“Damn it! Camilla, what are you doing? Why aren’t you answering your phone?”
This could mean only one thing.
She had actually sold the story to the tabloid. There was no other explanation.
I sat down on my bed and buried my head into my hands, devastated. We had been really starting to get somewhere, but I guessed that it had all been an illusion. She’d never liked me. Hell, she had probably made all that fuss about playing safe only so she could have me running after her like a fool. She had acted disinterested to attract me. To make me crazy about her, wrapped around her little finger.
She had been using me from the start. She had used me to find her a job, and now she was using me so she could climb up her career ladder. She was clever, I had to hand it to her. Maybe Carter was even in on it. He had pushed me to chase after her. Damn, you think you know people.
And I was such a fool. She didn’t feel anything for me. Instead, she was this conniving fox who waited for the right moment to strike and get what she wanted.
But she was wrong if she thought I would let her get away with this just like that. I would confront her and hear the whole truth. And then I would make sure to stay the hell away from her. For good.
18
Camilla
I was making coffee for the office, wondering how I could have forgotten my cell phone at home. There were two things I always, absolutely always, carried around with me, and those were my wallet and my cell phone.
But this morning I slept in and I had to rush out of my place so I wouldn’t be late for work. I almost went out with a mismatched jacket and skirt, having dressed in a hurry. I was so lucky to arrive here before my shift started.
“I’m dying for that coffee right now,” Megan whined behind me, typing something furiously on the keyboard. She had been talking about the coffee for the past half an hour, until I caved in and decided to make it. “I feel like I’m going to fall asleep any moment.”
“I feel ya,” our colleague, Ben, added. “I stayed up too late. I was playing Counter Strike.”
“You and your games,” Megan told him. “How old are you, again? Thirty-five? And you’re still playing games? No wonder you don’t have a wife.”
He flashed her his grin. “Who needs a wife when I can spend all my time on my computer? Games are way better than women. And they are way less demanding.”
“Amen to that,” Joshua, our other coworker, said. “I had an argument with my wife last night and she made me sleep on the couch.”
“Did you, really?” Megan asked him. “Sleep on the couch?”
Joshua blushed, looking sideways. “Yeah.”
“You’re crazy,” Ben told him. “If I had a wife, I would never let her treat me like that.”
“Well, you don’t have a wife, so don’t act like you’re a know-it-all,” Megan rebuked him. “Each marriage is different, so don’t judge them that easily.”
“What’s there not to judge?” Ben bit back. “She forced him to sleep on the couch, for God’s sake. Would you want your husband to force you to sleep on your couch?”
Megan rolled her eyes. “Like I’d let him.”
“That’s my point. And Joshua, our man here, is a wimp.”
“To each their own, people,” Joshua replied to them.
I giggled softly, pouring our coffee in cups. And I’d thought I had it bad with all that sneaking around with Merritt.
“I think we’re all a bit jittery because of the lack of sleep. So we’ll have our morning dose and we’re all good,” I said to them, always the peace-maker.
I put the cups on the tray and carried them across the room to where Ben and Joshua were sitting, serving them their coffee. Then I proceeded to Megan’s desk and left her cup before I took mine, leaning against her desk.
“Mmm, Camilla your coffee-making skills are out of this world,” Megan said after she sipped her coffee.
I let out a chuckle. “It’s just coffee, Megan. It’s not rocket science.”
Taking a sip of my coffee, I glanced at the desk next to hers, and the world stopped moving. I choked, my eyes widening when I spotted a tabloid sitting on the desk and spit out my coffee all over Megan.
“Camilla!” Megan complained, jumping up to her feet. “What the hell, girl?”
“I’m so sorry,” I mumbled my apology and grabbed the tabloid before she could spot it. There, in huge, white letters, wrote, “A Scandal in the Congress! Congressman Dawson Sleeping with an Aide!”, and if that wasn’t humiliating enough, they had pictures of Merritt and me in the bed all over the front cover.
Oh my God. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
Those pictures were from my own cell phone. How did they end up on the front page of this tabloid?
I had to get out of here before my coworkers saw this and started giving me the third degree.
“Camilla? What’s going on?”
“Um…” I lowered the tabloid, making sure she couldn’t see the front page. “I’m so sorry for spilling my coffee on you. Here.” I grabbed a package of tissues from my desk and handed it to her. “Use them before the coffee dries on your blouse. I’ll get you a new one.” I was already close to the door. “I’ll be right back.”
Wasting no time on explanations, I rushed out of the office with the tabloid in my hand. I passed several colleagues, but other than nodding at me in greeting, they didn’t pay attention to me, which meant they hadn’t read the article. Good.
I went to the nearest restroom and locked myself inside, my heart pounding wildly.
Before I could stop them, the tears welled up in my eyes, and the shock wore off, letting me realize how terrible this situation actually was. I was right on the front page. Naked. With Merritt. Anyone could see this. My parents could see this. My brother.
My boss could see this. Oh God.
This was a huge scandal. I pressed my hand against my mouth, battling against a strong wave of nausea. I couldn’t panic. I had to go through this as calmly as possible…
But first things first. I had to read this article and see what they had written about us.
With trembling hands, I opened the tabloid, afraid of what I might encounter inside. How did they know about Merritt and me? We had been extra careful not to let this happen. So how did someone do this?
I found the story in the middle and I started reading, my pulse quickening with each awful paragraph.
“Is this woman Dawson’s latest conquest? They have been seeing each other for weeks… They act like they don’t know each other at work… They spend time at his or her place… Her neighbors claim they can hear loud screams coming from her apartment during their passionate moments…”
And much, much more horrible details. They knew everything!
I was blind with tears, and my chest hurt. For the first time in my life, I had no clue what to do and how to get out of this mess. This would destroy everything I’d fought for all these years. When I went out, they would eat me alive. I was sure my boss would fire me. Then I would have to face a public backlash…
Oh no. I went to the sinks and gripped the counter, looking at my pale face in the mirror. I was shaking terribly, unable to will myself out of here. I needed to prepare myself. I needed to prepare myself for whatever mess I was about to face.
This was exactly what I had feared when I decided to date Merritt. I should have known something like this would happen sooner or later. But how?
Did Merritt do this? He could have been angry with me for rejecting him after I used him to get me a job. Maybe he wanted to get even, so he hired someone to hack my phone and have those photos sold to that tabloid.
This would explain a lot of things. After all, he was a playboy who wasn’t used to hearing “no”. Maybe his ego was hurt, and he wanted to get back at me.
I pressed my hand against my chest, dejected. If that was true, then all these days, all those moments… They had been a lie. He had lied to me when he said he liked me and
he just acted like he cared about me. He had probably been using me for sex and now that he got tired of me, he was exacting his petty revenge.
Only, it could ruin me completely.
No. I could go around in circles and torment myself with all these questions, but I had to talk to Merritt first and demand an explanation.
Taking deep breaths, I willed myself to calm down before I got out. I looked at the front cover of the tabloid again, feeling nauseous at seeing such intimate photos published like this for the whole world to see. I’d have to call my brother later and explain everything to him. And then my mom. Hopefully, she hadn’t seen this yet.
I ripped the tabloid in pieces until the front page and the article part were unrecognizable and threw it into the trash can. I washed my face and walked out of the restroom, planning to use the nearest phone in my office Merritt. Luckily, I had his cell phone number memorized.
Glancing over my shoulder to see if I was drawing attention, I picked up the phone and dialed his number. How many people had already seen that piece of trash?
I called Merritt, but he wasn’t answering. Ring after ring increased my anxiety, and I wished I could scream my frustration out. This was not what I needed now.
I had thought my life was going well. The work was good, and I grew closer to Merritt more and more. I was so sure my life had finally gotten on the right track, but I’d had to know better. Being with Merritt was a terrible mistake.
“Come on, pick up.”
I called Merritt again, but once more, there was no response, and I slammed the phone back to its place.
I wanted an explanation, so I wouldn’t let this slide. There was only one way I could reach him, since he wasn’t answering his phone. I would go straight to his office.
I took a deep breath and headed there, my legs wobbly. I had to confront him no matter how harsh the truth could be.
Thankfully, no one stopped me and claimed to know what was going on between Merritt and me. Everyone minded their own business, barely sparing me a glance, and I felt grateful for more moments of anonymity because all the hell would break loose after more people found out about this.
I planned to ignore his secretary and storm right into his office, but the woman who couldn’t be older than me had other plans.
“What are you doing? You can’t just barge in Senator Dawson’s office,” she said, stopping in front of me with her arms spread wide apart.
“I need to see him right now. It’s urgent.”
“Senator Dawson is a very busy man, and he can’t see you right now. If you need to talk with him, schedule an appointment with him.”
I hated how smug she looked. She was staring at me as if I was stupid. I felt an urge to push her away and get into his office no matter what.
“Do you understand me?! I just told you that it’s urgent. I need to speak with him now—” I tried to side-step her, but she prevented me from going forward, pushing me back.
“And I just told you that he can’t see you right now.”
“Get your hands off me!” I shrieked at her. “I’m going in anyway!”
“No, you are not! I won’t let you bother Senator Dawson when he is working! As I said, schedule your appointment first and then you can see him.”
I bit into my lip, telling myself to stay calm. As much as it was possible under these circumstances, anyway. “Look, I really need to see him, and I’m not going anywhere until I do. I’ll camp here in front of his office if I have to.”
“Well, then I’ll call the security and they will kick you out. How does that sound?”
I was a second away from cursing at her, but I bit my tongue before I could do it. I didn’t need to make more problems than I’d already had.
There was no other way then. I would have to wait for Merritt to finish his work, and then I would talk to him.
19
Merritt
I was staring at the document on my computer without even seeing anything. I was waiting for Marissa to give me an update of the situation, all the while thinking about what the hell was Camilla doing. Anger didn’t leave me for a second, and I wanted nothing more than to march into her office and demand answers. However, I didn’t want to make an even bigger scandal.
“Do you understand me?!” I heard someone yell outside of my office. “Get your hands off me!” A female shouted. “I’m going in anyway!”
What was going on now?
“No, you are not! I won’t let you bother Senator Dawson when he is working!”
I stood up, expecting to see some snooper from the media bulldozing their way into my office. I needed to prevent that.
I opened the door and froze at the doorstep, half-surprised, half-pissed off to find Camilla arguing with my secretary.
“Camilla?” She turned around to face me. “What are you doing here?”
“I came here to talk with you, obviously. But your secretary wouldn’t even listen to me when I told her it’s urgent.”
“It’s okay,” I said to my secretary, grabbing Camilla’s upper arm. “I need to talk with her.” I pulled Camilla into my office and closed the door behind me.
I was prepared to argue with her about why she would release those photos, but then she backed away from me and began to cry. I was rendered immobile, bowled over by her reaction. Why was she crying?
“Camilla?” I wanted to reach for her, but my anger didn’t let me. I still felt the sting of her betrayal. “What is going on? Why are you crying?”
She shook her head, visibly trembling, and met my gaze. “Why would you have my phone hacked?”
Excuse me? “What? What are you talking about?”
She began sobbing, wrapping her arms around her as if to protect herself. “You know what I’m talking about, Merritt. I’ve seen that article in the tabloid. Our photos are all over the front page!”
I fisted my hands, boiling with anger now. “Yes. And that’s all because of you!”
She recoiled, gaping at me. “Me?! You’re the one who has hacked my phone and sold those photos to that tabloid.”
“What the hell are you talking about, Camilla? Hacking your phone? Are you serious? I haven’t done anything like that!”
She shook her head again, backing away from me. “You’re lying. I should’ve known you would lie and refuse to accept your responsibility. Just tell me why you would do that. I thought…” She whimpered, looking away. “I thought we had something. I thought you really liked me. But now I know it was all a lie.”
She glared at me. “This was your revenge. You’ve probably held a grudge against me all this time for refusing you twice. First, that night at the bar, then the second time when I told you to cool things off. I bet that really hurt your ego.”
At first, I just stared at her, trying to understand her logic. My ego was hurt? She really thought I had something against her because she had refused me?
“You know nothing about me, Camilla. I’m not flawless, but I’m definitely not some jerk who does things for such stupid reasons. I would never get back at you for such an idiotic reason. I would never get back at you, period. When you refused me, I was ready to let you go. I certainly didn’t plan to you use you while planning some sick payback.”
“And since we’re blaming each other, let me tell you a few things too. You had a legitimate reason to do it as well.”
Her eyes widened. “I can’t believe this. You blame me?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Just like you blame me.”
“What possible reason could I have to do that?”
“You tell me. Maybe you wanted to advance your career, and this was your way to achieve it.”
The moment I said this I regretted it because her eyes filled with utter sadness and her face fell. I could see that I’d hurt her, and I wished I could take back my words.
“I seriously can’t believe this. I thought you knew me, at least a little bit. I thought you knew how much I value hard work and honesty. Yes, I
want to go a long way but not by using dirty, cheap tricks. Besides, think about it. How would this scandal bring me any good? I will most likely lose my job now! No, not most likely. I will lose my job!”
She was becoming more distressed, and my heart clenched. I didn’t want to see her like this. Lost and suffering.
“And not only will I lose my job, but I’ll also have to face the attacks from the public. I will have to face my parents and Carter and explain to them how I managed to get myself in this mess. This will break their hearts.” She ran her hands through her hair, her tears never-ending. “And you know what? I’m disappointed in myself. I’m disappointed that I accepted to be with you despite knowing better. Now, I have to pay for that mistake. All because of you.”
I was watching her meltdown, not quite able to say anything as the realization dawned on me. I cursed myself for being so stupid and full of mistrust. She truly believed that I was the one who had hacked her phone and released the images. This was not an act.
All my anger evaporated, and I went to her, erasing the distance between us. I placed my hand on her shoulder, a pang hitting my chest when I saw her wince.
“Look, I didn’t hack your phone. You have to believe me. I really care about you, Camilla, and I want to make you happy, not ruin you. Think about this—even if I wanted to get a revenge on you, do you think I would do something that can damage my career too? Because this can damage my career, and it won’t be pretty.”
I rubbed her shoulder with my thumb, offering her a tentative smile. “It wasn’t me who did this, but we will find the one who is responsible for this. We’ll get to the bottom of this mess. I promise you that.”
I could see her struggling to believe me. I cupped her cheek ever so tenderly and wiped off one tear after another.
“Please, don’t cry. We’ll figure out how to minimize the damage.”
“So… It really wasn’t you? You didn’t hack my phone?”
“I didn’t. I was so furious when I found out about the article, thinking you were the one who was responsible for it because the photos were from your phone.”
7+Us Makes Nine: A Nanny Single Dad Romance (Baby Makes Three) Page 42