Page 18 of Hollywood Humbug (The Naughty List)

I took a deep breath and met Scarlett’s turquoise eyes. She looked hesitant, but not closed off—and there was a glimmer in their depths that bolstered my belief that this would work out, eventually.

“It was a lot to take in,” she said. “I thought it would be good to take some time and digest it before we talked again. I wasn’t avoiding the discussion.”

I believed her. That wasn’t my problem.

“I know that. But I also know you better than you think I do, and I’m not about to let you spend the night talking yourself into making us both miserable.”

“I wasn’t—”

“Baby,” I sighed as I sat down beside her. “You are one of the most level-headed people I’ve ever met. Until it comes to you and me.” I scratched my head and mused, “I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad one.” Then I shrugged. “Regardless, I’m not going to let you get inside your head where the irrational part of you tries to justify bullshit.”

Most people would have been offended by that assessment, but Scarlett relaxed back into the cushions and muttered, “Fine then, Mr. Remington. Was there more that you wanted to say?”

I almost snorted a laugh and told her there was much more I’d rather do, but I doubted that would help with anything. “There are many things I’d like to say, Ms. Cassidy. But how about I start with some news I received today? Then we can revisit the bomb I clearly dropped on you earlier.”

Scarlett squirmed a little, and I knew I’d hit the nail on the head. I’d guessed it was my comment about love that had sent her reeling, but I was serious when I told her I wouldn’t let her have time to twist everything in her head and talk herself out of giving us a chance. However, I was willing to give her a slight reprieve by clearing the air over the incident two years ago.

“I asked Ryder for a favor, and he put me in touch with a PI, Finely, who did a little digging. I should have done it two years ago, but I think we are both in agreement that I was being a bull-headed asshole who refused to see the truth right in front of me.”

“Truth?” Scarlett prompted when I paused for an extended period.

“We’ll come back to that,” I assured her. “Anyway, she called me today with the information I’d asked her to find.”

“The leak?” Scarlett asked quietly.

I nodded. “I wanted to know who it was because I already knew it wasn’t you,” I clarified.

She raised an eyebrow and opened her mouth, but I cut her off.

“Like I said, stubborn asshole. Once I stopped lying to myself and admitted the truth about why I’d reacted the way I did, I also had to accept that deep down, I always knew it wasn’t you.”

“But—”

I placed a finger over her mouth, then traced her lips softly. “Stop distracting me,” I teased.

Scarlett rolled her eyes and made a gesture for me to continue.

“Three years ago, I started receiving letters from a secret admirer. When it became clear the stalker knew a little too much about me, I had them investigated, and it turned out to be my PA, Janice. She’d always been a little overly friendly with me, but she did nothing that warranted more than a frown and a reminder to be professional in the workplace. And she was extremely good at her job, so I let it slide.

“When I learned she was the stalker, I immediately fired her. But, somehow, I’d missed the signs that she was seriously unstable. Her actions had been so subtle that I never suspected she’d actually built a whole imaginary world where she and I were together and in love. She had a complete breakdown, and I ended up paying for her to spend some time in an institution where she could get the help she needed.”

Scarlett’s mouth had formed an O, and her eyes were wide. Finally, she asked, “But, if she was in the hospital, how would she know about us?”

I grunted in frustration, still irritated that I hadn’t been as proactive as I should have with my security. “Janice was mentally ill, but she wasn’t stupid. In her mind, we were together, but she was always suspicious and worried that I was cheating on her. So, she’d installed a device on my computer that gave her access to everything. And since my phone is also linked to my computer…”

“The texts between us,” Scarlett concluded.

“And the dinner reservation.”

“Did she take the pictures?”

I shook my head. “No, that was all Mandi.”

Scarlett pursed her lips for a moment, then snarled, “She really is a bitch, isn’t she?”

“Oh, babe, you have no idea,” I muttered. “A few weeks after this all went down, Mandi showed up at my house.”

“For what? To try to excuse her actions or something?” Scarlett supposed, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

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