Page 24 of Exposed

“I don’t know, but I intend to find out,” Dominic replied.

“Let me go with you, D. Obviously, she has it bad for destroying this company. Is there anything else we need to know about? I’m calling our lawyer to get the magazine to pull the plug on this story,” Danielle stated. I cleared my throat; everyone looked over at me.

“I didn’t think this was a big deal at the time, and I thought it was my ex. But I’ve been receiving text messages from unknown numbers.”

“What did the messages say?” Zoe questioned, pulling out her phone.

“Basic stuff- congrats from your number one fan. I think the other was about the photoshoot. I don’t remember.”

“Anything else?” Dominic asked, jumping out of his seat, walking toward me and placing his hand on my lower back.

“The card from the flowers I got at the beach only said Will Meet Soon, and I tossed it in the trash when I left. I wasn’t thinking it could be connected to this,” I told him.

He caressed my back, and I leaned into him. Everyone stared at us.

“I told Adam to send a cease and desist letter. Don’t worry, Lauren, you’re not getting fired. We’ve been your age once; go home and wait for me to call. Zoe, have the party invitations gone out?”

“Yes, we have about a hundred and twenty people coming, and the media has been vetted. So don’t stress, Lauren. The show is going on, and this Jacinda person will find out what I do best, and that’s putting companies on the map. Raven Cosmetics isn’t going anywhere,” Zoe announced.

Danielle and Zoe walked out of the office. Dominic nodded to Emmanuel.

“I want Emmanuel to take you home and do a sweep of your place. I’ll be there as soon as I’m done here. We still need to talk,” Dominic stated, lifting my chin and staring into my eyes. I nodded and left with Emmanuel.

Chapter Fifteen

Dominic

Thirty minutes later we stormed the offices of Maven magazine, and I was fucking pissed. The fact that she would stoop this low to destroy someone because they didn’t want to do an interview was absolutely ridiculous. Danielle talked with the receptionist, and she wasn’t letting us go back, and I didn’t care. I charged through the employee entrance, and they followed behind. Knocking and opening door after door, I finally found Jacinda in her office. The secretary tried to jump in front of us to block our entry.

“Tammy, it’s okay. I can handle them,” Jacinda stated, waving us inside.

“Have you lost your mind? Post a retraction and apologize and remove the link to that fake sex tape of Lauren right now,” I demanded. She didn’t flinch at my harsh glare. Jacinda crossed her arms, glaring into my eyes.

“No, I did my job. Hello, Danielle and Zoe. Are you here to do an interview?” she questioned.

“Jacinda, you misrepresented yourself and snuck into Raven’s to do an interview that wasn’t vetted. I expect you to get on the phone and retract every word in that bogus report,” Zoe said, picking up the phone.

“My report isn’t bogus. I have samples from the company, and we tested it ourselves. Consumers need to know what they are spending their money on. You should be thanking me,” Jacinda said, taking a seat behind her desk.

“Let me talk to Jacinda alone for a minute,” I suggested.

Zoe and Danielle nodded and stood outside the door.

“I knew you would come around,” Jacinda said, licking her lips.

“There will never be you and me again. You fucked that up when you cheated on me.”

“I apologized to you about that Dominic, how long are you going to hold onto the past?” Jacinda shouted, jumping out of her seat.

“Forever! I gave you everything, and you threw my heart away and stomped all over it. To top it off, have a kid and pretend he was mine. If I brought an outside child into our relationship after cheating…”

“I would have tried to make it work.”

“And yet you still were seeing the guy that you cheated with—all you wanted was my money and status. You never loved me, Jacinda, and pushed away other women because of your deceitful actions.”

“What can I do to change your mind?”

“Nothing you do will change my mind but do your job or face the consequences.”

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