Page 89 of Seductive Scoundrel

When I do, the still images are a punch to the gut. It’s Mia, that’s for sure, and she’s naked with a guy who most definitely is not me. I quickly delete the pictures and try to wash them from my mind.

It’s not working.

“That’s her?”

“Yes,” I confirm through clenched teeth.

“Needed to be sure. There’s a lot of…Never mind. Just give me three more hours.”

Everyone has exes. Of course, I understand that I wasn’t the first man who ever had sex with Mia. She wasn’t my first either, but a delusional part of my brain thought that maybe she would be my last.

However, seeing pictures of someone you love – and yes, I still love her because that’s not something that can be as easily erased as a sex video – being intimate with someone else is gut-wrenching.

There’s not a chance I could watch the whole thing, and I’m grateful that Vladimir just gave me a sneak peek. I guess it was pretty clear this was personal by the absolute fucking panic in my voice.

Just shy of three hours later, he calls me back.

“It’s erased from the senator’s devices, cloud, and email server – that’s how it was accessed. He didn’t transfer it anywhere, but it was emailed to the presumed thief from his account, and then the email was deleted.”

He tells me who accessed it and that it was transferred to a USB key. He hesitates for two beats. “It’s been erased from all of the thief’s devices, and the USB key is in my possession. I’ll destroy it.”

“You went to fucking Kansas?”

“I have a man there. No need to discuss the details.”

“Jesus.”

“It’s contained.”

My shoulders instantly relax, and my chest deflates when I let out a whoosh of relief. As angry as I am with Mia, I would never want to see her life destroyed no matter how badly she hurt me. This will be my last act of protecting her, even though she’ll never know I was the one who did it.

“Appreciated. I’ll transfer you the money now.” I hang up the phone and send a text.

Dean: That thing we talked about earlier is handled.

Dex: You’re the best. In other news, we have to go back to Florida. I told my dad about the audit mishap, and he wants to see us immediately.

And the rock that just left my stomach is officially back.

I can’t catch a fucking break.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Mia

I gluea smile to my face as Dex enters the conference room. It’s not that I don’t like Dex because I do – truly. He’s become one of my favorite people, and not because he took care of the Kyle fiasco, or didn’t turn me into GI Jane. While I appreciate those things – immensely – I like Dex because he’s a good person.

And those are rare to find.

I don’t consider myself among that group for many reasons, all of which Dean could readily list. But at least Dex buried the sex tape, and it won’t hurt anyone I love.

“How goes the fight?” He returns my smile, although his seems genuine whereas mine is simply exhausted.

A gift from not sleeping ever since I lost the man I love.

My eyes travel over the last stack of files. The once filled table is almost empty – just like my life. Working around the clock for the last four days hasn’t helped me forget about Dean or the fact he never replied to my text, but at least I wasn’t sitting alone in my apartment.

“Good, I just need to double-check the last set of numbers, put my report together, and then it’s in Jane’s hands to verify. If everything goes well, you’ll get sign-off today or early next week at the very latest.”

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