Page 76 of Behind the Scenes
I leaned forward, bringing my voice to a whisper.
“There was never any footage, my love. The camera was just for show. I just needed a way in.”
“You’re crazy, you know that?”
It was a rhetorical question, but I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face.
“Yes, but I’m your brand of crazy.” And then I whispered, “The one that really turns you on.”
laura
. . .
As the days passed and I got back into my work schedule, things didn’t seem as crazy. Having Harley in my life… changed me.
I didn’t freak out about deadlines anymore. The stress from all my other clients went from a constant in my mind to just an annoying buzzing in my ear.
I stopped trying to rationalize my actions—or hers.
There was no need. Her… hobby… was a risk to both of us, but just like most things in my career, it was a calculated one. The payout was worth it when it meant all the nuances in my clients’ and my life disappeared out of thin air.
I knew the legal system like the back of my hand and, more than that, I knew the corrupt and dirty individuals in it as well. I could predict them and anticipate the actions they would take.
I wouldn’t let anything bad happen to us. I would make it safe for us.
More importantly, I had to look out for Harley.
I had thought that trying to control her would be an issue, but I had been looking at it the wrong way. She was never out of control. She was as calculating and careful as I was,and now that her darkness had an outlet—well, other than in the bedroom—she was absolutely thriving.
News had spread of our relationship after we came back from Hawaii. There were pictures of us looking far too close to be anything but together on magazine covers and gossip sites.
I had never wanted to be famous. Maybe some small part of me wanted it for bragging purposes, but overall, I knew it would be a nuisance more than anything else.
But suddenly, people were wondering exactly who I was. Articles about me and what I did for a living were published—some of my clients even forwarded them to me as their idea of a joke. People in general, and her fans specifically, wondered how we met. They speculated. And the quieter we were about it, the crazier the assumptions got.
It worked well for Harley’s purposes.
The media never stopped talking about it. Or her. Or the new movie.
And then when the news hit about her manager… Well, she ate that up. Along with the lawsuit.
Her manager’s company put out a statement. Apparently, Harley hadn’t been the only one getting her wages slashed by Julian, which led to a very long list of suspects when they found out the man was missing.
Of course Harley and I got called in, but they had nothing on us. After all, the footage from the hotel had been deleted. Ours, at least; his mistress’s boyfriend, on the other hand, had been seen going into his room and spending an absurd amount of time in there.
And, on top of that, who would spend all that time putting together a lawsuit to simply make the guy disappear? It didn’t make sense, did it?
It all worked out in our favor. The boyfriend was swiftly arrested while the world watched the fallout. He was set to go to trial soon. He maintained his innocence, but the evidence was damning.
Especially the murder weapon found with his DNA on it.
I had no idea what he had done when he found the dead body, but whatever it was, it solidified our case.
And Harley and I were fine.
“Maybe you’re having too much fun with this,” I said, noticing Harley’s posture. Her shoulders were relaxed, there was an easy smile on her face, and she sipped her glass of wine like the police weren’t currently all over her latest crime scene according to the news outlets.
“Too much?” she asked and looked at the red wine under the dim candlelight. “No such thing. This is the first time in a long time that I’ve felt in control of it.”
