“What?”
Nat gave him an amused look.“I don’t know.You named a bug, so I did the same.”
He snickered.This woman.“It’s one of Blitz’s nicknames.”
“Aww.That’s adorable.”She smiled at his dog and then faced him again, her expression solemn.Only the twinkle in her blue eyes gave her away.“Are we trading then?”
“Yep.”He sat across from her, anticipation tightening his stomach.
Biting her lower lip, Nat clicked the trackpad on her laptop.She looked at the screen for a long moment before saying, “Remy Blaze.”
The name was a punch to the chest.God, how he hated that man.Blaze’s disgusting revenge porn website had kicked off the chain of events that led to Nat being stalked and Ford getting stabbed.But he hadn’t realized she’d had a hand in taking him down.“Really?Good for you.”
She gave him a tight smile, clearly not as unaffected by her past as she wanted him to believe.“Thank you.It was incredibly satisfying.Also, anticlimactic, if I’m being honest.”
He nodded.“I get it.Revenge doesn’t change the past.”
“Exactly.”She made a twisting motion in the air with her finger, commanding him to reveal another nickname.
Bozo, Blitzen, Beezer…
Earl Price, Richard McMaster, Felix Hoffman…
They switched off, revealing names until Ford started making up new ones just to get the rest of her list.And what a fucking list.It was like the Who’s Who of America’s most vile and powerful.
Natalie laughed.“You really call her Blissy?”
He would now.“These things just pop out.”Tilting his head at her, he asked, “You really dug up the dirt on Archer Lonagan?”The radio show host had gone into hiding after he was convicted of sexual harassment and coercion of dozens of staff members and guests.How could Natalie be behind the man’s downfall and no one knew about it?
Then again, maybe someone did.Were any of these men angry enough to kill her?
Someonewas.
She visibly bristled.“Not just me, but yes, my team got the goods on him.”
“Sorry, it’s just difficult to believe that you guys broke most of the major scandals of the past few years.”
Voice hard, she said, “It’s all about where you put your money and your effort.FPP—the Free Pen Project—has the advantage of a generous donor, and no one to tell us ‘No.’”
“But why not take the credit then?”
“It’s safer for us to fly under the radar.If no one realizes what we’re doing, we can keep passing the info on to reporters with clout and keep working without interference.”Her left hand pressed into the table.“We’re in it to expose these assholes who take advantage of their wealth and power to hurt others, not for fame or recognition.”
Oh.Oh, shit.How had he missed it?“Thisstartedwith Blaze, didn’t it?”
She paled.Blinked.Looked down at her computer.Licking her lips, she finally made eye contact again.“For me it did.”
There was a lie in there somewhere, but he didn’t understand why or what it could be.“He’s why you went into journalism.”When he’d known her before, she’d been working full-time for a PR firm and studying toward an MBA from UCLA at night.
She nodded, confirming the connection, and her face hardened.“I didn’t want to stop with him.Now I want to take themalldown.As many as I can.We all do.”
“How did you meet the others?”
She shook her head.“That’s not on the table.”
Why the hell not?He frowned, but let it go.For now.“Okay.”Pointing to the computer, he asked, “Got more names?”
“Yep.You?”
