Page 21 of Dauntless

“It’s still moving forward,” he said. “I understand you have hired Ian Starling and his team from New York to handle it. He sent me a message this morning.”

“Good,” I nodded.

“Oh, and Mr. Westbrook has countersigned on the new bank loans for you to keep Perfetto going while the investigation continues,” Stuart added.

I shook my head and smiled. “He shouldn’t have.” Dane was too much, but that wasn’t going to be the end of it. I would pay him back.

“Mr. Westbrook also sent over something to say he’s not taking over Perfetto even with the loan,” Stuart added grinning. “It’s good you have a friend like that on your side.”

I grinned too. “He overreached, but I’ll talk about that with him later. So, are we done for now?” I asked.

He stood up, and we shook hands. “We are. I’m serious about what I said. Your dad would worry about the video, but he wouldn’t have let anyone put you down, ever. He is always proud of you.”

My throat closed. I needed to hear that. Not being able to discuss my situation with my dad because he is losing his memory was hard, so having his best friend, Stuart, to work with was a godsend.

“I’m sorry this happened to you,” Stuart added.

Astrid appeared at my door when we opened it, her face blotchy. “I came to walk over with you to the announcement.” She put her hand on my back., but I waved her away. “I’ll be all right,” I tried to assure her.

She nodded then greeted Tove, who I apologetically forgot was there. We all walked out to the center of the department—the venue was chosen for the meet since the conference room wouldn’t hold all the staff.

I straightened my shoulders and walked over to the podium they had set. A look around the room, and I could see some worried faces. I sucked in air and smiled like I had done so many times on the campaign trail.

“I’m here to announce that Astrid Marin will take over as the CEO of Perfetto Cosmetics effective immediately. There is no one better and more capable of leading Perfetto. I’m grateful to have her, and I know Perfetto will continue to grow and succeed under her leadership. While I won’t be able to see you all every day, know that I’m still here for you and that I appreciate all that you do. I…I love you all. Thank you for being my family. Keep up the amazing work.”

A flash of all the good times we had over the years came up, and I faltered but kept myself together. The tears I had would come when I was far away from those that needed strength. It was the last thing I could offer.

My speech went on, and I stayed focused and positive turning it over to Astrid who made a joke before talking about how thrilled she would be in leading Perfetto forward.

Afterward, I shook the hands of a few staff members that came forward. Others stayed back, staring at me. It was as if I became a stranger in the space of a few hours. Then there were others offering sympathetic support. But what I sensed was relief. I felt it too, knowing my company would keep going.

My assistant and I did a walkthrough of my office tagging things I wanted to be sent home and then, I packed a bag and left with Tove. We found the press in the car garage, and once they spotted me, they moved in with video cameras and microphones. I lifted my chin and kept walking with Tove blocking anyone that tried to get too close.

Mrs. Walsh, was that you in the mask on the porn video?

Are you dropping charges against The Agency matchmaking service?

I stopped by the door and announced as calm as I could, “A statement has been released and another will be available on the Perfetto company website soon. Thank you.”

Tove helped me in the car where I sat waiting behind the tinted windows while he, with the garage security, cleared off the press before driving out of the garage.

Once we were on the road, I took out my phone. The screen flashed with a new message. It was from Liz, and it had an attachment. I read her message first.

Liz: I received this video, and I thought I should forward it to you, just in case you haven’t seen it yet. Sorry.

I could see from the attachment’s thumbnail that it was the video from the boat party on the cruise. Had The Agency told her to send it to me?

It wasn’t enough to release it but to include Liz in harming me was just too much. I was going to delete it, but I pressed play. What I noticed first was that the men in the video had their faces blurred. The camera panned around to the room to show the tables of others there, before zeroing in on me, the only one whose face wasn’t blurred, and there it remained.

It then showed blurred Dane, removing my clothing. It zoomed in on him stroking between my legs. Then, panned out once more to show Vincent and Elliot’s blurred faces across. The sound increased to a woman moaning loudly. It wasn’t me.

The video next switched to a photo of me in my underwear lying unmasked with my eyes closed on Marco’s bed. I didn’t look drugged, I looked asleep. I looked, and I couldn’t stop looking. Social media, local news channels, were agog with the leak. Questions as to why I’d made up such an elaborate fabrication when there was proof that I had been unabashed and wanton in my “performance” on camera followed. Then there were the endless, faceless comments on my body, on how humiliating I was. My email alerts blew up with pings of new messages, more likely with questions I couldn’t answer.

My face grew hot, and my blood pounded. My sense of self shattered as despair whirled my mind into a frenzy. I couldn’t stop looking and what I saw was worse than I had imagined. There was no coming back from this. There was no going up from here. I was publicly defiled. Finished. They’d made good on their threat and won. To them, their action was a demonstration of power, but to me, it was a desecration of my soul. Everything stopped as I gave into it. Tears threatened my eyes, and I wanted to give myself over, but if I did, I feared they wouldn’t stop. My throat caught fire with pain. I struggled to fill my lungs with air.

“Gia.”

No. Don’t speak. Never speak or show myself again.

---