Page 33 of Greed
Thank God. I was beginning to worry you were sitting in a puddle of your own blood. We need to speak about what happened today.
No puddle.
Shall I call you?
No! I’m at work and there are too many people listening.
He didn’t respond. Insufferable man. Why was it men liked to use simple sentences when texting? Would it kill him to release a little more information? Lilo kept texting.
I’m writing up the news story about this morning.
I’m saying it all happened so fast that I didn’t get a good look at the perpetrator.
Okay.
I’m not ready to throw the Deadly Seven under the bus until I get some more information. I’m sorry if that offends you, but I need facts before I publish a story that could condemn them.
What kind of information?
Lilo took a deep breath. If there was a time to let him know about her intentions to help her father, now was the time. She could ask him to come with her like Grace suggested. But, she couldn’t bring herself to ask.
The kind that involves understanding why a member of the Deadly Seven would suddenly resort to murder in cold blood when they’ve never done it before. I’ll be going out and investigating. Standard journalist stuff.
Griffin’s message returned almost immediately.
Tonight?
As soon as I’ve finished my article.
I’ll be there in fifteen. Wait for me.
Butterflies flipped in Lilo’s stomach. He was coming.
Was he coming to watch her process, or was it something else? She knew having someone to watch her back was what she wanted, but suddenly she was nervous.
You’ve been shot. You should rest.
Griffin?
Does that mean we’re on the same page about this morning?
…
Hello?
But no more messages came. After a while, she stopped trying. She guessed he wasn’t a text type of guy.
To take her mind off the fact she was developing a serious crush on this man, she turned back to her computer and began typing the news article. It was the hardest story she’d ever written because, for once, she wasn’t being truthful and it hurt. Those butterflies in her stomach twisted and rolled. On one hand, the truth was why she got into the industry, but on the other, being honest had the potential to hurt more people. It could also tarnish the reputation of the Deadly Seven if she was wrong, and the last time they had an incorrect story printed about them, they disappeared for a couple of years. It wasn’t like they spit the dummy; it was simply that they knew the city had lost faith in them. Why fight for the city when they weren’t wanted? Lilo didn’t blame them. But now they were finally back, saving their city from self-destructing, and she had the power to help them, or hinder them.
But she never lied in a story.
This wasn’t lying, she told herself sternly. It was withholding the truth because it could be defamatory, and misrepresented. This was the flip side of journalism, knowing your words could be misread or reinterpreted as something else. In the end, Lilo only kept out the supposed identity of the attacker, and the private conversation with her cousin. The city didn’t need to know that her father had been ransomed, and they didn’t need to know that the attacker looked like Greed. Not yet, anyway. She sent the article to Fred for approval.
It wasn’t the best, but it would have to do.
A few minutes later, Fred called on the internal phone system wanting to speak with her in his office. When she got there, she was surprised to see Donnie sitting in the other free chair in front of Fred’s desk.
“Come in, Lilo,” Fred said and pointed to the only other free seat. “Shut the door behind you. Sit.”
