Page 67 of My Ex-Fiance's Best Men
“Let’s just face it, fellas,” I reply. “We fell short. Each in our own way. We focused more on being with her and less on the multitude of threats now targeting her.”
“Hey, we did discover that her mother’s got a bit of a gambling problem,” Dominic points out. “It wasn’t all for naught.”
“Agreed. At the same time, Georgina caught us with our pants down, so to speak. It left Theo exposed. That totally came out wrong,” I say as soon as I see the grimace on Theo’s face. “But you know what I meant.”
“How did we allow ourselves to become so vulnerable in front of someone like Georgina?” he asks.
I shake my head. “We didn’t perceive her as a capable adversary, obviously. That mean girl energy she and Crystal have was masking something far more insidious, as we now know.”
“And now Phoebe won’t talk to us.”
“Not today, Theo. But she will, eventually. She’ll mull things over, and then she’ll reach out,” I tell him. “Phoebe is a capable and highly intelligent woman. It’s one of the things that drew us to her in the first place. In the meantime, we’ve got things to do.”
Dominic releases a heavy sigh before taking another sip of his coffee. “Where do we start?”
I take a moment to go through the social media threads discussing the lingerie store scandal and Crystal’s hashtag campaign against Phoebe. From what I’m reading, the pro-Phoebe camp seems pretty determined to support her. Crystal and Georgina’s fans, however, seem hell bent on ostracizing Phoebe.
“He without sin shall cast the first stone,” I mutter.
“I’m listening,” Theo replies with a skeptical raise of his eyebrow.
“Crystal keeps painting Phoebe as a sinner, a harlot, a floozy. Yet her mother gambles. And Helen isn’t exactly playing small, either. Those are some dangerous people she’s mingling with. How much do you want to bet that if we dig a little deeper, there’s enough dirt to divert attention from Phoebe to her mother.”
“We could do the same with Crystal,” Dominic suggests. “She’s anything but innocent, and everybody in this fucking city knows it.”
Theo nods. “So we fight back with smear campaigns of our own. It sounds a little petty.”
“Hey, all is fair in love and war. Except we’d actually be delivering real seeds of scandal. Not intimacy or romantic preferences, because that’s all Crystal has against Phoebe,” I say. “A gambling addiction, a coke addiction, and whatever else we find in the Baldwin ladies’ closets will be way worse than Phoebe’s relationship with us.”
Dominic gives me a curious look. “We’ll be able to weather this storm, right?”
“Oh, absolutely. Our PR manager is already firing off the engines on social media, publishing progress reports and blog articles about our most recent ventures. I green lit an article withTimes Magazinediscussing our green energy projects in New Mexico and the proposal we put together with Efron Tech about those orbit-based solar panels for next year’s World Economic Forum,” I say. “We’ve got enough to keep the public focused on our successes and upcoming projects to not bother with our personal lives.”
“Truth be told, we’ve never been shy about our personal lives,” Theo replies. “I think that’s why the saints of social media could never damage us. We went right out with it day one, long before Phoebe ever came along.”
“What irks me most is the double standard,” Dominic says.
“That’s mostly because of Crystal and Georgina. But like I said, we can handle those two differently. If we have to stoop to their level, so be it.”
There’s a knock on my office door. Sarah, my assistant, pops her head in. “August, I’ve got a Penelope here to talk to you. She says it’s important.”
“Show her in, please.”
She nods then vanishes. A moment later, Penny walks in. She’s been out on one of her morning runs, judging by the black leggings, long sleeved tee, worn sneakers, and runner’s backpack hanging from her shoulder.
“Sorry for the outfit, gentlemen. I had an idea and I needed to come here before I lost my nerve,” she says.
Dominic pours her a glass of water. She gulps it down quickly as if she’s just returned from a hike in the desert. “Thanks,” she says, the color slowly returning to her cheeks.
“What brings you here, Penny?” I ask.
“How’s Phoebe?” Theo adds, giving her a worried look.
“Pouting, crying, sleeping a lot and eating a bit more than usual, but she’s working through it like a soldier,” she replies with a half-smile. “Give her a couple more days and I’m sure she’ll bounce right back.”
“I just wish she would’ve let us talk to her last night.”
“I know, Theo. But she can be hardheaded sometimes,” Penny sighs. “Trust me, she’s thinking about you, about your relationship. She’ll come around. Unless what happened with Georgina?—”
