“I don’t think we do,” I said, keeping my voice steady even as my pulse spiked.
His eyes narrowed. “I’m just here to deliver a message.”
I clutched my forehead, wondering what I had done to deserve someone like Derek in my life. He was like an insect, annoying and refusing to go away.
“I don’t want to hear it. I just want you to go away.”
He scoffed. “I’m not here to win you back, if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m done with that, with you.”
“Thank God,” I hissed. “So, why am I still looking at you?”
“Because I want my money. The people who don’t want your little writing project to see the light of day sent me.”
I stared at him, stunned. When my brain unfroze, it raced, trying to put Derek into the equation.The People?Had Nyla betrayed me as I’d feared? Maybe she’d lost her nerve… ormaybe her dogged bodyguard had caught on to what we’d been up to and told Silas Rourke…
I’d been careful, but when you dug into powerful people, asked too many questions, the risk of someone noticing was always present. I processed and put that information aside. “How the hell doyoufactor into any of this?”
“So you don’t deny it?” He grunted. “Figured you’d get into some mess. You’ve always been too curious for your own good.”
I lifted my chin. “You mentioned money. Who’s paying you?”
His eyebrows dipped. “Fuck if I know, and I don’t care. Some guy came to me in Springfield and offered to pay me to come here and scare you into going home.”
My jaw slackened. I knew it! The bastard was too selfish to travel so far just totalk. Clearly someone was investigatingmeas I’d been investigating them… because why choose Derek? I’d made a couple of police reports but never filed a restraining order, so someone knew enough to use my ex as a weapon.
“That didn’t work,” Derek said. “So I got offered more money to make you stop.” He smirked, that evil twist at the corner of his mouth. “I’m not going home until the job is done. Stop the stupid article, or things will get nasty.”
“Fuck you, Derek. I’m not afraid of you or whoever is paying you.”
“Oh, yeah?” He took a step closer. “Who said anything about you? Drop the article, or your new man goes down.”
My defiancé slipped. “You’re full of shit.”
“Some guy named Rourke will tie everything back to Lincoln Ford, and his clients.”
“That’s impossible. Lincoln’s hands are clean.”
“You sure about that, Ava?”
I took a deep breath. “I’d put my head on the block.” I knew the man I loved, knew who he was and who he’d always been.
Derek snarled as if pissed he didn’t succeed in making me doubt my relationship. Then he shrugged. “From what I’ve learned, Ford and Rourke are acquaintances. They’ve done business together. Things can be… manipulated.”
My heart dropped into my ass at the threat. If I went ahead with my expose, Lincoln and his entire empire would be thrown into the guilty pool.
“Make your choice, Ava. Your story or your man?”
When I didn’t respond, he grinned and walked away, leaving me standing there with my mind and emotions in shambles. A memory unlocked — a few months ago, when I revealed to Lincoln the link to Dorian Vauxhall. He obviously knew Rourke; he knew many Hollywood executives. But I’d seen a flicker of worry in his eyes, too. It had disappeared so fast I wondered if I’d imagined it.
Would Rourke threaten Lincoln like that if he didn't have some kind of proof of their connection? I felt sick. My dream career or Lincoln. Tough choice. Every instinct screamed at me to protect the man I loved. I could always find another big story.
But would I back down like this in the face of every threat? That would make me weak and not cut out for this job. My shoulders dropped. My relationship meant the world to me. Things between Lincoln and me were so good. Better than ever. But moving forward, every story I pursued might put everything he’d built at risk. He was part of the world I was going after.
What should I do?
31
LINCOLN
