger. He tried to jerk his arm free of the guard’s grip.

  “Take your hands off me. You have no right to detain me.”

  “He threatened violence against my client, Joe,” Ethan said quickly. As Wilson’s eyes went round with surprise and dawning understanding, Ethan reached out and snatched the laptop from his hand. “And this belongs to my client, so you can throw in robbery, too.”

  “You got it, Ethan.” Joe, a former Metro officer, steered Wilson to the other guards, who zip tied his wrists together. “Want me to call it in right now or hold him for a bit?”

  “Just hold him.”

  Wilson strained against the ties. “Don’t do this, kid,” he growled to Ethan. “You’re going to regret it. He’ll ruin your life.”

  “At least I’ll go down swinging,” Ethan muttered with more confidence than he felt. Involving security had been a last-minute decision. He wasn’t sure if it had been the right one.

  He watched as the two guards began tugging Wilson off the casino floor.

  “Wait!”

  Ethan jogged over to them and thrust his hand into Wilson’s coat pocket. The other man gave him a mirthless smile as Ethan held up the USB drive with the files on it. “Now you’ve got nothing.”

  Wilson shook his head, almost pityingly. “You’re making a big mistake. Good luck with that.”

  “Okay, you can take him,” Ethan said through gritted teeth.

  The guards moved him forward again. They would take him deep into the casino’s administrative warren, to a secure room where cheaters, pickpockets, drunks, and violent assaulters were held before Metro PD arrived to take over the situation.

  “Never expected someone to get the drop on you, Ethan. Care to share what happened?”

  He turned back to face Joe. Despite his rattled nerves and churning gut, Ethan summoned up a rueful smile. “It’s an embarrassing story I’d rather keep to myself. I’m going to get heat enough from my boss as it is.”

  Joe laughed. “Sure. I get it. Maxmillian runs a tight ship. I’ve got my fingers crossed for you. Let me know if you need me to put some spin on this.”

  “I appreciate that. And thanks for picking up my signal. I didn’t want to cause a scene.”

  “This way was better,” Joe agreed. “Flipping a guy over a blackjack table tends to spook the tourists.” He studied Ethan. “You pressing charges?”

  That would open a very large can of worms, so Ethan said only, “Not sure yet. I need you to hold onto him for a while if you don’t mind.”

  “I can do that. He’ll cool his heels in there for as long as you need him to.” Joe cocked his head. “You okay? You said you’ve got a client wrapped up in this. Where is he? Or she?”

  “Upstairs in a suite. They should be fine. I’ll give you a call when we decide what to do about this guy.”

  “Sounds good.” Joe clapped him on the shoulder. “Keep me informed.”

  “Will do.”

  Ethan felt the other man watching him as he hurried back the way he’d come, but Joe’s suspicions would have to linger. Ethan didn’t know how much contact Wilson had with Max’s father and whether the elder Poole would be notified if Ethan didn’t board a plane in the next few hours. Best to assume Ethan had only a small window to pull himself out of this nightmare.

  He rushed back to the elevators and grabbed the first one going up. As the car stopped on four different floors on the way up, depositing guests, he ground his teeth together with impatience. He didn’t know how long Merrick might remain in the room…

  Why did I agree to let Wilson bully me in the first place? I shouldn’t have given up on Merrick.

  When he finally reached the suite, he used his extra key to burst inside. Merrick wasn’t stuffing clothes into his suitcase or packing up his camera gear. He stood at the windows looking out over the Strip, a glass of amber liquid in one hand. He flinched and spun around at Ethan’s dramatic entrance. He looked as though he’d aged twenty years.

  “Why are you back? What happened to Wilson?” A hopeful light flickered in his eyes. “Did he change his mind?”

  “No, but we can fix this,” Ethan told him, striding forward. “That’s why I’m risking this. I believe in you.”

  Merrick shook his head and downed half the contents of his drink. “It’s too late. The damage is done.”

  Ethan snatched the glass out of the other man’s hand and chucked it at the couch where it bounced and sprayed alcohol across the cushions. He thrust the laptop at Merrick.

  “Show me where you sent the files.”

  “They’re already gone, Ethan. I can’t take them back.”

  “Just show me.”

  Merrick sighed before accepting the laptop and carrying it to the desk where it had originally sat. With Ethan looming over his shoulder, he accessed his sent emails folder and brought up the email with the zipped files.

  “What happened to Wilson?” he as
ked Ethan as he worked. “What did you do to him?”

  “Less than he deserves.” Ethan urged him out of the chair and took his place in front of the laptop. “You’re in the same boat as he, unless you help me.”

  Ethan didn’t know anything about computers beyond the basics, but he forwarded the email with the files attachment to his own account in hopes that maybe he could find someone who knew something about tracking emails and whether they could be deleted from the receiving server.

  “It’s too late,” Merrick sighed. “Accept it.”

  “I’m not accepting anything. We can stop this. You’ve got the original files. Threaten to use them to reveal the conspiracy. Max’s father won’t want to be involved in a public scandal. This is too dirty for him.”

  “And hang myself out to dry? Risk having the money taken back from Moira and pissing her off so she’ll convince those models to sue me or worse, press charges? Ethan, Ethan.” Merrick’s laugh sounded as though he were choking. “I’ve risked too much to save my own skin to throw it all away for last-minute heroics that won’t even work.”

  Ethan stared at him, incredulous. It hadn’t fully struck him until now that the photoshoot, the manipulations—not only had they taken time and effort, but the plan itself could not have come together on its own.

  “Max’s father came to you because you’d been in a relationship with me. He was probably hoping for old photos or videos of me that would paint me in a bad light. At the very least, you would be a source for rumors. But you went above and beyond that, Merrick.”

  “He offered me ten grand.” Merrick looked away. “Moira wouldn’t have been bought out for that little. I had to sweeten the pot to get more. That’s when I came up with the idea of setting you up to look like you sell more than clothes.”

  “You really screwed me over.” Ethan stared blindly at the screen. The ache in his chest felt like a heart attack about to strike. “I trusted you. Not just when we were together, but now. I believed in your friendship.”

  “I-I won’t defend myself. I had opportunities to walk away, but I was too selfish. All I cared about was my career. My name. I didn’t want to be destroyed by a lie.”

  “I know the feeling,” Ethan said bitterly.

  Merrick rubbed at his forehead. “I’ve always loved you. I never wanted to hurt you. Not for anything.”

  “How could I have been so wrong about you?” It made Ethan question every decision he’d made. Max had been kind in suggesting he was gullible. He was nothing more than an idiot.

  “I’m a better liar than you realized, Eth. I guess I managed to hide that side of me from you when we were together.”

  Ethan refused to believe it. The intimacy he’d shared with Merrick didn’t leave much space for deceit. Yet their current situation couldn’t be denied.

  “My pride wants to call you the villain,” he said dully. “I want to blame it all on you. But the truth is I’m at fault for this, too.”

  Merrick dropped his hand to study him with a frown. “Why? Because you defended me to Maxmillian? Bullshit. You didn’t know better.”

  Exhaustion washed over Ethan. “I should have. I’m supposed to be smart like Max.”

  “No. Just, no. It’s not your fault.” Merrick’s expression grew strange. “I betrayed you. That’s not on you. Maxmillian shouldn’t blame you for that. I’m a piece of shit. Just like he figured out from the day he met me.”

  “You were backed into a corner by Max’s father—”

  “No,” Merrick cut him off sharply. “I did this, Ethan. I’ve destroyed your life and Max’s. Stop trying to justify my actions. It’s alright to hate me. I guarantee you that in a month from now, when it’s fully sunk in what I’ve done to you, you’ll wish me dead…and you’ll be right to feel that way.”

  A firm knock on the door startled them both.

  “Wilson?” Merrick gasped as he took two steps back.

  “No.” Ethan stood and moved uneasily to the door. “Who else could it be? Who else is involved in this scam?”

  “I swear there’s no one else!”

  I wish I could trust you, Merrick.

  With his hand on his holstered gun, Ethan approached the door. He didn’t anticipate violence, but he’d be a fool at this point not to be prepared for anything. He peered through the peephole.

  His heart plummeted into his shoes.

  Of course Max had come. The man knew everything. He’d probably learned of Merrick’s betrayal before the man had even committed it. Max had predicted from the beginning that something like this would happen, but he’d played along and allowed Ethan to hang himself with his own rope. Too bad this rope was going to encircle both their necks.

  Ethan didn’t want to open the door, afraid of the pain he was about to inflict. But Max would want to know, good or bad. Ethan opened the door.

  The relief that crossed Max’s face when he saw Ethan was another stab through the heart.

  “I’m sorry—” Ethan gasped.

  “As long as you’re alright,” Max cut him off, stepping forward and gripping Ethan’s bicep as though to confirm that he was real and healthy. “When you didn’t answer your phone…”

  He trailed off, allowing Ethan to fill in the blanks, but Ethan’s tongue curled up, reluctant. What could he do? Stall? Hold off the inevitable?

  Impossible.

  “S-something’s happened,” he forced out. “Something’s gone wrong.”

  Max’s expression smoothed out. It was the mask he wore when he learned of attacks on clients. “Let me inside. We’ll talk.”

  Once inside, Max saw Merrick and he stiffened. Yes, Max knew something. The animosity radiating off him felt like heat.

  “You have a lot to answer to,” Max told him.

  Merrick flinched violently and didn’t argue the statement.

  “So you know everything,” Ethan murmured, resigned.

  Max glanced at him. “I know enough.”

  “You were correct that something would happen,” Ethan said as he pressed his back to the door. “Somehow you knew…how did you know when I didn’t?” He searched Max’s cool profile. “Your father’s going to ruin your reputation. He’s going to destroy The Elite Poole if we don’t do as he says. What’s wrong with him? What kind of father does this?”

  “That’s not a question for us to answer right now.” Max looked at Merrick’s laptop, still open on the desk, then back to Ethan. “I presume all the incriminating files have already been sent?”

  Ethan nodded. “Your father hired a man—the client I thought was working with Merrick. He made sure it was sent. He’s down with Joe in Security right now.”

  Max didn’t question the chain of events. “And the demand from my father?”

  “That I leave you forever,” Ethan whispered. After a long moment of staring at Max, he added. “How are you so calm about this?”

  Max’s lashes fluttered briefly. “Looks are deceiving, Ethan. I am not doing well at this moment.”

  The confession broke Ethan. His knees gave out and he slid down the wall to sit on the floor. “This is my fault,” he choked out as he dropped his head into his hands. “You warned me, but I insisted I knew better. I was so arrogant about it… I wish I could take it all back. I don’t care if I suffer for my bad judgment. But you—” He shook his head, eyes clenched shut. “I shouldn’t be hurting you. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

  “My father is behind this, not you.”

  “Let’s be honest, Max. If I had listened to you and stayed away from Merrick, none of this would have happened.” He opened his eyes and stared bleakly at the floor. “It’s going to come out that The Elite Poole is a front for prostitution and your husband is a whore. Even worse,” he added with a broken laugh, “I’m one who services men. Extra disgust points for that. You’re going to lose all your clients, Max. Everything that’s happened since Axel’s announcement will be tame compared to what’s coming next. You’ll be humiliated and ostracized. Some
enemies will want you charged for running a prostitution ring. Maybe they’ll try to make you lose your licenses…”

  He closed his eyes against dizziness. “The name Maxmillian Poole will be dragged through the gutter until it’s worthless. That’s why you have to let me leave you.”

  He heard footsteps cross the carpet and stop in front of him.

  “Ethan, if you leave…”

  Max didn’t finish the sentence, and that was telling. Ethan dug his fingernails into his palms until pain flared.

  “The one good thing I can do for you,” he croaked as he opened his eyes, “is save you from my own idiocy. You deserve better than me. You always have.”

  Max’s expression twisted into a grimace, then settled into cool apathy. “You’re wrong.”

  “I’ve always wanted to be your equal,” Ethan continued. “I’ve wanted you to respect me. But I don’t have anything you want or can’t get on your own. I don’t have money, or connections, or influence. I don’t have power over anyone or power that I can give you. It’s only me. This body. What’s in my head. And it’s never been enough, but I always hoped you wouldn’t notice.” Swallowing felt like choking. “But the world has always known, and now…you do, too. Let me do this, Max. Let me save you the only way I know how.”

  “Saving me by tearing me apart?” Finally, emotion leaked into Max’s voice, but it was wretched, and Ethan wanted to cover his ears so he wouldn’t have to hear more of it. “How will that save me, Ethan? Do you honestly believe I could return to how I was before I met you? That I can simply erase this part of my life from my memory? You’re my husband. ‘Til death do us part.”

  “I remember that, but the reality is that me being your husband is the worst thing that could have happened to you.” Ethan dropped a hand to his hip, his fingers tracing over the tattooed ‘M’ there. “I love you so much that I would do anything for you. And in this case, doing anything means breaking your heart.”

  “You think I want that?” Max asked, his voice hoarse.

  “The Elite Poole defines you. If it falls, so do you. I can’t—I won’t let that happen.” Ethan let his head rest against the door. “I’ll always be your Achilles’ Heel. Please, Max. Let me be something other than your downfall.”