Page 79 of Behind the Scenes
“You’ll post bail,” she said, keeping her voice low. I eyed the guard behind her. He was watching us with a scowl on his face. “The judge is still reviewing whether or not this was an excessive use of force, but now that Lenard is up and running his mouth, it’s likely he will want to pursue criminal charges.”
“The force wasn’t excessive,” I argued, trying to keep my voice down. The guard had already chastised me once, and if I wasn’t careful, the only time I had with Laura would be taken away from me.
“You stabbed him in the back,” Laura said. “Theback. Even if he was breaking and entering, he was running away. Therefore, it wasn’t self-defense. That will be his argument. Not to mention you got him twice before I got to you.’
I gritted my teeth.
“He deserved it.”No, he fucking deservedmore. Like a knife to the head. Like his throat slit. I wanted him to suffer?—
“I’m not saying he didn’t.” Laura sighed and ran her hand through her hair. She didn’t look at me, and I wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or a bad one.
I was afraid I’d lose her after everything we’d been through, and that was so much harder than being in jail.
I didn’t doubt Laura wanted to be with me. That she cared for me, even if not as much as I cared for her. But for Laura, at the end of the day, self-preservation came first. It always did, even as a kid with her parents. I loved that about her too.
So it was my turn to think that way.
To think of a way to protect both of us.
It looked bad. Really bad. And if this didn’t turn out in our favor, she would be going down with me.
I once wished that we could share a jail cell so she would never be able to leave my side… But I knew now that would be a death sentence for her. Her career meant everything to her, and I wouldn’t take that away from her.
I have to make this right.
“Get Penelope to pay off the reporters who will no doubt write a story about this,” I ordered.
Her eyes flashed to me.
“There’s no way to hide this, Har?—”
“No, not hide.” I shifted in my seat. The hard plastic was hurting my ass. “Favorable. Make itfavorableto me. I want everyone to see it. All of New York. All of LA. Make it hard for him to look like the good guy. He had a key he hadn’t been given. He broke into a woman’s apartment—a woman who refused him when he proposed. Who had told him they were done and kicked him out. Who was in a relationship with someone else. Who knows what could have happened if you’d been alone?”
Laura bit down on her lower lip while she considered my words, then gave me the smallest nod.
“On top of that, get my agency involved,” I added. “Get surveillance footage. Something that shows him trying to access your apartment. If you have any threatening texts, compile those and?—”
“I know how to protect you, Harley.”
A burst of warmth radiated through my chest.
She wants to protect me.
And then another thought came and put an end to that.
At what cost to her?
What would Ax think when she saw Laura in the news because her girlfriend had attempted to kill her ex? What would all the others think?
She would lose clients. She might lose her practice.
After all that hard work, she would be the one taking the hit.
For me.
I was still famous. A star. Objectively, I doubted that thedirector on my latest movie would drop me or re-record my scenes. Not after all the work we had done. Not with all the fans I had—who I knew would have my back if we played this right.
My agency would get the best PR money could buy to switch this around, especially because they stood to lose a lot more if they didn’t. I wasn’t naïve. I was their biggest client.
