Page 7 of Rose Red (Once Upon a Happy Ever After 4)

I snickered at Luca’s tough guy impersonation. He was pretty good at it.

“Actually,” Abigail said as she slipped back into her dress and handed Luca his pants. “There’s a third option. You two aren’t going to lay a finger on him. We’re the victims here and you’re not going to muddy the water by beating up this scrawny little shit. Everyone get dressed. I have a plan.”

The guy looked at each of us. “Well, I’m just gonna be on my way then.” He slowly rose from the seat Luca had slammed him in.

“Sit down,” Abigail ordered. “You’re not going anywhere, you little fuck. Just sit there and be quiet.” Luca and I just stared at her. If I hadn’t already been in love that would have been the straw that pushed me over. “What time is it?” she asked me.

“Um, a little after two in the morning.”

“Good, that should work. Luca, I want you to call the front desk. Tell them we need the hotel manager in the main ballroom immediately.” As he followed Abigail’s instruction I got dressed and waited, one eye on the guy. “Okay, let’s head down.”

I grabbed him by the shirt collar and followed Abigail out to the elevator. “Forgive me, my love but what are we doing exactly.”

She smirked at me. “More than one way to subvert a scandal, isn’t there?”

Chapter Seven

Abby

Everyone followed me out to the elevator. I hit the floor for the main lobby, spun around and reached into Mr. Peeping Tom’s jacket pocket hoping to find a wallet. Jackpot. “Let me see here.” I flipped through the cards and ID’s until I found exactly what I suspected. “Here we go, a press pass. Seems as if Mr. Fording here works for some type of reputable news outlet.”

Chase and Luca both snorted at my sarcasm. We all knew the only place this guy worked for was Page Six, and that rag was about as far from reputable as you could get.

I pressed on. “I wonder how your superiors would take it once they found out you barged into a well-respected member of the Manhattan community’s room and started recording her? That can’t be part of your job description, can it?”

The tops of Fording’s ear turned bright right, either with anger or embarrassment. I gave zero shits about which. The elevator dinged at our floor and I led the way. “Bring him into the main ballroom with us.”

Chase and Luca shared a look.

“Um...” Luca said.

“Abigail, it’s still early. That ballroom is still full of guests.”

“I realize,” I said and marched ahead of them. I opened the double doors that were the main entrance to the ballroom and walked through both like a superhero, or a villain. They both tend to do that. I made enough noise crashing through the doors that I had everyone’s attention from the start. Their collective eyes bounced from me to the two gorgeous men behind me then finally to the little shit they dragged behind them. I scanned the room for a manger type and found an uncomfortable looking man in a cheap suit. Bingo.

I dragged a chair into the middle of the ballroom, hopped up on it and called for everyone’s attention. “This here is Mr. Peter Fording.” I pointed to the scrawny guy who was now red as a beet. “I know that because I have his press pass.” I held that up for everyone to see. “Mr. Fording here works for Page Six.” Murmurs and gasps buzzed around the room. “I know. I’m just as shocked as all of you. Now, I imagine if Mr. Fording here snuck upstairs and into my room to see what kind of dirt he could find, he must have been snooping around other places as well. I wonder what other dirty secrets you’ve discovered tonight, Mr. Fording?” The man said nothing but the whole room buzzed even louder.

No one likes their secrets told. No one.

“What’s especially concerning is the hotel has a strict no-press policy. Most especially during events. Isn’t that right Mr. Night Manager?”

The uncomfortable man nodded and turned an ugly shade of red as well.

I smiled to myself. “Who here knows Kase Waldorf personally?” Three-quarters of the room raised their hand.

“And who here has his direct number?” Half the hands remained. I looked to both Mr. Fording and the night manager and smiled. “The way I see it you have two choices. You can tell us why you’ve been selling our secrets to Page Six, or we can call the owner of the hotel and have him and his team of lawyers deal with it. Your choice.”

Fording crossed his arms. Fortunately, night manager cracked and I didn’t have to come through on my bluff. “I was just trying to make some extra money. I let him in and he’d poked around and whatever he sold to Page Six he’d give me a cut of.”

The crowd burst into chaos. Yelling and shouting, demanding the men be searched for cameras or recorders. They huddled closer to each other and I raised my arms to silence the crowd. “Take all their electronics,” I said to Luca. “Take them and smash them right here in front of everyone.”

“But what if they made copies?” Someone in the crowd yelled out.

I looked at the two pitiful men below me. “Did you?” They shook their heads. I believed them. They were too scared to lie and too stupid to think that far ahead.

Luca brought me what he found. “The manager only had a phone but the other guy had a second phone and a small recorder.”

“Smash it all.” Then, to the manager and Fording, “No one likes their secrets told. Now get out of here. And you better pray I don’t tell Kase in the morning. He won’t be as lenient as I’ve been.”

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