Page 34 of Sixth Sin

She’s quiet for a moment. “But if you’re not responding, then I guess we won’t be meeting with the estate tonight.”

“Correct.”

Letting out a labored sigh, she props her elbow against the window and tucks her chin into her palm. “I don’t have money, Dominic.”

“I fail to see the problem.”

She groans and stares into traffic. “I couldn’t afford a shitty apartment in Chula Vista. How the hell am I supposed to pay for a hotel room in Hollywood?”

“Who said anything about a hotel?”

“Then where do you expect me to…?” Angel leaves the rest of the question hanging as she turns to face me, her eyes wide. “No way, Dominic. Absolutely not.”

Absolutely yes.

If she thinks I’m letting her wade through the shit infested waters I just stirred up alone, she’s crazy. Too much is riding on this for me to leave her in a hotel room to fend for herself.

“Why not? I have the extra room, and you’ll need a good front line offense.”

I expect her to protest. Instead, she shuts her mouth and bends over like every other schmuck in this town. The ones who learned quickly you can’t stop a train by stepping in front of it. This is Hollywood. It does what it wants, when it wants. If you want to come along for the ride, great. If not, get the fuck out of the way because it’s going with or without you.

Neither of us speaks again, too lost in our new reality to bother with small talk. It isn’t until I make the final turn into my neighborhood that I break the silence. “Here we are, home sweet… what the hell?” As my house comes into view, I take one look at it and every calculated move I’ve made goes up in flames.

Dozens of paparazzi are parked in front of my house, buzzing around like bees in a hive. Some I recognize, some I don’t. It’s hard to differentiate when they’re all swarmed together.

I’m not pissed because they’re here. After all, I just alerted the whole damn world I’d found a missing heiress. I’m pissed because they’re here. At my house. A place I’ve gone to great lengths to disassociate from both BTN and the McCallum name.

Angel has a white-knuckled grip on the dashboard as she leans forward and peers out the windshield. “Are all those…?”

“Paparazzi,” I finish for her. “In the blood-sucking flesh.” Although I admit, I didn’t expect quite this many of them. Just goes to show how quickly news travels.

Angel stares holes through them without blinking. “How do they know where you live? Don’t you pride yourself on your omniscient presence in this town?”

The way she says it isn’t a compliment. In fact, it’s a pretty direct insult, and if we didn’t have the tabloid apocalypse closing in, I’d call her on it. Instead, I settle on an irritated smirk as I kill the engine. “Well, you can’t expect to make history without making a few waves.”

Her breath catches. “So, what do we do?”

No time like the present.

“Give them what they want,” I say, opening my door to a storm of lights and flashes.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

ANGEL

I grab Dominic’s arm as he rounds the car. “You can’t be serious.”

Oh, but he is. Evidenced by the dark eyebrow he cocks as his gaze drops to where my nails dig into his wrist. “I’m sorry, were you unclear about the job description? This is what your life is going to be from now on. I suggest you get used to it.”

“But I’m not prepared.”

“Even better,” he says, his eyes shifting over my shoulder.

“What do you mean, even better?” Twisting around, I stare at the chaotic mob rushing across his lawn. As they draw closer, time rewinds, and memories I’ve fought so hard to lock away resurface, clawing at my chest and hissing in my ear.

“Jade, what do you have to say about the allegations?”

“Jade, did you really trade sex for stardom?”

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