“It’s always someone else, isn’t it, Maya?”
“Like you said, believe what you want to believe, Bryce. You were so quick to believe all the things Sheridan told you, and what happened? They were lies. This is a lie, too. But again, I don’t care what you believe. I just wanted to know what was going on so I could get to the bottom of it.”
I turned and spun off, stomping down the hall. For a minute, I thought he would come after me, but he didn’t.
I couldn’t even concentrate the rest of the day. Jayla had messed with the wrong one. I passed her in the hallway, and I debated snatching her up, but no, I needed to figure out a different way to get her back. I could understand her hacking into my account, now, after we’d fallen out. But the incident at her house was before all of that. And if she was such a fan, why was she trying to get with Bryce—unless it was all a game from jump. More and more, I was starting to feel like this was all some carefully orchestrated plan.
Chapter 27
Just when I thought my life couldn’t get any worse, it did.
“Oh. My. God,” Sheridan said, staring at the open magazine someone had conveniently left on my desk.
When I had first spotted it, I didn’t know what it was. But now, there was no denying what this was. The magazine was open to the blaring headline: Miami businessman’s dirty money.
Is this why people had been whispering and laughing as I walked to first period? I thought it was the usual hate, but now, I realized they had been laughing at me.
I snatched the magazine up, stuck it in my bag, and turned around and strutted out of the room. I wanted to race out in tears, but nobody was going to get that satisfaction.
“Young lady, where do you think you’re going?” Mrs. Colson, my first-period teacher, said. I ignored her and kept walking. I didn’t care what kind of trouble I got into, but I couldn’t stay in this building one minute longer.
It was just my luck that I passed Shay and Evian on my way out. Both of them were snickering. I tried not to even look their way.
“Hey, Maya,” Shay called out. “Saw the article on your dad. Bummer.” She cracked up laughing.
I stopped and gritted my teeth as I fought back tears. I refused to cry.
“See, Evian, I told you. She can dish the dirt, but she can’t take it,” Shay said.
I glared at her. “Did you send this?” I asked, waving the magazine at her.
She rolled her eyes. “Please, you’re the only one who gets off by talking about people’s parents. I didn’t have anything to do with this. But do I find it hilariously funny? Yep.”
These people were really trying to break Maya Morgan. And for what? Because I was doing my job? I’d stopped doing stories on them, but they still hated on me. I had more secrets about each of them that I could tell, but I’d promised myself that I would keep my dirt digging out of my own backyard. Still, these people kept messing with me.
“Doesn’t feel good when the dirt is about you, does it, Maya?” Shay added. “You want to tell everyone’s business. Why didn’t you tell people that your daddy is a crook?”
I couldn’t help it. I stepped to her and said, “First of all, none of this garbage is true. Secondly, if it was, maybe your dad can give him some tips on how to stay out of jail, since that just so happens to be your dad’s second home.”
That wiped the smirk right off of her face. Still, she said, “Sweetie, the little weed charges my daddy gets in trouble for can’t even compare to what your old man is about to go down for. That’s some major penitentiary time.” She shrugged. “But, hey, maybe you can do your show from Rikers Island or something, since that’s where Daddy Dearest will be spending the rest of his life.”
We stood face-to-face like those people in the old Westerns. I didn’t know which of us would be the one to throw the first lick, but it was just a matter of seconds before one of us did.
Thankfully, Mr. Carvin’s booming voice interrupted us. “Ladies, I know you’re not causing any trouble. Let’s move it along. The bell has already rung.”
Shay looked me up and down, then turned to Evian and laughed. “Come on, girl. No need to let her get under my skin. The way I see it, she has enough problems.” They both cackled as they walked away.
I turned and headed toward the parking lot.
“Miss Morgan, your class is the other way!” Mr. Carvin called out. I ignored him, too. No way could I stay on this campus today. Thankfully, he didn’t come after me.
I got in my car, pulled out of the parking lot, and didn’t stop until I was parked in front of my house. I didn’t even realize I’d been crying. This was so not cool. I needed to get it together. I was going down like some kinda sucka, and Maya Morgan didn’t roll like that.
I noticed my dad’s car, parked along with our attorney Herman’s SUV and two other cars I didn’t recognize. I parked and raced inside.
“Dad!”
All five men in our living room turned to me. My dad sighed heavily. He looked like he was in the middle of some intense conversation.
“Sweetheart, I’m sorry, but I really need to finish this meeting,” he said.
“And I really need to know what’s going on. You told me you would handle it. You told me there was nothing to worry about,” I cried.
He walked over to me and took my hand. “There isn’t.”
I held up the National Enquirer, which was rolled up and clutched in my hand. “You’re telling me this is nothing to worry about?” I said, shaking the magazine at him. “Someone put it on my desk at school.”
Herman walked over to me as well. “Your dad is right, Maya. We are all over this.”
“Dad, you said this wouldn’t get out,” I cried, ignoring Herman.
“No, I said we’d handle it, and we are,” my dad said. “We can’t concern ourselves with some erroneous tabloid reports.”
“If it’s not true, why are they printing it?”
My dad half-smiled. “You know all too well how it is to get a nugget of information and run with it.”
When Mr. Sternham had first asked me about this, I had seriously thought it would never go anywhere. “Do you guys know how the press even found out about it?”
Herman and my father shrugged. “We just aren’t sure how they found out. Not many people know. But it very well could’ve been someone with the FBI who tipped the Enquirer reporter off.”
“What are we going to do?” I said.
“We”—my dad motioned around the room—“are on top of it and will get it under control. You,” he said, turning back to me, “will just continue being the fabulous daughter that you are. Just like I told your mom, I’m not going anywhere, and this will be taken care of. You just keep focusing on Maya.”
I sulked as I nodded, then headed up to my room. Focusing on Maya. Yeah, right. For the first time in my life, that was going to be easier said than done.
Chapter 28
I kicked off my Jimmy Choo spiked heels and rubbed my feet. Memo to self: Next time I have a show where I have to stand for a long time, wear more comfortable shoes.
“Hey, Maya,” Ariel said, sticking her head in my office. I hoped she wasn’t coming to offer me any fake condolences about the Enquirer article. I’d skipped out on school today just so I didn’t have to deal with the drama, and everybody at work had something to say about that stupid article They acted all concerned, but I knew they were just being nosey.
All I knew was that my dad needed to get this situation cleared up ASAP, because I so did not need this drama. I was not about to be on the red carpet at the People’s Choice Awards next month with this hanging over my head.
“Tamara needs to see you ASAP,” Ariel said.
“For what?” I was so not in the mood for some meeting.
“I don’t know,” Ariel replied. “But she has some bigwigs in there with her, and it doesn’t look good.”
I didn’t let my worry show because it was obvious Ariel was taking joy in something possibly be
ing wrong, so I shrugged it off. Plus, I knew all she needed was a little dirt and she’d go running to tell other people on the staff. Since I was going to see Tamara, I was going to tell her that I wasn’t feeling Ariel and that they needed to get me another assistant.
“You know I just passed by Ms. Collins’s office. The suits don’t look happy,” Ariel added.
“Okay, thank you,” I said.
“And Mr. Hart, the station’s attorney, is in there.”
“I said, thank you,” I repeated, not bothering to hide my attitude.
“Umph, I was just letting you know.” She wiggled her neck like some kind of ghetto drama queen before turning and stomping out of the office.
No, you’re just being messy, I wanted to say. But now, I really was nervous. If the station’s attorney, Mr. Hart, was there, that meant trouble. Tamara had told me from day one that if we saw him, it wasn’t a good sign.
My stomach was in knots as I made the trek down the hall to her office. I assumed Mr. Hart was the stocky, blond man in the expensive suit. I recognized the other guy as the director of public relations. The room immediately fell silent when they noticed me in the doorway.
“Come on in, Maya,” Tamara finally said. “Please have a seat.” Her cold tone sent chills up my spine.
“Um, is everything okay?” I asked, not moving.
“Actually, it’s not,” she said, motioning to the empty chair in front of her desk. “Please, take a seat.”
She waited for me to sit, then released a long sigh, before looking down at some papers on her desk. Mr. Hart and the guy with publicity still hadn’t said a word. My producer, Dexter, who was sitting in the back, was eerily quiet as well.
“The story you ran about Daysia McKinney, the reality star, is proving problematic,” Tamara began. “It appears the mug shot of Daysia was photoshopped to show her beat up, and the story was all wrong.”
I looked at Tamara in confusion. “What do you mean, it was wrong?”
“Wrong, incorrect, a lie,” Mr. Hart said. He didn’t bother trying to hide his sarcasm.
When Tamara had first told me two days ago that there might be an issue with the story on Daysia, I had just given her all my source information. We had people complaining all the time about the stories I did. And everybody and their mama had threatened to sue me. I never paid them any attention, because most of the time, they were all just for show. I was so wrapped up in everything that was going on with me that I really hadn’t thought there was a serious problem.
“There was an arrest record,” I said. “That’s what I reported.”
“Yes, on air, that’s what you said. But on the Rumor Central website, you posted the mug shot, and that’s what Daysia’s attorneys are saying was photoshopped. They say that she was not injured at all and that there never was an altercation, not to mention the erroneous information about some drug habit,” Tamara said.
“And WSVV is ultimately responsible for anything on the Rumor Central website,” Mr. Hart added.
“I didn’t have anything to do with what went up on the website,” I protested. “Jayla Cooper put that story up. I didn’t know anything about it.”
“So, you don’t check the website?” the PR guy asked.
I turned up my nose at him. I had enough on my plate. Now I was supposed to be responsible for checking websites, too?
Mr. Hart spoke up. “Well, we’ve already spoken with Miss Cooper and Kelly. That’s your assistant, right?” he asked Tamara, who nodded. “Jayla confirmed that you are the one who asked her to post the story on the website.”
“Well, Jayla is a liar.” I didn’t think it was possible to hate Jayla any more than I already did. I was wrong.
“She showed us the email the request came from. Your email address,” Mr. Hart said.
“I don’t care what she showed you. Either someone has hacked into my email account again, or she’s just flat-out lying.”
Mr. Hart pushed his glasses up on his nose and still looked over the top of them at me. “Yes, Miss Cooper did inform us of your belief that someone has hacked into your email. She said you changed the password, and this particular email came after that change.” He didn’t seem like he was buying anything I was saying.
“That girl can’t be trusted,” I protested, giving Tamara the evil eye. If she had listened to me when I first tried to get rid of Jay la, this wouldn’t be a problem. “I don’t know why Jayla has it in for me, but she’s trying to ruin my life.”
Tamara picked up a stack of papers and dropped them back down on her desk. “So far, she’s succeeding, because this is a million dollar lawsuit.”
“A million dollars?” I exclaimed. “That’s some bull. I was too through.”
“Miss Morgan, did you properly vet the story before you went on the air with it?” Mr. Hart asked.
“No, that’s why we have a research team. They’re the ones who confirmed her arrest record.” I didn’t understand how all of this was turning into my fault.
“Yes, but did you get clearance from a manager before you ran with something that wasn’t properly vetted?” he continued. He was talking to me like I was a child, and I so could not appreciate it. “Did you, Miss Morgan?”
“No, I mean, yeah. I got the tip right before I went on the air. We were short on time; our story had fallen through. What was I supposed to do?”
“You were supposed to run it by us,” Tamara said.
“I called Dexter and told him what I had.” I pointed back at Dexter. I expected him to jump in and say something, but he remained quiet.
“Did you run the stuff on the website by him?” Mr. Hart asked.
“I didn’t have anything to do with what was on the site!” I yelled.
Tamara gave me a stern look, and I took a deep breath to calm down.
“So not only are we facing a libel suit for what was on the site, but our reputation is at stake because of that photoshopped picture,” Mr. Hart said.
“Well, we need to be suing the person who gave me the information,” I said. It had never dawned on me that the picture might not be real. I mean, seriously, who would go to all that trouble?
Mr. Hart frowned as he continued talking to me. “Yes, we checked the records and the number you put into the files for your source. It is the number for an area Pizza Hut.”
“That’s the number Ariel gave me. It was for Daysia McKinney’s sister.” I felt knots building in my stomach.
“Did you ever call it?” Tamara asked.
“Well, no. But Ariel actually talked to her. The sister just sent me an email with all the details.”
“Yeah, we checked that out as well,” Mr. Hart said, looking at his notes. “Turns out, Daysia McKinney doesn’t have a sister.”
I fell back in my seat. It felt like someone had hit me in my stomach with a hammer.
“Maya, this is bad. Real bad,” Tamara said, shaking her head. Tamara had always been in my corner, but the look on her face told me that I was in this all by myself.
I couldn’t believe this. I didn’t know how, but somehow this was all tied to Jayla. I just knew it.
“Maya, I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to suspend you until the investigation is complete.” Tamara’s voice was soft, and I could tell she was upset.
I looked at her in disbelief. “Suspend me? We just went into syndication. How am I not gonna be on my own show? The people tune in to see me,” I protested. “I’m the one digging up the dirt that makes this show.”
“We don’t want the dirt if it’s wrong,” Mr. Hart quipped.
“We will have Ariel Edwards fill in until this is all worked out,” Tamara said, her voice calm. I know she was trying to keep me from getting any more worked up than I already was. “She’s young, so we won’t lose that core demographic.”
The PR guy nodded. “And her demo tape was pretty good, so we think she’ll be fine to fill in.”
Ariel? My assistant? I knew she wanted my job but dang, she had act
ually given them her demo tape?
“You have got to be kidding me,” I mumbled. Then it suddenly dawned on me that Ariel was the one who had brought me the Daysia McKinney story in the first place. What if she was the one who had set me up?
“I’m sorry, Maya,” Tamara said. “It’s just until we get all this worked out.”
“If this all gets worked out,” Mr. Hart corrected.
I could not believe I was about to lose my job over some bs. “Man, this is jacked up,” I said, fighting back tears.
“Young lady, this is serious. I know you’re young ”—he eyed Tamara—“which is why I was completely against your hiring. But you will learn in this business that we cross all our t’s and dot our i’s to prevent this very thing from happening. Because if we don’t, a lawsuit is the end result.” He dropped his notepad in his briefcase, closed it, and stood.
“I need to check with the station owners and give them an update. I’ll be in touch,” Mr. Hart said, looking at Tamara. He glanced over at me. “Hopefully, there won’t be any long-term damage done.” Both Dexter and the PR guy followed him out.
“I don’t believe this,” I said, after they were gone. “Why am I getting suspended? I told you this was all Jayla. Or maybe even Ariel. But one of them set me up.”
Tamara sighed heavily. She looked like the whole situation was as draining to her as it was to me. “Don’t be ridiculous. Why would either of them try to set you up?”
“Because Jayla’s a freak and Ariel wants my job.”
“Ariel says all she did was take a phone call and pass the info on to you.”
“If there even was a phone call. She might have made the whole thing up,” I snapped.
“But, at the end of the day, it’s your job to verify information you air on your show, or at least make sure it gets verified. It’s not Ariel’s job. When you go on the air, it’s your name on the line. And besides, this isn’t some type of plot. Dexter saw her tape and told me about it. She never asked me to let her fill in. I went to her.”
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