Page 55 of The Billionaire Player

“Okay,” I said.

I wasn’t sure what else to say. What happened to the newspaper and the beast was the least of my concerns. What I was worried about, who I wanted to see, who I wanted to hear from but hadn’t, was Lexi.

“There’s no truth to the article, we all know that and that seems to be the general consensus. We still need to put out a statement, one for both Bennett Liquor and you. How do you want to handle it?” Mac asked.

“Isn’t this your wheelhouse not mine?” I asked.

“Yes,” Mac said slowly. “I wanted to get your take on it. See what, if anything, you wanted to say.”

“The same as you just said. The article is full of half-truths, falsehoods, and inaccuracies. Anything that resembles the truth can’t be found in that article and anything that is read or perceived from it is categorically wrong.

“I mean who would buy that Bailey was pregnant and that was why we went to Italy? This isn’t the eighteen hundreds. How many people saw you two walking into here? Saw you out to dinner together the other night with your women. There’s no way anyone would buy that you two haven’t talked in years.”

“We get that, but what about the one about you?” Mac asked

“The one that says I went to Italy to cure myself of a sex addiction? I could see people buying,” I said.

“It’s just as false as all the others,” Walker said, clearly annoyed that I wasn’t more annoyed.

“I know and with all the others being beyond unbelievable that one will be too. Though if anyone is going to believe any of them that’s the one. I mean come on. I’ve been living like a monk since I came back home,” I stated.

“You were opening up a restaurant,” Mac defended.

“I know, I wouldn’t be surprised if that one came from Lizbeth. She left too easily in hindsight. She gave in too easily. I should have known that she was cooking something up. I just had no idea it would be this,” I said.

“That’s what we were able to figure out. Luke did a bit of digging on Georgia, apparently, she and Lizbeth were sorority sisters in college and are very close. It’s easy to connect the dots that Lizbeth was looking for some sort of revenge and tried to get it with Georgia,” Walker said.

“Lovely. This just keeps getting better and better. I assume you have a statement you want to put out? Get in front of this, minimize the damage, all the things you’re so good at doing,” I said to Mac.

Walker and Mac looked at each other and when I cleared my throat. Mac reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

“This is what we have so far,” he said and then leaned back in his seat.

Neither brother looked at me while I read the statement. Though as I got farther and farther down it the angrier I got. When I was finished, I read it again, just to make sure I had read it correctly. My body tensed up the more I read and I was sure I looked beyond pissed when I lifted up my head and looked at my brothers.

“It’s just a draft,” Mac said as if that explained everything.

“We can modify it if you want,” Walker added.

“Modify? You think this needs some light modifications? You’re throwing her under the bus! You’re making her the fall guy,” I said and put Mac’s phone down.

“Paps is doing what they can to cover themselves. We need to do the same. The article may have been taken down, they may have retracted everything they said, but it was still out there. The damage has been done and we need to control it,” Mac replied.

“By saying it was her fault? Her name isn’t even on the article. It wasn’t what she would write. It wasn’t what she discovered. She would talk about why I went to Italy, really went to Italy, we all agreed on that, not that crap that Georgia or whoever wrote.”

“You still agreed to do the story with her, she was the one who did the interviews, she was the one who had the access and the agreement with you, us. The best thing we can do is separate ourselves from her and the story as much and as fast as we can. This does that. It will make it easier for us to get her for breach of contract,” Mac said.

“We aren’t doing that! We aren’t publishing this, at least not without my consent. You won’t get me to put my name or my restaurant’s name behind that. If you do publish it, we’re going to have some serious issues,” I said.

“She’s a reporter, it’s what they do. She tried to get close to you in order to get a story. She got it and there has to be consequences for what she did. This is it,” Walker said and pointed at Mac’s phone.

“We have no idea if she’s even behind it, or what happened between her and Georgia. Until we talk to Lexi, until we get her side of the story, I’m not going to believe she had anything to do with this, and neither should you,” I said.

I knew my brothers were trying to protect me. They were worried about me and wanted to make sure that I was okay. I loved that they were there when they had a company to run. It didn’t surprise me that they dropped everything to be by my side. What did surprise me was how they were willing to be so cruel to Lexi when they had no proof.

The evidence was damning, I could see that. It would be easy to believe that she was behind it, that she had played me. That she had played my whole family to try to get some dirt on us. That she wanted to make a splash with some sensational story that would sell her magazine. I couldn't buy that. I didn’t want to believe it and I wouldn’t.

There was too much between us. I trusted her, I trusted what we had and I wouldn’t believe that she was behind any of this until I talked to her. Not until I saw her with my own eyes and asked her what happened. This wasn’t like her, there was more to this and I needed to find out what that was.

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