CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Dorian
Dorian forced a deep breath, and stuck his hands in his pockets. Nonchalantly, he strolled over to the car, where the paparazzi continued snapping shot after shot. Dorian smiled.
He has no idea what’s coming.
As long as Alicia made it inside safely, he could take care of the rest.
The man appeared as though he hadn’t showered in days. The jeans and buttoned shirt were at least ironed. The camera was an impressive piece of machinery. Definitely not cheap.
“Afternoon,” Dorian announced. He noticed a bunch of empty Chinese food containers in the front seat.
The paparazzo held up his hand, a disgusting smirk on his face. “This is a public plaza, and I have every right to be here.”
“You’re right.” He grinned. “This is a public plaza. A pretty one, isn’t it? Have you been to Klyde Warren Park before?”
“What can you tell me about your little girlfriend over there? The one you were so engaged with before? Or perhaps your other girlfriend upstairs?” He sneered.
The photographer let his camera rest right on his door frame. Totally unsuspecting.
Dorian had him completely distracted. “Not a damn thing.”
Before the paparazzi could respond, he snatched the camera out of the man’s hands and turned away.
The journalist jumped out of his car with a holler.
As Dorian walked to the main office doors, it didn’t take him long to find the SD card and pull it from the drive.
“I’m calling the police on you! You’ve stolen my property!” He reached for his camera, just as Dorian whirled around.
His smile expertly in place.
“Call the cops for what? You have no right to take my picture without my consent.” He handed the camera over. Perfectly intact. “And I haven’t stolen anything.”
“You were in a public place,” the photographer shot back, his breath reeking of garlic. “I can take whatever photos I want. Give me the SD card, or I’ll call the police.”
“Correction,” Dorian smiled. “We were in a public place. However, you are currently on private property. This office complex owns everything up to those cement barricades right there.” He pointed to the decorative stones arcing out from the entrance, where he’d lured the man between. “The photos you took were of me, on private property. Of which you are currently trespassing. Both are illegal.”
Two security guards stepped out from the revolving doors, not quite as muscular as Dorian, but big enough to make the photographer step back.
“You have to leave, now,” one of them snarled with a fierce stare.
“As soon as he gives me my SD card.” The photographer glared.
Dorian only smiled.
“Both of you.” The other guard pulled out his radio from his pocket.
Grace
He put me on hold.
Heat raged up her face and to the back of her neck. This new publicist, Cole Downey, kept her from talking to Ruben all weekend, and after scheduling a call for noon, now had the audacity to put her on hold. Grace glanced at her watch. If he made her wait much longer, she’d hang up.
The line clicked. “Patching through now,” some female voice chimed in.
Then another click.
“Gracie?”
Her heart humped in her throat. “Pax! Angel, how are you?”
“We’re having so much fun!”
She paused, trying to redirect her thoughts from the string of curse words she was going to sling at Downey. “That…that’s good, sweetie. What’re you doing?”
“Daddy taught us to build a sand castle, and he let us bury him in the beach. Like a pirate treasure!”
His words raced through her mind. Beach? They definitely were not in their publicist’s office, then. “You…you’re at the beach? You went on vacation?”
“It’s so fun here, Gracie! I told Mommy I want to move to the beach.”
She sighed. It would make sense to remove the kids from the ruckus. Downey was just playing gatekeeper. “That’s awesome, Pax. Is your mommy there?”
“Yeah, she’s been drinking a lot of juice with the pretty umbrellas. She even let me have one!”
The call crackled in her ear. She waited another second, but nothing. “Pax? Honey, are you there?”
“Hey, Grace,” a more feminine voice answered.
“Julie! Thank God you guys are all right. I’ve been trying to reach you for days.”
“I know, I’m sorry.” Pax’s mother sighed on the other end. “We had to whisk the kids off pretty quickly, and Downey confiscated our phones.”
Grace rolled her eyes. “Probably a good move, given all the crap being thrown around. Where are you?”
There was a pause on her side, and only the echo of waves and seagulls in the background filled the dead air.
“Julie?”
“Ruben told me not to tell you, in case someone had your phone tapped.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.
Tapped?
She hid the awkward pause behind a casual laugh. “It hasn’t gotten that bad here. Just lots of calls and photographers.” And people invading my fire escape. There was no sense in making an already nervous woman more anxious. “As long as you guys are safe, and the kids are out of all this.”
“How are you?” Julie sounded concerned.
Grace waved her hand, as if her friend could see her through the phone. “I’m fine. Takes a lot more than this to throw me. I was more concerned about you.”
“No. Gracie, I mean the charity. The fundraiser and donations you were counting on. Has that been affected?”
She rolled her neck, trying to stretch the tension. Donations had dropped in the last twenty-four hours by fifty percent. Confessing to Julie would make things worse than they already were. Not to mention it was the last thing she wanted to talk about. “No, we’re top shape there. Just…have fun, and we’ll talk when you get back. Are you still going to be here for the check unveiling Friday?”
The phone crackled again, and a much lower voice called out in the background.
“Hello?”
“Grace? It’s me.”
Ruben.
She blew out a frustrated breath. “I’m sorry I put you guys through all this.”
“Oh, knock it off, woman. This wasn’t your fault. Some jackass hacked into my cloud account.”
“Daddy said jackass, Mommy!” Pax’s little voice was easy to make out in the distance.
Grace couldn’t help but smile.
“No, I didn’t!” he called. “I said jack-n-ape.” A soft growl on the other end made Grace chuckle again. “Sorry. My attorney’s all over it. But I don’t want to talk about that. How are you holding up?”
“I’m okay. Just frazzled a bit. I’m handling it.”
“I’m so ecstatic that something good has come out of all this nonsense. Grace, I’m really happy for you.”
“Wh…what d’you mean?”
“The photograph…of the guy you kissed,” he whispered.
Her mind froze. “Dorian?” Her voice sounded an octave higher in her head, and her gaze darted to the bouquet of flowers by the window. “You saw that?”
“I’m the only one with a phone down here, and I sneaked a peek at the tabloids.”
She raised her eyes to the ceiling.
Great. He found another topic I don’t want to talk about.
“Seriously, Grace,” Rubin continued. “I didn’t know you were seeing anyone. Is he from work?”
“No, not exactly…it’s more of a misunderstanding.”
“That kiss was not a misunderstanding. Not from that picture. I didn’t take you for the bad-boy seeker. I’ve never seen you so…happy.”
She could hear him smile from the other side, and cringed. “Ruben, will you be back by Friday?”
“I want to, but Downey thinks we should skip it.”
The pressure between her brows increased. “If you don’t, it will look like we have something to feel guilty about. You and Julie should both come.”
“Yeah, that makes more sense to me. My agent said the same thing. My new publicist is just playing it safe.”
“Is he from the network? Or one you hired?”
“Kind of both. It’s complicated, but I have a lot more pull now that we were renewed for another season. Nigel is handling all of that for me. They’ll give me whatever I want around this whole fiasco.”
Grace scowled. The last thing she wanted was to have her issues enter into any business negotiations with Ruben’s career. Or her own, for that matter. “Your agent has been working overtime because of all this. I remember when most of his time was spent getting you auditions, and babysitting Daisy.”
Ruben sighed. “I know. We’ve both come a long way. But you know what,” he continued in a more chipper voice. “I’ll bring Julie to that unveiling, if you bring that Dorian guy. I’d like to meet him. Make sure he’s good enough for you.”
She pinched the bridge of her nose. More out of habit. Because the idea of bringing Dorian to stand beside her at the event didn’t unnerve her as much as she anticipated. Since when have I become so expectant for disappointment? “All right.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I…” I can’t believe I’m going to use his words. “To turn off all the rumors, I need to be seen with someone else, publicly.”
“Well, it’s about time.”
A buzzer rang on her office phone. “Ms. Evans? We have a security issue downstairs.”