Page 25 of Exposed

“Are you threatening me, Dominic?”

“Yes.”

“So, you’re trying to save your little girlfriend from public embarrassment. I get it but look at the other women that became even more famous from a sex tape. I’m helping her career actually,” she joked.

A knock on the door caused me to turn my head where I saw Danielle peeking in. “Dominic, we should go, I just heard from Adam. We’re moving forward with a lawsuit. Don’t waste your time trying to appeal to her conscience,” Danielle stated.

Jacinda stood up, stalking toward Danielle; I stood blocking her from trying to do anything.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt your boss. Listen, Danielle, I’ll give you a little advice, and you can thank me later.” Jacinda giggled.

“What is it, Jacinda? Spit it out!” Danielle snapped.

“Has everyone really been loyal at Raven Cosmetics?”

“What does that mean?” Danielle asked.

Jacinda shrugged. “It means the closest one to you could be a far worse enemy than me.”

“She’s lying. Distracting from the real issue with that fake story,” Zoe stated.

“Raven Cosmetics’ attorney will be in touch and Jacinda, I suggest you lawyer up. The lawyer for the newspaper already stated they wouldn’t back you after hearing Jackson Cole’s name being mentioned,” Danielle spat.

Zoe and Danielle walked out, and I studied Jacinda’s reaction. She smirked, walking back to sit down at her desk and picking up the phone. I wondered if she was contacting Lauren’s ex-boyfriend or the leak at Raven. Shaking my head, I turned, pulling my phone out, calling Emmanuel as I walked out of the door to catch up with Zoe and Danielle.

“Yeah,” Emmanuel answered, out of breath.

“What are you doing?” I asked, switching the phone from one ear to the next, looking for a notepad in my pocket.

“I just had to chase a photographer from Lauren’s place. There were two or three hanging out when we pulled up. She’s home now; a little shaken up, but fine.”

“Damn, I was hoping it wasn’t that close. All right, put a trace on Jacinda’s phone and car. I want to know everything she does and who she’s talking with. Tell Lauren I’m on my way now,” I said, hanging up the phone.

“You think she took the warning?” Danielle questioned, hopping in the car.

“Only time will tell. Keep the pressure up and monitoring at the lab ramps up. I need eyes on every person that walks in and leaves, including the janitor.”

Sliding the key in the ignition, I drove off, heading back to Lauren’s place after I dropped Danielle and Zoe off.

“Should we call Jackson and give him a heads up?” Zoe queried.

“Keep Muff out of this until it’s absolutely necessary. He’s been through enough, and the good thing about all this is that Jacinda tipped her hand.”

“What do you mean? The story is out, and social media is having a field day. All day, we’ve seen posts about the lipstick and body glow line being tainted and not safe,” Danielle fussed, leaning her head back on the seat.

“I’m the last person to tell you to stay off social media. But in this situation, we can use it to our advantage. Give the people what they want and direct the focus and turn a negative into a positive.”

“How do we do that?” Danielle asked.

“He’s right, Danielle, get Lauren and a few people at Raven to handle the social media account to do a Question and Answer. Find out what they’re looking for in makeup, push the launch party. Continue spreading that it’s only a limited supply that was messed up,” Zoe suggested, writing down notes.

“You really think this could work?” Danielle queried, locking eyes with Zoe in the front seat.

“I’ve made the biggest issues disappear with a little spin. Let me work with Lauren, maybe have her work from a Raven Cosmetics social media account and announce her favorite items are coming out. We drown out the noise of Maven magazine by giving them more of Lauren’s personality,” Zoe replied.

“I don’t want her doing any more photoshoots. We can barely cover the paparazzi hounding her at her place. I can imagine they’ve swarmed the Raven building,” I said, driving down the highway. I checked out the side mirror and saw someone hanging out the window taking photos of my car.

“Damn it!” I shouted, hitting the dashboard.

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