Close Up: Exposure Book Three
Page 22
So, in order to control the message, I arranged to have dinner with Max, who was one of my media contacts at the New York Times. This story would be just the start, I knew, and I also knew that there was a chance that this particular story would blow up huge. After all, it wasn’t every day that a prominent CEO comes forth to say that he worked for the Russian mob. Granted, it was a long time ago….The best that I could do would be to whitewash it as much as I could, and hope that, because of the ultra secrecy of the syndicate, the media could never find out that I actually killed people. Let them think that I just was a cyber-thief, and that I didn’t really know what I was doing at the time.
I had to be prepared for the fallout when that happened. I knew that there would be a fallout, I just didn’t know how much.
When I got into the office, I called Max, who picked up on the first ring. “Asher Sloane. How the hell are ya?”
“Max, I’m doing great. Listen, I have a story about me. I can almost guarantee it will be on your front page. So, get ready.”
“A story. What does this story concern?”
“Me. My past.”
“I’m listening.”
“Meet me at Wolfgang Puck’s at 7 tonight. I hope that you don’t have plans. If you do, break them. This is going to be a big one.”
“I’ll be there.”
“See you then.”
As I hung up the phone, I took an enormous breath. I hoped I knew what I was doing. If something went wrong, I could very well end up behind bars. Or dead. And if something happened to me, then there could very well be a problem with my company. I had a guy who was ready to take over the company at a moment’s notice. His name was Sam, and I trusted him implicitly. He was the president of the company and I considered him to be my right hand man. So, I knew that the company would be in good hands, no matter what happened to me.
But would CJ? I felt for her.
It didn’t matter. I had to do it. It was time.
I met Max right at 7. I drove my Tesla and had it valet parked. I walked in, and he was already there, nursing a whiskey. He stood up, and I sat down.
“Okay,” he said. “I’ve been on pins and needles since you called me. What gives?”
“I better get a drink,” I said. “I think that I’m going to need it.” At that, I summoned the waitress. “A double scotch neat,” I said.
Max was looking at me with an expression that was one part wonder and one part curiosity. “Starting with a double scotch,” he said. “You must have something up your sleeve.”
“You have no idea.” The waitress brought our drinks around, and I immediately took a sip. “Okay, here’s the deal. I’m not who I say that I am. I lived another life in Russia that is literally world’s away from what I am today. Asher Sloane is not even my given name. It’s a name that I invented when I moved here, because I thought it sounded good.”
Max wasn’t saying a word, but he was writing everything down. “Go on,” he said. Like a good news man, he had a poker face. I couldn’t tell what he was really thinking, although I could have just imagined it.
The next part of what I was going to tell him was going to be the hardest. “The reason why I’m here in America is because I was in the Russian mob…..” I then spent the next hour telling him as much as I wanted to tell him. That would mean that I didn’t tell him about my killing people, but I did tell him about my surveillance activities as well as my activities in the cyberhacking realm of the organization.
He listened and asked questions when appropriate. When I was finished, he asked me another question. “Did you kill anybody when you were in this organization?”
“No. I didn’t have to, because my father was the head of this organization and he didn’t want me doing that.” Lying about my past had become as natural to me as breathing, so I was able to put forth that lie without breaking a sweat.
He looked at me suspiciously. “Asher, you do know that if you’re lying about that, I’ll find out about it, don’t you?”
“Of course,” I said. “I expect you to do your independent research on this.”
I had given him enough information, but not everything. I knew that it would be next to impossible to get any other information about me regarding my true activities because of the secrecy of the organization. I didn’t even tell him who my father was. That, too, was going to be next to impossible to find out. My original birth certificate was gone, long destroyed. Natalia’s was as well. My father knew many government officials who were tasked with erasing both Natalia and me from the records.
When I was done telling him everything, it felt like an enormous weight was lifted off of me. I was finally free.
I got home and saw CJ sitting on my couch. “Well, hello Mrs. Sloane,” I said to her. It was then that I noticed that she had a pregnancy test in her hand. She wasn’t looking at it, though. I also noticed that her hand was shaking wildly.
“I can’t look at it,” she said. “I know that it says something, but I’m too terrified to look at it. I hate this. I hate putting so much pressure on myself and on you.”
I put my arm around her. “You’re not the one putting pressure on us. I did that by lying to my father. So, don’t even feel bad.”
She then handed me the test. “What does it say?”
I looked at it. It very clearly said the word “pregnant.” I couldn’t believe it. My heart leaped about 1000 times. “Mrs. Sloane, we are about to become a family.”
She screamed. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.” Then she opened her eyes to look at the test. “We did it! We did it!”
I picked her up and spun her around while she laughed hysterically. “Let’s go out and celebrate!”
She took my tie in her hand and brought me to her. “Let’s stay in and celebrate.”
“Oh, we don’t have to do that anymore. We’re pregnant, remember? We don’t have to have sex anymore.”
She looked disappointed and I started to laugh. “Teasing, silly.” Then I kissed her passionately. “I agree, we definitely need to do some celebrating indoors.”
I carried her to our bedroom, and we made love for the rest of the evening. It seemed that the worst was over. I knew that it wasn’t, of course. I was fully prepared for whatever was going to come at me, though.
At least I thought I was.
About the Author
Well, I'm just a tad nutty in real life. A bit scattered, a bit of a dreamer, never together. I wanted to originally create a character based upon myself, because I felt that people could relate to somebody who is decidedly imperfect. And have her get the dreamboat man, because, let's face it, we all want that, right ladies? That was my inspiration for the story of Iris and Ryan in my Illusions books. Those novels were so well-received, that I just decided to keep on keeping on. Scotty, the current heroine in my Broken novels, is so much more together than myself. So it’s been fun to write her. And Nick has turned into a revelation – he seems to be a bit of a tough guy who is nothing but a womanizer, but I’ve found his soft side. I’m a little bit, ok a lot, in love with Nick and Ryan myself, and who wouldn’t be? I'm having the time of my life writing these books, and I want to keep on writing them until my fans decide that they've had enough!
My books all have things in common: they all combine a touch of mystery and intrigue with drama, love, and lots of hot sex. Some of the books have action and even some criminal elements in them. My current book, in fact, is my first book that would be classified as straight romantic suspense, although it also combines definite elements of the thriller genre! If you're in the market for a book that is fast-paced, where the heroes are beautiful and wealthy, and the heroines are strong, vulnerable and flawed, then try these books out!
@anniejocoby
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Also by Annie Jocoby
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AudioBooks:
Bea
utiful Illusions
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Deeper Illusions
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Broken
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Saving Scotty
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Ever After
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The Gallagher Family
Ryan
Beautiful Illusions
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Deeper Illusions
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End of Illusions
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Ryan Gallagher (Illusions Series Prequel)
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Nick
Broken
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Saving Scotty
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Ever After
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Exposure Series
Exposure
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Focus
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