Page 202 of By A Thread
I nodded. “We have bigger problems than an egotistical model.”
“What?”
“More like who. Elena has committed to do theIndulgenceMay cover.”
“That’s ridiculous. Their circulation is barely sixty percent of ours.”
“She’s being blackmailed into it.”
She closed her eyes and blew out a breath. “Paul.”
“It seems he’s blackmailing her with a sex tape.”
My mother’s eyes opened. “That’s rather low even for him.”
“It gets worse. He has the tape because he made it.”
“Made it as in…”
“He had a year-long affair with Elena, which happened to overlap both your marriage to him and my relationship with her.”
It had been my father’s shirt she’d been wearing when I showed up at her apartment two years ago.
My mother looked down at the teacup in her hand for a long beat, then hurled it against the wall. Conversation in the room cut off. It looked as if we Russos were starting to have trouble controlling our tempers.
“Is everyone okay?” Linus asked slowly, approaching with caution.
Mom gave him the circle the wagons smile. “Everything is fine. Just dropped my tea. It’s time for something harder anyway.”
“Mom.”
She held up an index finger, effectively shushing me. Russos didn’t discuss things. We certainly didn’t admit to being betrayed. And we definitely didn’t show weakness.
“Come inside, Dominic. We’ll figure out what direction we should go in.”
On a sigh, I followed her inside and pulled out my phone.
Me: It’s going to be a late night. I’m with my mother in an emergency strategy session over the May cover story.
Ally: Elena? I am officially staying up for an update. I’ll put your dinner in the fridge and take Brownie for his walk. Let me know if you need anything.
Maybe I should tell her. Secrets only seemed to fester.
I grabbed a carton of drunken noodles and settled in with the rest of the team.
An hour later, we were still nowhere near a solution.
Linus sat up from where he reclined on the couch. “I’ve got it! Why don’t we put Ally on the cover? It seems her star is rising,” he joked.
My mother relaxed with a laugh. “Itwasa striking photo,” she agreed.
“What photo?” I demanded.
“Christian James’s Instagram,” Linus said, fingers flying over his phone screen. “I can’t believe you didn’t see it yet.” He slid the phone to me.
I felt my heart clumsily miss a beat as a chill settled in my chest. “What is this?” I asked, glaring at the photo.
“You didn’t know about it?” my mother asked.
