There was silence on the other end of the line again. This time, it lasted a lot longer.
“Fine. Name your price, and I’ll pay it. But I want all the copies of that tape. I swear to God Kiegan, if you try and fuck me over with this, you’re going to be sorry.”
“Tell me, Uncle Ed. Was she frigid with you too, or was it just me?”
“She didn’t move at all. It was like she was frozen. I think she was scared. But to be honest, I liked it that way. Now, when and where are we meeting?”
Kiegan looked at me. I knew we were both thinking the same thing. Holy shit, it worked! It actually worked!
“Fuck you, Ed. There is no tape. Well, there wasn’t, anyway. But I’m recording this conversation, so consider your political career over you fucking creep.”
Kiegan had pressed the “end call” button before waiting for a reply from his Uncle. He pressed stop on the tape recorder, then replayed the conversation, just to be sure.
“Oh my God, you did it,” I muttered as his Uncle’s voice came over the speaker.
“We did it, Tina. I would have never known, never been able to do this without you.”
“Ok, well now we have the tape, now what?”
“Now we absolutely, completely and totally destroy the Hunt name. We send it to the media.”
“Are you sure?”
“I am. I know my father, and you know your mother. Will either one of them believe us, or care, if we just tell them privately?”
“No. Besides, I want to destroy his dream. I could have gone to fucking Harvard. Instead I worked at a grocery store for minimum wage wondering how I was going to pay my rent. All because that fucker couldn’t keep it in his pants.”
Angry didn’t even begin to describe how I was starting to feel about Kiegan’s uncle. I knew we had him, and I wanted him to pay. Maybe destroying a man’s dream and livelihood is a bit too much, but whatever, I was pissed. And I knew Kiegan wasn’t going to stop me. Hell, he was the bad boy out of the two of us. This had been his plan, he was the one who tricked his uncle, and he was definitely on board with ruining his uncle’s chances to become President.
“Do you have any direct contacts in the news desks at any of the major networks?” Kiegan asked. I shook my head. “No, everyone I know is in entertainment. But Leanne will have all of the news people’s names and numbers.”
“Good thinking,” Kiegan replied. “I’ll ask her to email them to me now.”
Five minutes later we had a huge list with names, phone numbers (both cell and office landline) and email addresses for what looked like every single anchor and producer for every news show in America.
“Wow, Leanne is nothing if not efficient,” I muttered as I looked at the list.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t be where I am today without her. Don’t tell her that though, she’ll ask for a huge raise,” he continued, and I laughed.
We uploaded the audio file onto the computer and sent out an email to all the major news anchors.
“And now, we turn on the TV and wait,” Kiegan told me, grabbing the box of cupcakes and offering me one. I took it and sat down next to him, his arm wrapped around me, as we turned on CNN and waited to see how long it would take for Kiegan’s file to make national headlines.
It turned out the answer was ‘just under eight minutes’.
I was just finishing off the last bite of one of the tiramisu cupcakes when a “Breaking News” banner flashed across the screen, and the anchor was obviously getting some new information through her earpiece, but maintaining a professional composure while multitasking that I always imagined I would never, ever be able to pull off.
“I’m sorry for the interruption, but we’re going to have to come back to the story about the Measles outbreak in California. Here at CNN, we have just received some incredible news. We have audio footage of a conversation between Presidential nominee Edward Hunt and his nephew, reality TV star Kiegan Hunt, which implicates the Senator in a scandal involving Kiegan Hunt’s stepsister, Tina, whom he is reportedly dating. The recording clearly has Senator Hunt admitting to having touched Tina inappropriately when she was a teenager. We’re now going to play an excerpt of the tape.”
“Wow, they sure authenticated that one pretty quickly.” I muttered.
“Yeah, I guess they really wanted to be the first ones to go live with that story,” Kiegan replied. “Plus, news these days, they don’t care that much about whether or not something is true.”
“That’s a good point, it’s more about what gets them ratings.”
Kiegan grabbed the remote and started flipping through all the major networks’ news channels. Sure enough, they were all going nuts over the tape.
Kiegan’s phone began to ring a second later, and then mine as well. We looked at each other.
“They’re not going to stop ringing for a while, are they?” I asked, and Kiegan shook his head.
“Nope. What do you say we go out and grab some dinner, and just happen to forget our phones here?”
“Sounds good to me,” I replied, getting up off the couch.
Our plan had worked. Now we just had to see what the fallout was going to be.
Chapter Nineteen
The whole time at dinner all I could think about was what we had just done. We had literally ruined a man’s chances to be President, possibly even ruined his life completely. I mean, he deserved it, of course.
“Here’s to us,” Kiegan toasted as he held up his beer to me. I clinked with my Long Island Iced Tea. “We just brought down one of the most powerful families in America. No amount of damage control my father can do now is going to rescue the Hunt name.”
“Are you ok with it? I mean, I know my mom made me change my name to Hunt when she married your dad, but I was never really a Hunt. But still, it is your family.”
“Of course I’m ok with it. My aunt Isabella is the only person in the family I respect. Everyone else is just out for themselves, and I want nothing to do with that.”
I smiled at him. “We sure have come a long way from high school.”
“Yeah, we have,” he answered, looking at me with an intensity I hadn’t expected. “I love you, Tina.”
Hearing him say those words was so unexpected, so crazy that my breath caught in my throat. Had he really just said that? He had.
“I love you too,” I heard myself reply, and I knew as soon as the words came out of my mouth that they were true. I did love him. This man I spent years hating was actually my soulmate.
He took my hand and we looked into each other’s eyes. This was perfect.
After eating we went back to the hotel and decided to deal with the fallout that was bound to happen from what we’d released.
Kiegan’s phone had eighteen missed calls from Washington, and twenty two from our parents. Mine was full of calls from New York and LA, no doubt news and entertainment shows wanting to book Kiegan (and maybe even me!) on their programs as soon as possible. I also had a text from Leanne.
Congrats was all she said.
Thanks. It feels weird feeling good about destroying a man’s life, but fuck him.
Absolutely. Your mom is never going to speak to you again though.
I don’t care. As long as she keeps her daughter away from that pervert, which she will if the family have no power anymore.
True. Nice work, anyway.
“Split up and deal with these calls?” Kiegan asked, and I nodded. Going into the bedroom, I grabbed my work folder, opened up a new blank page and got ready to check my voicemail.
An hour later Kiegan was booked on about a dozen different shows. Everyone wanted me, but I refused to be interviewed. I didn’t want to talk about it at all, let alone on TV. I returned the next call, one of the most popular daytime TV shows in America.
“Hi, it’s Tina Hunt here, returning your call,” I greeted Katy, the producer in charge of booking guests.
“Oh hi Tina, thanks for getting back to me so quickly!” I heard her re
ply, then some shuffling as if she was quickly grabbing a notepad. “I’m wondering if it would be possible to book Kiegan and yourself onto the show for later on in the week.”
“Well Kiegan is in LA starting tomorrow, we’re flying out to start doing interviews then. So anytime on Wednesday is fine. I’m definitely staying off camera though.”
“Oh, that’s too bad. I got permission from the network bosses to make you a very generous offer of compensation.”
“Thanks, Katy, but I’m really not interested.”
“Seven million dollars for your side of the story.”
“What?”
“You’d have to be exclusive to us for that price, of course.”
“Umm… I don’t think… I can,” I replied.
“We’ll make sure that you’re well and truly prepared, you’ll be given the questions in advance, and don’t worry, we have tons of experience in making sure people who have gone through something traumatic have the best possible experience on our show.”
“Look, Katy. Can I call you back? In like, an hour?”
“Sure. Anytime. Think about my offer.”
“I will. Thanks.”
I hung up the phone and stared at the floor for a while. I had no idea what to do. I didn’t want to do the interview. At least, I didn’t think I did. I didn’t know. I didn’t know anything.
So I did what was quickly become natural: I went out to talk to Kiegan about it.
He got off his phone and asked me what was up. When I was done explaining the conversation, he asked me one question:
“Do you want to do it?”
“I don’t know. I really don’t. I mean, no, I don’t. Not really. But it’s so much money.”
“Do you think you would benefit from the interview?”
I thought about it for a few seconds. It would involve a live studio audience hearing my story, and then having it broadcasted to the whole country. It could be cleansing, in a way, I supposed. But I could also go to a therapist. That would be private. I would also be asked about Kiegan and my relationship, I’d be judged. If I almost cried when a woman called me a whore in a cupcake shop, this was going to be even worse.
“No. I don’t think I would.”
“Then call her back and tell her no.”
“It’s just so much money.”
Kiegan smiled. “Tina. I promise you, I absolutely promise you that I’m going to take care of you. You’re never going to need that much money, because we have so much money that’ll seem like pennies. But I understand your nerves. You’re worried that we’ll break up and you could have used the money. So let’s go get married tomorrow. At the courthouse. It won’t be fancy, it won’t be an awesome party, but maybe we can do that some other time, after all this drama ends.”
“Did you just propose to me?” I asked, not hearing what Kiegan was saying.
“Yup. What do you say?” he asked, opening his arms wide and grinning.
“Sure. Yeah, let’s do it,” I replied, as what we were just saying started to actually sink in. We were going to get married!
I called Katy back and booked Kiegan on, and told her I wasn’t going to do it, and Kiegan ordered room service champagne to celebrate.
We clinked glasses and looked at each other.
“Our parents are pissed,” he told me after our first sip.
“Figures.”
“They’re cutting Edward off though. He’s been ostracized by the family completely. We did it. Our sister’s not going to grow up in a world with him in it.”
We toasted that thought as well, then went to bed.
This had been one hell of a day. We’d ruined a Presidential candidate’s life, ruined the entire Hunt family name in public, decided to get married the next day, and saved our sister from a pervert. All in a day’s work.
Chapter Twenty
Leanne was my Maid of Honour at the wedding ceremony two days later. We decided to postpone the wedding for 24 hours so I could buy a nice dress and shoes (my one requirement), a couple of rings and hire a photographer. After all, even if it was just going to be a simple courthouse wedding, we wanted photos of it.
Kiegan surprised me on the morning of by taking me to the beach, where a nice little altar was set up with a red carpet leading straight to it.
With the sun rising over us, the soft waves of the Pacific Ocean lapping away behind us and little flecks of white sand at our feet, Kiegan and I said “I do”.
It was perfect. I couldn’t believe it had happened. I was in a white knee-length dress that flattered my curves beautifully, and gold sandals that glistened against the sand. There was no one else on the beach, since it was still the middle of winter, but it was still warm enough to be comfortable outside.
I gazed at my new husband after he kissed me, and wondered how on Earth we got here. We were so different. He was “America’s Bad Boy”, and I was basically the complete opposite. And yet, here we were. Married. Not a paparazzo to be seen. Just our own wedding photographer, Leanne, and Josh who acted as best man and actually put on a suit for once.
Hand in hand Kiegan and I walked off, ready to face the world together, and I knew that we were going to be together forever.
* * *
Four weeks later filming for Kiegan’s TV show had ended. I had moved in to his New York penthouse apartment with him, where he went to work every day and I started to re-do my college applications.
I knew I didn’t have to work a day in my life, but I wasn’t planning on being that kind of wife. I wanted to go into finance, and Kiegan told me as soon as I graduated there was a job ready and waiting for me here in New York.
He had decided not to do a second season of his reality show; not straight away, anyway. Even though it was a huge hit and he was in enormous demand, he figured he was better off concentrating on the venture capital business instead.
On top of that, I think Kiegan just didn’t want to see his face on the news so much. The Hunt family name was in total disgrace. A picture of Kiegan and I made the cover of Time magazine. “The Kids Who Killed the King” it was titled, and inside was an article about how Kiegan and I had taken down his uncle.
I was also in contact with the District Attorney in Middlesex County. He wanted to try Edward Hunt for sexual assault, as the statute of limitations hadn’t run out yet. I was going to do it. I didn’t want any other girls to go through what I had to. I was also seeing a therapist on a weekly basis, which helped.
I was sitting at my desk, working on an entrance essay for Columbia, when suddenly there was a knock on the door. I got up and answered it, and found a flower delivery man with a dozen purple lillies and baby’s breath.
Thanking him and wondering what the flowers were for, I assumed Kiegan had sent them as a “just because” gift. He occasionally did things like that, and I loved him all the more for it. When I opened the card, however, my breath caught.
Dear Tina,
I know you haven’t forgiven me for not believing you. And I don’t blame you at all. But I want to apologize all the same. I should have believed you, and I let my love for Elton and his family skew my judgement. Your sister is going to be born in two months, and I would really like for her to know the woman who sacrificed a lot for her sister’s well-being. If you’d like to get to know her too, I’d love to hear back from you.
My heart panged as I read the note.
My mom was right, I hadn’t forgiven her. I spoke to my therapist about it. After all, when you’re seventeen and your uncle touches you, the one person on the planet who should be there for you is your mother. And instead, my mom made me feel terrible about it.
So no, I wasn’t ready to forgive her. Not yet, anyway. But I still picked up the phone. Because I knew Kiegan would agree with me, being in our new sister’s life was going to be the most important thing of all.
The End
About the Author
Hi! I’m Victoria Villeneuve. I’m a small town girl at heart, with dream
s of living in a cabin in the country with my two dogs and my amazing boyfriend Mike. When I’m not writing you can usually find me enjoying a nice mocha in my local coffee shop, reading some of my favorite books by the lake or playing soccer with my friends.
I want to thank you for reading my story, I do hope you enjoyed it. I love to hear from my fans, so please don’t hesitate to connect with me online:
Website: http://www.victoriavilleneuve.com
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TKO (A Bad Boy MMA Romance) Page 31