Page 19 of Confused AF
“I don’t think she meant to target Chloe,” he responded with a shrug, his nonchalance both infuriating and oddly grounding. “More likely, she just wanted to damage your reputation among other clients.”
Throwing around accusations without evidence didn’t sit right with me, but I couldn’t deny that his theory made a certain amount of sense given what I knew about the faery. Either way, I needed answers, and I wouldn’t find them by sitting there feeling sorry for myself.
“Cancel the other appointments.” An unnecessary precaution since I doubted anyone would actually be showing up for their consultations, but I’d rather play it safe. “In fact, cancel everything. The tutorials, the demos, all of it.”
“Good idea,” Vaden agreed. “Do you want to pack up your kit?”
I glanced at the table, at the thousands of dollars’ worth of products scattered across it, and sighed. “Yeah, let’s box it up.”
Since I couldn’t be sure which products had been tampered with, I would have to trash all of them. At the same time, I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt, and just leaving them out for anyone to grab felt like inviting disaster.
“What else do you need me to do?”
I didn’t think it possible, but I actually smiled. While not how I had planned for the day to go, I couldn’t think of anyone I’d rather have by my side at the moment.
“Can you contact Chloe’s assistant and set up a meeting? Or even just a call?”
“Sure.” His brow furrowed, and his lips turned down at the corners. “Why?”
“I might have been the target, but the makeup I used came from Chloe’s brand. I have a feeling she’s going to want to get to the bottom of this as much as I do.”
“I think that’s a pretty safe bet,” he agreed.
While my gut told me Kassidy had definitely had a hand in the incident, I couldn’t confront her without evidence, but I needed help finding it. Which was where Chloe Rae came in.
“We need to do another livestream.”
Vaden’s frown deepened, and he cocked his head to the side. “What exactly are you planning?”
Looking out over the crowd, a slow grin curled the corners of my mouth. “A scavenger hunt.”
eight
~ Vaden ~
Overthecourseofthe day, I found myself forced into the startling realization that I had, unknowingly, mated an evil genius.
Scheduling the meeting with Chloe Rae had been easy enough. As Otto had pointed out, because it had been her own line of products that had caused the reaction, that put her reputation on the line as well. It seemed only natural that she would want answers.
I just hadn’t understood how she and Otto planned to get them.
Frankly, I didn’t need proof, not when all of my instincts pointed to Kassidy Bassiago as the culprit. She’d had motive, opportunity, and a history of bad behavior. But while I had already tried and convicted her, I knew my opinion alone wouldn’t be enough to sway the masses.
Then again, we wouldn’t have to convince anyone if the faery just admitted to wrongdoing. Following that line of thinking, Ihad offered topersuadea confession from her, but Otto had steadfastly refused that solution.
Instead, he had suggested a far more devious plan.
Despite her appearance—red, puffy skin around her eyes with visibly raised white bumps—Chloe had agreed to go live. Her willingness had surprised me, but I had to admit that it also impressed me.
She had access to a team of attorneys and PR reps who could have made the whole incident quietly disappear. She could have shifted the blame and pointed the finger at Otto while absolving herself in the process. No one would have questioned or blamed her.
The fact that she did none of those things told me a lot more about her character than the size of her bank account or online following.
She and Otto hadn’t bothered with staging or lighting. They hadn’t written anything down. Using only her phone’s camera, the pair had appeared onscreen together to tell their story.
Chloe had urged her followers to temporarily discontinue use of Chloe Couture products until further notice. Otto had promised to conduct a full review of his inventory and practices.
Then they had launched the “scavenger hunt.”
