My suspicion is confirmed when I see the large manila envelope sitting on the coffee table between us.
“Is this it?” I point to the envelope.
“Yeah.” Cory nods, running a nervous hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, but this shit freaked me the fuck out. I mean, I… I…” Shaking, he picks up the envelope and hands it to me, the ends of his fingers white from how tightly he’s holding it.
I take it from him, eyeing him with concern. He looks like he’s going to vomit. I shift my gaze to Macy, who looks just as nervous.
Opening the envelope, I slide out the stack of photographs. Dropping the envelope to the table, I flip through each one. “What are these?”
There’s a photo of Cory leaving the office. Cory hailing a cab. Then Macy leaving the office. Them meeting at a subway station a few blocks from the office. Him and Macy walking down Fifty-first Street. They’re in the distance, surrounded bypedestrians, but it’s clear they were the intended targets of the photo. The next is the two of them holding hands. I flip to another one, only this one is different. It’s a view from outside, looking into what appears to be the bedroom of an apartment. Cory is lying back on the bed, with Macy straddling him. Naked.
“What the fuck are these?” I snap my head up, darting my fiery gaze between them.
Macy’s eyes are swollen with tears. She’s nervously wringing her hands together, shifting on her feet.
“Holt, I… I can explain.” Cory stumbles over his words.
“Wait.” I drop my eyes to his hand. “Didn’t you just get married, like two years ago?”
“I did,” he says quietly.
Macy’s tears are now streaming down her face.
“Fuck.” I hold onto the photos as I spin and start to pace the room, pinching the bridge of my nose. Eventually I stop, looking up at the both of them standing on the opposite side of the table, cowering like wounded puppies.
“I should fire you for this type of shit,” I seethe, anger burning in my veins. “It’s against company policy.”
“I’m sorry.” Macy’s bottom lip wobbles, and her chin quivers.
“How long has this affair been going on?” I ask them both. I can’t help raising my voice. This is the last fucking thing I need. Another goddamn rumor about two of Scribe’s staff members having an affair.
“This was only the second time we’ve met up,” Cory explains, gulping. “Please don’t fire Macy. If you’re going to fire anyone, let it be me. I pursued her first.”
His pathetic explanation causes a cynical scoff to climb up and out of my throat.
“What the fuck?” I shout, raking my fingers through my hair. I lift the photos to look up at them again, hoping they aren’ttrue. But there is no denying the way her head is tilted back, Cory’s arms reaching up to palm each of her breasts.
“Listen, I know you’re angry about the affair, especially since Macy is an employee as well, but, Holt, this shit is scaring the fuck out of me. They left this envelope on my fucking front porch,at my house. And these pictures were taken just last night,” Cory spills, clearly still in a panic. “I mean, they even have photos of me from yesterday down at the docks.”
“Who did you talk to?” I lift the photos up. “How would they have known?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugs. “I kept a low profile. I didn’t even give them my real name, like you said. I just asked a few of the dock workers if they had heard of Rhys O’Connell. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and I didn’t make myself obvious. But they’re clearly watching me and using this affair with Macy as blackmail, right? Or some sort of warning. Isn’t that what the mafia does?”
“This is definitely a warning.” I sigh, pressing my lips together.
My mind wanders to West’s brother Heath and the trouble he caught himself in with Rhys’s crew. This isn’t a joke, and I’m now understanding the seriousness behind it. But the part of me I’ve never been able to resist wants to know more. I need this story. My magazine does, especially after this lawsuit with Rome. Maybe it’s wrong, but I never back down from a challenge. All I know is that if I’m going to stick to cracking this story, I need to be extra careful. It has to be a delicate dance that will require a little more precision than usual.
“What are we going to do?” Cory asks. I can tell he’s itching to reach for Macy’s hand, but he doesn’t.
I chew on the inside of my cheek. I wish I could rewind back to at least the past hour before Cory sent me the CodeRed. When I was in a euphoric state, my hands wandering all over Selene. She’s the calm to the shitstorm that is my life.
She always has been, even if she doesn’t know it.
Thinking of her has the fire inside me raging. I’m itching to message Howard to make sure she made it home safely.
“Listen, I took this assignment on, no questions asked. I don’t know why you’re wanting me to look into Rhys O’Connell, but fuck….” Cory’s worried eyes grow distant.
I, too, stare off into the distance, sifting through options of how to deal with this mess I’ve made.
