Page 40 of Seduce Me in Shadow

“We’ve been over this. I gave you a perfectly good angle.”

“I don’t like glorifying a rapist.”

“Most of our clicks come from readers who think we write total rubbish and pop in for a laugh, or they’re lunatics themselves. They’re hardly questioning our journalistic integrity.”

Holly isn’t wrong, but I feel compelled to get this right. I know most of the stories I write aren’t real. So does Holly, and she’s always about the bottom line and whatever gets us onto the next story and more profit faster. But this article feels not only real but critical.

“My name is on the byline. And my gut tells me this angle is off. Then there’s safety, both the source’s and mine. What if this Mathias character actually exists? What if he’s not a savior but a villain?”

“Would a wizard trying to take magickind in hand really be spending his time reading human tabloids and compiling his hit list?” Holly frowns. “What’s made you change your mind? After our call yesterday, you seemed set with the story.”

“I talked to Caden. He asked me to consider a different slant.”

“His version won’t get more clicks.”

“Maybe not, but that poor witch makes me want to print the truth. If I do, maybe her family will find her.”

“And you don’t think she’s delusional?”

If anyone else were telling me this story, I absolutely would. “She’s clearly been through something incredibly traumatic. And the details she’s given me so far have all checked out. As fantastical as it sounds, I think she’s credible.”

“You want to believe her.”

“I do,” I admit. “But that doesn’t detract from the fact that people like the story as she’s told it to us. And according to her, Mathias is no hero. If we take Caden’s angle, we’ll have a narrative that makes sense with hers. We’ll also have done a good thing if we can prevent more women from being raped. Because let’s face it. Even if Mathias leads a good cause, he’s got a terrible human rights policy.”

“If Caden is causing you to hesitate on turning in a perfectly acceptable story, then he’s given you crap. Why are you letting that man crawl in your head?”

I should probably finish the damn piece and be done. But if there’s even a hint of truth to this story, then dangerous times are afoot. His concerns for my safety are valid. Besides, when he argued his case, I felt as if I was finally seeing the real Caden. “Granted, his behavior is a bit dodgy, but?—”

“What else has he done, besides trying to talk you out of perfectly good articles? Is he doing his job?”

“He is. Amazing pictures. Crisp. Beautiful angles, even on terrible subjects. His work is like art.”

“But?” Holly cocks her head, her blond ponytail swishing. “Oh, bloody hell. You two aren’t having an office shag, are you?”

I lower my head to hide the flush crawling up my face. “No! Maybe I’m overreacting, and I just need pointers on working with him more effectively.”

“If you can’t get on with a man that dishy, there’s no hope for you. Smile, flirt, if you must. Tell him what pictures you need and finish the job.”

“It’s not that simple. I hate to even bring this up because I could be wrong, but…I’ve wondered if he took this job to scoop the magical war story out from under me.”

Holly stands up straighter. “Why do you think that?”

“At first, he literally talked of nothing else and showed almost no interest in any of my other stories. But he’s asked athousand questions about this one and hounded me about the identity of my source.”

“I hope you told him to bugger off.”

“I did.”

“How did he take that?”

I hate to paint Caden in a bad light, but Holly is more than a boss; she’s a mentor, too. She can probably help me put this mess into perspective, but I can’t get her unvarnished opinion if I’m not honest.

“Over the weekend, he dropped by my flat and expressed romantic interest in me. I realized he was lying and threw him out. So he waited for me to leave and tried following me to my meeting.”

“Prat. I ought to sack him now.”

“I thought the same thing. I particularly doubted his reason for returning to the UK because he’s been so vague about his brother’s mystery illness. Do you know about it?”

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