by A. C. Arthur
“I’m an investigator,” Sam said with a shrug. “It’s what I do. The minute I saw the interview with diMarco I did some searching and found that there were half a dozen complaints of sexual assault in Milan alone against him. Of course those complaints had mysteriously been dropped, the women never to be heard from again. Can you say pay off?”
He frowned, stating angrily, “Adriana wouldn’t have accepted a dime from him.”
Sam shook his head. “And he never offered because she never reported him. Besides, she lived in the states, he stayed in Milan most of the time. He figured it would never touch him.”
“So why come out of the woodwork now? What’s his game?”
“Money, I suspect,” Sam told him. “It’s usually the lure to all things concerning lies and slander.”
“So you think somebody paid diMarco to do that interview and claim that Adriana came on to him and then cried rape?”
“That’s exactly what I think.” Sam scooped sugar into his black coffee, stirred and then took a sip. “We follow the money and we may get an idea of who started this game in the first place. I’ve got Bree working on his financials while Bailey’s still tracking the hacker.”
“I’m glad I called you,” Parker told him. “Trent and Bailey both talk about how good you are.”
“Hey, like your aunt said last night, we’re family. Some of yours are married to some of mine, or someone that’s related to someone that’s married from mine. We’re all intertwined now, including the Bennetts, so you guys better figure out a way to get along soon.”
“Yeah, well, one task at a time,” Parker said looking down at his vibrating cell phone. He’d stuck it in the front pocket of his jeans and had just pulled it out as he’d felt the first vibration. It was an email notification.
While he’d opened it and read, Sam had remained silent. But when he looked up, the man was staring at him almost knowingly.
“I’ve got something else for you to trace,” Parker said and headed into the living room where Sam now had two computers set up.
#
Marvin and Beatriz Bennett looked like they’d just been knocked down as they sat on the couch in Adriana’s living room. Out of the corner of her eye, Adriana saw that her brothers weren’t taking the story she’d just told any easier.
There was a thick lump in her throat and her fingers had clenched and released so many times as her hands sat in her lap, she thought she might eventually develop arthritis from the movements. But when she’d awakened this morning, from a very long and sleepless night, she’d known what she had to do. Rising early, before her brothers even, she’d fixed coffee and made herself two boiled eggs. After she’d eaten she’d watched some of the news and went onto some of the social networks. She needed to know what was being said about her and how people were reacting to those pictures and messages. As she’d suspected it wasn’t good and reading everything wasn’t easy. But it was necessary. She needed to know exactly what she was facing, and so did her family.
A couple hours later, Alex and Rico had gone to the airport to pick up her parents while Renny had been tasked with babysitting her. As the youngest brother and the first to migrate away from the family business, he’d been much more understanding about her need to do her own thing than Rico or Alex were. But now, he was looking just as astonished and angry as the others.
“I didn’t tell you because I was afraid. I thought somehow it might have been my fault for wanting the career in the limelight and wanting this independence from the family so badly. I didn’t want to disappoint you,” she told them before taking a deep breath. “But I know that was the wrong way to deal with the situation. And what I did to cope, the bulimia, it didn’t help. It actually made things worse. The counseling and medication that I endured during the time I was trying to get better helped. But this is what I’ve needed all along, to tell you guys everything and to accept that it happened and that it wasn’t my fault.”
Beatriz cried, Marvin reaching for her hand and holding it tightly.
“You should have come right home to us,” her father said sternly. “You could have called and I would have come to get you.”
“We would have come to get you and we would have dragged that sorry assed designer to the nearest police station,” Rico chimed in.
“I know. I know,” Adriana told them. “I know that I could have done that and you would have certainly done all of those things. I never doubted that you would all be there for me. I just wanted to handle it myself.”
And she had to an extent. Sure, she’d gone the wrong route, but without traveling that way, Adriana doubted she would be the woman she was now, or at this point in her new career. As bad as it all seemed, maybe it all needed to happen to bring her to where she was supposed to be.
“I’m talking to my therapist again and working on different ways to deal with my stress. This text and picture scandal hit me hard, but the interview with Carlo, that was a breaking point for me. He’s going to say his part and I felt like I needed to say mine, at least to my family.”
“You’re going to get packed and come back home with us,” Marvin said definitely. “This modeling and acting, its over. You’re coming home where we can look after you and keep you safe.”
Adriana sighed and she looked to Renny.
“I don’t know if that’s the best plan for her, dad,” her brother said in her defense.
Alex surprised her by coming to stand next to her and saying, “I have to agree with Renny, dad. She’s made something for herself here. She’s a success. That’s why whoever is doing this can make such an impact. They’d never go after someone who wasn’t at the top of their game. And this is what makes her happy. I think she should stay here and keep working on her craft.”
“But she’s all alone here. We had to wait a day to get down here to her this time, what if the next time that day is too late,” Marvin continued and Adriana could hear the fear in his voice. She saw the look of pain and disappointment in his eyes.
She stood then, going to her father and sitting on the couch beside him, touching a hand to his arm.
“I’m an adult, daddy. I can take care of myself. Sometimes I may do the right thing and sometimes I may not. But those are my choices to make and fix. I’m not going to quit and run and hide from any of what’s going on. If someone wants to come at me, then let them, but they’d better damn sure be ready to stick it out for the long haul because I’m not going to be a victim or an easy win for anybody. Not ever again.”
Beatriz leaned over her husband then, taking Adriana’s hands in hers, patting them with a smile on her face, even with tears streaming from her eyes. “I’m so proud of you, baby. So very proud of the woman you’ve grown into. I wish you would have trusted us enough to tell us what was really going on with you, but I guess that’s partly our fault. If you’d felt like we were totally in your corner from day one, then maybe you wouldn’t have second guessed what was right and what was wrong.”
When Adriana opened her mouth to speak, her mother simply shook her head. “No more apologies and no more explanations. We’re moving forward from this point. I want you to know and to trust that your father and I love you very much. We’re proud of you and everything you do. Don’t you ever forget that again, do you understand me?”
“Yes, mama,” Adriana said quietly. “I understand.”
“Sam’s got something. He wants us all to come back to Parker’s place as soon as possible,” Rico said interrupting them, and stuffing his phone back into his pocket.
“Oh yes,” Beatriz said to Adriana, still holding her hands. “That’s another conversation we need to have. The one concerning you and this Parker Donovan who cares enough to want to know what you like to eat.”
For the moment, Adriana was glad for Rico’s misgivings towards Parker because her brother definitely did not want to hear any conversation concerning the two of them. So when he’d implored them to get up and get to Parker’s place to find out
what was going on sooner, rather than later, she’d been inclined to give him an impromptu hug. Even though she knew in the end, that he wouldn’t be happy with her next announcement. Rico wasn’t going to like the fact that she was totally in love with Parker Donovan.
#
“The pictures were obviously photoshopped,” Bailey Donovan spoke over the speaker phone with all of them gathered around in Parker’s living room once more. “That was easy enough to prove once we broke down the properties of each picture. As for the hacker, well he was a bit more clever than we’d originally thought. Whoever it was they used a burner phone to actually type in the text messages and they didn’t use the same software to hack into your phones as the one we downloaded. So on that front, we need to figure out who would most benefit from these pictures and messages going public? Or who was pissed off about you and Adriana being together?”
Adriana spoke up immediately. “Jaydon was really upset about us being together. She called me yesterday yelling and screaming that I’d disrespected her and was acting unprofessionally. And she’d been showing up at the studio in the last couple of weeks, whereas, she had never done that before.”
She couldn’t believe she was saying all this about the woman who had been her first step into this company, this family. But what she’d said was true and Adriana had questioned why Jaydon was at the studio. She’d also questioned Parker about what Jaydon had been saying to him the day of the wrap-up celebration.
“She said the same to you, that day at the party, didn’t she?” Adriana asked Parker.
He looked for just a second like he was going to deny it, or maybe he’d forgotten that entire conversation. She had no clue, but she wasn’t going to let him slip out of giving her an answer now.
“She was upset about us seeing each other, said it wasn’t good for the company and it was irresponsible of me,” Parker said with a shake of his head. “A few weeks back she’d come here asking about us getting back together. I thought she was just testing the waters, not that she was serious in any way. But then, the way she’d come at me at the celebration had seemed off too.”
“Wait a minute,” Savian interrupted. “Are we saying that Jaydon is the one that did this? Why? She works for us. If we go down, so does she.”
“But if she’s harboring a broken heart none of that matters,” Regan offered. “If she wants to hurt Parker for rejecting her once by asking for the divorce and then again by shutting down her offer of a reunion, then she might do whatever she had to do to get relief.”
“Mistakes from the past,” Reginald said in a quiet voice.
Parker’s gaze had instantly gone to his father and Adriana grew concerned.
“But the movie,” she said. “Jaydon was excited about that. I don’t think she’d want to mess that up and yesterday she said that Thad had cancelled our phone conference about when I’d go to Paris to interview for the role.”
“Would Jaydon send this email message?” Sam asked finally. “The message that so far has been confirmed that all of the members of the Donovan family received this morning.”
“You think the two are connected?” Dion asked from his seat by the door.
“I think this email message is definitely connected to the windows being broken out at your houses,” Sam told them.
Gavin nodded, holding tight to Regan’s hand. “I agree with that.”
Reginald and Bruce looked at each other.
“But whoever wanted to get this message out to the entire family wouldn’t single out Parker and Adriana,” Rico chimed in. “If the goal is the entire Donovan family, why start with them right at this moment?”
“Because we’re the ones in the spotlight right now,” Parker said. “The show’s doing fantastic. I’m the executive producer and I’m the one that’s in a relationship with the star of the show. If you’re gonna hit us, you hit at the top for that moment. The magazine and the television stations are constantly in the news now, whereas the oil company is a more established and low key company, but for how much money its still pulling in. But they’re not at the forefront with the Donovan name, not right at this moment.”
“I think he’s right,” Dion said. “Take us down from the top and the rest will crumble.”
“Nobody’s taking the Donovans down,” Reginald said adamantly. “Nobody!”
“Besides Jaydon, who else might have a gripe?” Sean asked.
“Giovanni,” Parker said. “The guy was spouting ridiculous stuff about Adriana. Savian talked to him about it and then when I approached him he was belligerent and obnoxious. So much so that he just quit before I had the chance to fire him. He was at the celebration party and he…” Parker paused. “He made a comment about pictures speaking louder than words. That was just before I had the confrontation with Jaydon and she mentioned Carlo diMarco by name. Like she’d already known who he was in relation to Adriana.”
Adriana sucked in a breath. She’d been sitting about two feet away from Parker on the couch and was intent on keeping to her own space for the moment, but as the conversation had gone on she’d begun to feel like whatever was going on was connecting all of them for one reason or another. She moved a little until she could reach out and touch a hand to Parker’s knee.
“Maybe she was the one who paid Carlo to do the interview. He’d want a lot of money,” she said thinking further. “Would Giovanni have the money to pay him?”
“I’m texting Bree right now asking for the financial information on diMarco that she was working on. Like I told Parker earlier today, if we find out who paid him we’ll know who sent those pictures.”
“But will that also be the person who sent this email message and broke the windows?” Dion asked. “I’m not so convinced of that connection if we’re looking at Jaydon and this Giovanni character. That email message seems personal to me, way too personal for Jaydon to just come up with this plan. Besides, I’ve seen her with our family over the years and while Parker might have broken her heart, I don’t really buy that she’d end her career or try to end our family, over it.”
“I’ve got to agree with him,” Sean said. “It’s a stretch.”
“It’s a lead,” Parker added. “And we’re going to follow all the leads until we get the answers we need.”
Reginald and Bruce got up at that point, both of them going out onto the terrace. Parker looked at Savian, and Dion and Sean looked over to them. They were still wondering what was going on with the Senior Donovans.
“We’re going to find the answers,” Adriana said, taking Parker’s hand in hers. “We’ll find out and we’ll fix it.”
Chapter 13
Fixing it would entail hiring an attorney, they learned later that evening.
“Sam sent me a text on the new phone with the name and number of an attorney that’s new to the area. He said she has a really good reputation back in Chicago where her family has a large firm. She’s bringing a branch of the firm here to Miami. It’s called Langley Law and her name’s Jenise Langley,” Parker told Adriana when they stood alone in his kitchen.
She’d insisted on cleaning up after the morning pow-wow that had gone well into the afternoon when she’d suggested they order pizza for everyone. As Janean and Carolyn had stayed at home, there were no home-cooked meals being offered at Parker’s place. His mother and aunt had made up for that by calling around four- thirty telling everyone that dinner would be served at Carolyn’s house at six o’clock sharp. Everyone had cleared out of Parker’s place in the next fifteen minutes.
Before Parker had gotten the chance to ask her to stay, Adriana had volunteered to help him clean up before going over to his parents’ house. A happier surprise he could not have asked for.
“When can we get an appointment to see her?” she’d asked while using some of the sanitizing wipes he kept under the sink to wipe down the countertops.
“Savian wants to call to make the appointment. He thinks keeping our names out of circulation as much as possible is t
he way to go.”
She shrugged as she turned to face him, leaning back against the counter. “I don’t know how long we’re going to manage to do that. Besides, we don’t even know who we’re suing yet.”
She looked different today. Her eyes seemed brighter, her complexion too. Her hair was pulled up into a messy bun, stray tendrils falling down wistfully, giving him the urge to reach out and touch.
“So we’ll just talk about our options. The pictures were photoshopped, our phones were hacked. There has to be some legal standing for that type of harassment. And this Jenise Langley person might be the one to help us fight back.”
Adriana nodded then. “Right. I agree that we should take a stand against this type of intrusion. I’ve also been thinking about Carlo. I told my parents,” she said looking up at him.
Parker had been trying to keep his distance. Now, he moved slowly toward her. “And how’d it go?”
“My father was really pissed. And my brothers too,” she said.
Parker nodded. “I can imagine that,” he said thinking of how her brothers had still been sure to stand close to her today. While she’d once again sat on the couch with Parker, the three of them had stood right behind the couch, as if they were prepared for the second anyone tried to do something to her.
Even for Parker and how he felt about Regan, this was a bit much. No wonder she’d felt the need to move away from her family and spread her own wings.
“Renny and Alex came to my rescue when my dad wanted me to pack up and come home. Rico was reluctant but he also agreed that I shouldn’t back down. I’ve worked too hard to get to this point.”
“You don’t have to run away or leave your job,” Parker told her intently, hating the fact that he was even saying those words. “I’ll tell you that this is a price of fame. It’s not a good price and not even a justified one, but as long as you’re in the spotlight there’s going to be the possibility of someone coming after you or what you have.”
“You’re used to dealing with that aren’t you? I mean, I heard about what happened last year with Dion and Sean and the woman trying to buy their magazine.”