17
Merritt
For a couple of moments, I was completely disoriented, the sound of ringing cutting through my sleep. With a grunt, I sat up in my bed, my pulse quickening as I tried to figure out if it was still night or morning. I’d had a pleasant dream that included Camilla, which brought a naughty smile to my face. Actually, it had been more than pleasant.
The sunrays penetrated through the curtains into my bedroom, and I squinted to protect my eyes from the sudden explosion of light, reaching for my phone on the nightstand.
I frowned at the screen when I spotted the name of one of the members from my public relations team. What now?
“What’s up, Marissa? Isn’t it too early for you to be calling me? It’s not even six!”
“Merritt, I’m afraid I don’t have good news.”
I sighed. “I figured as much. You wouldn’t be calling me at this God-awful hour if you didn’t have some bad news. It’s another one of those ‘Big Playboy Merritt’ stories? Bring it on.”
“I’m sorry to burst your bubble, Merritt, but I’m afraid it’s nothing like that.” She sounded distressed, and I frowned, sobering up. She was always composed, so if she was this affected, the news could only mean trouble.
“Then? What is it? Spit it out.”
“A tabloid has broken the story of you and an aide of another congressman sleeping together. They even have you two on the front page with a shit headline saying ‘A Scandal in the Congress! Congressman Dawson Sleeping with an Aide!’”
I ran my hand down my face, becoming livid in a second. How did they manage to find it out so quickly? No, the real question was—how did they find it out?
“You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
“And it’s not just some trash story without anything concrete. They had intimate knowledge in the article and the multiple pictures of the two of you together. I have to say, those pictures don’t look flattering either.”
“I can’t fucking believe this! And what pictures are you talking about?”
We had made sure not to be together outside, so they couldn’t have been taken on the streets or in the congressional offices.
“The pictures of the two of you posing together in the bed, which makes things way worse. The pictures don’t show more than your shoulders, but it’s clear that both of you are naked.”
I groaned and let out several curses. Now that I thought about it, Camilla had asked to take our pictures the last time she was in my apartment. We were lying in my bed, and yes, we were completely naked. Fuck. This was unbelievable.
“How the fuck did they get those pictures? She took those with her cell phone, so…”
“You said it yourself now. The pictures are from Camilla’s cell phone, so you tell me.”
“If you’re insinuating that she sold them to that tabloid, then you’re so wrong.”
“Then how did the tabloid get those pictures? How do you explain that?”
“There must be some explanation. Camilla wouldn’t do something like that.”
“And how do you know that, Merritt? For how long have you been with this girl? How do you know she’s really trust-worthy? For all we could know, she might be some gold-digger who has approached you only to get money and publicity.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, so shut it. I won’t let you talk about Camilla like that. And I’ve known her and her brother for years.”
Shit Carter, I had meant to sit down with him when I got back from campaigning. This was not how I wanted him to find out.
“At this point, we can’t trust anyone, and we have to be ready for everything. It wouldn’t be the first time that some aide did this to a congressman.”
“Maybe she got her phone stolen or something like that.”
“That’s not likely, because, as I told you, the article has details about your relationship. If her phone was stolen and someone sold those pictures to the media, they wouldn’t have the whole story about you two.”
“Look, we’re trying to minimize the damage, but I’ll be straight up with you,” she continued. “You need to do a series of interviews to clean up your name. You’ll have to say you acted in the spur of a moment—say that you were three sheets to the wind, emotional, anything that could explain why you would make such a foolish mistake. My advice to you is to blame it on her.”
I didn’t reply immediately, flabbergasted. Had she actually said that? “What? Are you serious?”
“I’m dead serious,” she replied, completely unperturbed by my judging tone. “We can make a story. We can say she was flirting with all congressmen and had a long history of affairs—”
“No. I’m not going to do that to Camilla.”
“Merritt, get serious. We’re not in the kindergarten and playing games. This can seriously damage your career. Your own party can go against you if they want. They are not going to bail you out of this.”
“I know that, Marissa. Goddamn it! Don’t treat me like I’m some idiot.”
“Well, excuse me for being brutally honest now, but you acted like one when you started seeing that woman.”
“Careful, Marissa,” I growled. “You’re crossing the damn line now.”
“I know, but what do you want me to do? Congratulate you and pat you on your back? As I said, the smartest thing for you would be to say that she seduced you and that you weren’t in your right mind when you hooked up with her. Say that you regret everything and that you’ll make sure she’s fired—”
“No. Absolutely not. I don’t care what you or the rest of the PR team says. I’d rather fire all of you than do that to Camilla. Understand? So don’t push it, because I’m seconds away from giving the whole team the sack.”
She let out an exasperated sigh, clearly annoyed with me. “You know you can’t do that. You would breach the contract and then you’d have to pay—”
“I don’t care about that. So you better watch your mouth from now on.”
“You don’t care about that? Are you aware of the negative publicity that stunt would bring you? You don’t need that at this moment.”
I didn’t answer anything to that. I couldn’t when she was right.
I hit my fist on the mattress, feeling terribly powerless. This was exactly what I had wanted to avoid. How the hell did this happen?
I didn’t understand, because we had both agreed to keep it hush-hush. And the pictures were from Camilla’s phone. If she hadn’t sold them to that tabloid, then how did they get them? And isn’t that such a big coincidence? She took those pictures just a few days ago, and bam, we had this story today? On top of that, she was the one who had insisted on taking those photos.
Did she break the story? But why? I couldn’t quite comprehend why she would do that. Was this all just to get further in her career? Would this hurt her brother too? She cared about him. I thought she cared about us.
I needed to call her ASAP.
“I understand, but I won’t do anything that could harm Camilla. That’s not my style.”
“But you do realize she might not be as innocent as you think?”
“I know, but as I said, I won’t do anything to ruin her career, and that’s my final answer.”
“I see. Well, then we have to think of a damn good story. We can’t issue an official denial since they have your pictures. So we have to admit to it. You can say that you weren’t aware that she was an aide of another congressman.”
I snorted. This was getting more ridiculous by second. “And you think the public would buy it? They’re not stupid.”
“Then you can also say that it was something temporary and you deeply regret it. You fully understand the consequences of your actions and you’ll make sure not to repeat your mistake again. Until the end of the press conference, you’ll shift the attention to the bill that you passed recently. Emphasize how important it is and how much good it will bring to the citizens.”
“Then you’ll remind them of all the good decisions you’ve made so far and insist that you’ll continue to work your hardest for this country and the benefit of its people.”
“Yeah, I know the drill in these situations. You don’t have to feed me with every single detail.”
“It doesn’t hurt to remind you. I will prepare the full statement by noon, and we can have the press conference at two. We need to do it before other media outlets break this news.”
“Fine. Whatever. But don’t put the blame on her in any case. Don’t even mention her.”
“I understand.”
“Good.”
I started tapping my fingers on my bed, anxious to finish with this call. I needed to call Camilla.
“Oh, and one more thing. You have to break all your contact with her immediately.”
I froze, staring at one spot on my sheets as I processed what the hell she had just said to me.
“Hell, no. I won’t do that.”
“Don’t push this. We can’t have it any other way. If you stay in contact with her, all this damage control would be useless. You need to stop seeing her for this to work. Remember that this is your career we’re talking about. Do you seriously want to risk everything you’ve worked on so hard because of one woman? If you continue seeing her, your party won’t take this so lightly, and there will be much worse consequences. Think about the incoming elections.”
I closed my eyes, the headache forming in the back of my head. This was so messed up, and I hated being cornered like this. Just when I thought everything was going well, this happened, and I was left with no choices. I didn’t want to lose Camilla, but how could I fix this? I was forced to choose between her and my career, and it was an impossible choice.
Then again, if she was the one who had sold the story to that tabloid… Once more, anger rose in me, and I fought against the anxiety that grew stronger in me. If she’d done that, I wouldn’t be able to forgive her. I needed to talk with her to know the truth.
“Okay, Marissa. I get your message loud and clear. At least, let me think about it, okay? In the meantime, make that fucking statement and organize everything.”
“I know my job, so don’t worry about my part. I’ll call you later.”
“Fine. Bye.”
I ended the call and dialed Camilla’s number right away, jumping to my feet. I was pacing around my room as one ring followed another and another…
She didn’t answer. I called her again and then again, and when the answering machine filled the line, I ended the call and threw the phone on my bed.
“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.