Page 16 of A Little Discovery

For more information on the upheaval at Holloway Industries, please see the press release from this morning :

Holloway Industries Blacklists Heir

College Dropout Lucas Holloway

Denied Employment After Divorce

I open the file with the photos, and I’m blown away. Some of the photos are the ones that I took, but there are at least three that are obviously from another camera and day. The lighting is wrong, and the person taking the photo doesn’t understand how to actually capture someone’s appearance. There was never a woman at the motel, and these photos don’t show anything except a blond woman standing at the door of the room Lucky was in the night I took his photos.

“I’m going to fucking kill her,” I growl out. The last photo of the woman is clearly Sabrina in a wig based on the reflection off the car window.

Eric manages to snatch his phone out of my hand before I throw it, but my anger isn’t subsiding. Eric passes the phone to Eli so that he and Jay can read the article while I pace the porch in my rage.How dare she use my photos to frame him!The man I observed wanted nothing more than some junk food and cartoons, but she painted him as not only a liar and a cheater, but a thief as well.

Eli pulls out his own phone and starts sending a message to God only knows who. When he glances up, there is a feral look in his eye.

“Let’s see how the bitch likes the media turned against her,” he says. “Spencer, it’s time to brush the dust off and get arealinvestigation going.”

His phone pings and his smile widens. “You’ve just been officially hired to investigate Sabrina Carlisle and her false claims against one Lucas Anthony Holloway aka Lucky Hollow. You have an unlimited budget, and your fee deposit is half a million dollars.”

I choke on my coffee… Half a what now?

Jay whistles before he takes a sip from his own mug. “His parents?” he asks after a minute.

“Nope,” Eli says, popping the P with a chuckle. “Our landlord.”

LUCKY

They didn’t even chase me off the porch. I ran deeper into the woods for about five minutes before I realized I didn’t hear any footsteps following me. Without someone chasing me, I don’t see a point in running, so I turn around to trek back toward the house after putting my shoes on. It doesn’t take long to find the trail back, but at the edge of the tree line, I decide to stay hidden. Instead of sitting and waiting for the coast to clear, I creep along in the shadows to get close enough to listen to the guys talking on the porch.

Crouching down behind a bush, I stay as still and quiet as possible.

“Our landlord?” Eric asks. I can’t see who the question is directed to, but Eli is the one who answers.

“He is very interested in the well-being of everyone who is invited to live in the manor,” Eli says. “He already gave his blessing for Lucky to move in, so he’s one of us now.”

I’m one of them? Someone who has never even met me, wants me when my own family has rejected me. This mysterious landlord wants me here and is even willing to protect me…Honestly sounds too good to be true, but they don’t know I’m listening. It must be true. But why?

“Can you get a press release to counter the interview before the video airs?” I’m guessing that one was Spencer. I never got an actual introduction between him helping my ex-wife set me up with a fake pregnancy and him trying to keep me from running away to save myself.

“It will be tough to get someone to air it, especially without his side of things,” Jay says. Whose side are these guys on that they need some man’s word. Knowing my luck, they’ll paint me as a thief or something so my former father-in-law can get sympathy donations to his failing company. I’m pretty sure if my twenty million couldn’t save it, nothing can. But he’s welcome to try.

“They can interview me,” Spencer says. “I have the original files, my copy of the notarized statement that was supposed to go to the judge, and the notice of receipt that both she and her lawyer received them. Plus, if I have a couple hours, I could probably find out where the money went as well.”

I’m so confused about what they could be talking about at this point, so I pull out my phone to look up what might have been happening. The battery shows I’m at about ten percent, but it’s enough to open the browser and look up my name. Against my better judgment, I have to see what fresh hell my ex-wife has decided to put me through since I didn’t reply to any of her eighty two text messages over the last twelve hours…

CHAPTER 11

SPENCER

Avery didn’t manage to get my interview aired or printed before six, but that was by design. Eli might be a Sadist, but he also doesn’t like to drag things out. His call was to refute Sabrina’s interview before her lies could be broadcast, but Eli doesn’t know Sabrina Carlisle like Eric and I do. She would have found a way to claim the media twisted her words and had time to come up with something even worse for Lucky. I wanted her on video, as evidence, for the fraud and defamation case I am building against her.

“You sure you want this delayed?” she asks me as they clip the microphone to my shirt. “We can go live immediately following her clip on Channel Two.”

My original plan was to do a breaking news segment after the news was over, but a live rebuttal immediately following… that is freaking genius.

“You are amazing, Avery,” I lift her hand for a kiss. “I would marry you if you’d have me.”

She giggles and uses the same response she always has, “Alas, I’m monogamous and like the D a bit too much to go for a sexless marriage.”

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