Page 46 of Consumed By Desire

I don’t have an answer for him. We don’t have any time to waste, but I need to know how it happened. There might be asolution if we know the origin of the leak. Good solutions can come from anywhere, even the most unlikely places.

“How did they find out?” I ask.

Logan shakes his head. “I have no idea.”

“You’ve got PR on it?”

“Of course. All hands on deck. No sleep for anyone tonight. The new edition’s going live at midnight. The print version comes out a couple days after that, then there won’t be any going back.”

“Legal?” I ask.

“They said it’s unlikely we’ll be able to get an injunction in time to stop them,” Logan says miserably. “They’re working on it from every possible angle, but it’s an uphill battle.”

“There’s no proof,” Julian insists. “So it should be a non-issue. Surely they can block it because it’ll slanderous. You can’t just write anything you want to and put it out there.”

“Unfortunately there’s no basis for slander or libel when it’s the truth. We’d have a hell of a time if we tried to say otherwise,” I tell him. “The best we could do if the story runs is to sue them afterwards, which will do absolutely no good. We need our board on our side and our investors happy. Our reputation needs to be intact or we can’t move forward. The damage will be extensive and likely irreparable.”

Clenching my fists, I stand up. “We’ve got to get to the office.”

“In a minute,” Logan says. “I have to take this call.”

“Is there a way out of this, Ash?” Julian asks as Logan strides off. “There has to be. Right?”

As if the situation isn’t bad enough, the look on Julian’s face is enough to do me in. Vivojen is his life’s work and he has such a big stake in the outcome of our results. Our work is extremely personal for him.

“We’re going to do everything we can.” I can’t hide the hopelessness I feel, and he can tell. Julian knots his hands as we head to the door.

A knock startles me as I’m about to swing it open. Elena’s on the other side.

“Asher, I need to talk to you,” she says.

“Later, Elena. I need to cancel dinner. Something’s happened and we have to take care of it immediately. We only have a few hours to try and prevent some irreversible damage from being done. There’s no time to explain anything now.”

“I know all about it,” she says. “That’s why I’m here.”

“What are you talking about?” Julian asks.

Elena’s acting strangely, almost cagey. She won’t meet my eyes. “What’s up?” I glance at the time. Just under five hours to somehow fix this mess, and I still don’t have any ideas. None of us do. “We have a really urgent work issue that’s come up and we’ve got to get to the office right away. We can talk later, Elena,” I tell her.

“I know what’s going on,” she says again miserably. “It’s all my fault.”

Julian’s head whips around. “What are you talking about?”

“Can I sit down?” she asks.

“We don’t have time,” I tell her.

“Okay. I understand. It’s my fault. I wrote the article that City Scan’s going to publish.”

“You did what?” Logan appears from the hallway. “Are you joking? It’s really not the time, Elena. This is a very serious matter we’ve got to deal with.”

She won’t look directly at him either. I’ve never seen her acting like this before. A cold knot forms in my stomach.

“Elena, we have to move on this. What’s going on?” I prompt her as I make an enormous effort to stay patient.

“I work for City Scan,” she begins. “Kind of. They hired me for a trial run and they assigned me a story to write when they found out that I knew you, Asher. The editor wanted me to write up the backstory on you because you never talk about yourself in any other interviews. They wanted the story behind the most successful men who’ve come up in the last decade. She wanted a real look behind the scenes at who you are.”

Elena twists her hands together. “After I got to know you, I knew I couldn’t do that. I told my boss that I was going to put the focus of my story back onto Vivojen and the work you’re doing. Nothing more than that. She told me they’re turning City Scan into more of an entertainment magazine. I would never have wanted to write for them if I’d known that was going to happen.”

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