Page 50 of Lady and the Camp
In one search, her face appeared on the screen. The main video featured on her profile showed her with longer hair streaked with light purple against dark blond. Her same bright eyes and smile made her instantly recognizable.
I scanned the featured video titles and images. All make-up and face stuff. Yeah, she’d said as much. I watched a couple minutes of the first video. She came across energetic without seeming like she tried too hard. Almost like she was talking to a friend instead of recording a video for an audience.
Another video showed her in a plain T-shirt with green goo on her face. So she drank swamp stuff and put it on her skin. She wiped off the goo with a cloth, leaving fresh pink cheeks.
My breath slowed. She was beautiful. No make-up, no trendy outfit. Not the least bit insecure as she talked about her pores or whatever.
No wonder she had so many fans. I’d spent the last ten minutes watching her and I didn’t care about any of these products.
But why was she hiding? What kept her off the internet if she had all these fans?
I took my search to the main browser and put in her name. A different set of links resulted.
Beauty Influencer Allegedly Destroys Billionaire’s Empire
Billionaire’s Girlboss Girlfriend Cleared of Embezzlement Accusation
YouTuber Caught in Financial Scandal: Krom’s Empire Shifts Blame
Krom…No, it couldn’t be. Kristoff Krom? Hudson was connected to Kristoff Krom?
I clicked on the link from the most reputable news source of the bunch and read on. Brycen idolized Krom. He used to talk about Krom and his business ventures. A self-made investor who’d taken the business world by storm. A ladies man with a cocky attitude. Millions of online followers and all that.
“Kromis Hudson’s ex?” I said it out loud, to myself.
And he was dangerous?
I kept reading. She’d signed on as a spokesperson for some mega makeup company Krom invested in. The deal fell apart when Krom’s offices were raided. Accusations of money laundering. Something about a breakup video.
Despite my better judgment, I clicked on the linked video.
Krom, with dark, longish slicked back hair, wore a crisp dress shirt and sat behind a monster desk with his company logo above it. A second frame within the video showed Hudson without the usual stuff on her eyes and lips. Natural.
It didn’t take long to realize this was intended as a private chat. Hudson’s face morphed into shock, horror, sadness, as Krom steamrolled over her, accusing her of ratting him out and destroying his business.
A quick scan of the comments section of the video turned my stomach. I clicked off the phone. Stared at the wall to clear my head.
If I’d learned anything in life, it was guys like Krom bounced back. Setbacks were simply that, not career-ending. The money and power kept them going. Guys like Krom, and his wannabe proteges like Brycen, stayed at the top because money and power were all they cared about.
The rest of us? We were left somewhere in the dust.
Which was exactly what happened to Hudson. And now she was riding out the consequences at my camp.
Chapter 16
Hudson
Thecampofficeofferedeverything I needed to stay busy. Coffee and snacks, air conditioning beyond an aging window unit, and of course, the internet. This time, I promised myself I wouldn’t spiral into misery.
Lucas was confirmed off-grounds for the weekend. After the stunt I’d pulled dragging him to the Trail Blazers’ camp last night, only to be caught, focusing on camp business might be my only chance at redemption.
I really hadn’t expected to be caught. The Trail Blazers were supposed to be out two towns away. Though, now I knew Brycen wasn’t a late-night partier. That knowledge might come in handy.
Poor Lucas. The sheer humiliation on his face told me he and Brycen’s rivalry ran deep. And I’d been part of serving up that latest dose.
In ten minutes, I updated Twila’s batch of Excel spreadsheets she’d confessed she was behind in. I wasn’t entirely sure what she did all day, though online shopping appeared to take up a substantial chunk. It looked like she sold products too based on a separate spreadsheet containing links to bookmarked Ebay listings of porcelain figurines.
I looked over Twila’s task list and checked off three more things. I’d temped in enough offices to know my way around boring spreadsheets. Besides, I didn’t completely hate spreadsheets. Something about sorting the data into neat columns and color coding seemed mildly creative.
