“Christ, Chester!” he exclaimed. “Please, tell me it wasn’t during office hours. Did one of the employees see you? Tell me you aren’t that stupid.”
“It wasn’t. Calm down.”
“Good.” He breathed a sigh of relief that I knew would be short-lived.
“But someone has photos of us. Possible video. They sent me a photo taken from security footage from the building across the street. I don’t know how they got the angle they did. I don’t know why the camera was pointing that way anyway. I don’t know who is doing this,” I said, a slight panic in my voice.
I never panicked.
But this felt like cause for it.
“Calm down,” said Will, grabbing my forearm firmly before reaching up to run his hand through his hair. A sign he was stressed. If Will played with his hair, he was either stressed or completely laid back. There was no in between.
I, too, felt stressed. I didn’t see how I could be calm right now. I was still on the West Coast, when someone was threatening my everything thousands of miles away. I just wanted to be back in New York right now. Being closer to the mess felt like it was more fixable. Who knew what else they had from that security footage?
I hated that Juliet was roped into this mess too and it was all because ofme.No one would bat an eye if it was some nobody they caught on camera, but since it was me, they had leverage. I was always careful because of that, knowing I had eyes on me,waiting to see me trip up or make a mistake. Whether it was the press or a competing company, people waited and watched for anything they could use against me. I had just gotten so wrapped up in Juliet that I let my inhibitions go. I was a fool to forget that I didn’t have that luxury.
I took a deep breath. “Whoever it is, they texted me last night during your gig.”
“That’s why you took off,” he said thoughtfully.
“Yep.”
“And you have no idea who it is?”
“I tried searching the number, but it wasn’t tied to anyone. No name. Nothing.”
“And you’re sure it’s you in the photo?” asked Will, tilting his head as he tried coming up with any silver lining.
“It’s clear as day,” I said. “Juliet’s face. My face. There’s no denying it’s us…or what we were doing.”
“What do they want?”
“I don’t know. I figure they will tell me when we meet in person.”
“Which is?”
“Tomorrow morning at seven. At my office.”
“This person has balls to show up on your turf, making demands,” said Will with a shake of his head.
“This person is a pain in my ass,” I muttered.
Will looked out the window, deep in thought. After several moments, he looked back at me. “Do you think…” he started.
“What?” I asked.
“Do you think it could be Juliet doing this?”
“No,” I said sharply. “There’s no way.”
Will put his hands up in defense. “I was just asking. Just trying to figure this all out.”
It had never even crossed my mind that Juliet could be the one behind this because it was completely absurd. She wouldn’t do that. I didn’t know her that well, but I knew she was a good person. What we had, whatever it was, wasreal.Wasbeing the key word, since I pushed her away.
“I’m going to lose everything,” I said, letting out a breath and leaning my head back to look up at the roof of the car. I wasn’t sure if I was talking about my business or Juliet when I said it.
“You’re not,” said Will firmly.
