Fake It Till You Bake It(90)

He studied her for a second. “You’re fierce, much fiercer than I gave you credit for.”

Jada glared at him. “Compliments ain’t gonna get you nowhere, buddy, but thanks. I feel fiercer than I ever have in my life.” She stood and took a few steps to the door. “And because I am feeling that way, I have one more surprise for you.”

She opened the door. John jerked back in his chair when Donovan stepped inside.

She shouldn’t take delight in the scared look on John’s face, but she did. She’d work on that later. “You know how I said we were done? I lied. Hi, Lila.”

John’s eyes, already widened, turned into saucers when Lila stepped from behind Donovan. She inclined her head. “Jada. John.”

Jada nodded at Lila. Lila had only been too eager to meet with her and Donovan, undoubtedly thinking she would agree to Lila’s Plan B.

Jada had wanted the meeting on her own turf, the better to set the tone and be in a familiar, powerful spot. She didn’t know or care about football, but she had learned a thing or two from her grandmother over the years.

Lila’s smug smile dimmed when she spotted John. “What is he doing here?”

“Oh, we’re going to get to that in a bit. Have a seat, please.”

She and Donovan sat across from the Terrible Twosome. Having him there calmed her. She’d never believed she’d find someone who had her back like Donovan did. She didn’t know what she did to deserve him, but she was grateful nonetheless. “Thank you for coming, Lila.”

Lila’s thin lips curved into a caricature of a smile. “My pleasure. I’m assuming you called us here because you either changed your mind about doing the show with John or you like my new show idea with you and Donovan. John and I are here for your final answer, right?”

“You would think, but no,” Donovan said, his hard gaze cutting between Lila and John.

Lila sat up straight. “Then why are we here?”

Jada pasted on a saccharine smile. “To talk, of course. Now, from what I remember, your working theory is that Donovan and I aren’t really dating, and you’re going to expose us for frauds if we don’t do what you say.”

Lila’s gaze darted to John for a second. “That sounds…”

“Accurate, I know. Well, joke’s on you.” Jada silently added the bitch. “Because we are very much a couple.”

“We are.” Donovan raised her hand and laid a gentle kiss to the back of it.

The last of Jada’s nerves faded away as righteous anger took its place. “Of course, it’s our word against yours, I know. In order for you to believe me, I could describe the location and shape of a scar from his childhood on a part of his body not on display right now, but I’m sure you can use your imagination as to why I know it exists. I haven’t mentioned the part where our friends and families will back us up about the status of our relationship.”

“If you insist on ‘exposing us,’” Donovan said, his voice hard as ice, using air quotes, “we’ll have to do some exposing of our own. Certain people, like network executives, probably aren’t too keen on their employees engaging in blackmail. Besides, Jada is beloved. You know it, and I know it. I’m sure her fans would love to fill your Twitter mentions with all kinds of creative replies if they knew what you were attempting to do.”

“You have no proof of blackmail.” Lila’s eyes spat fire.

Jada held up a manicured index finger. “Oh, but I do. You know how you kept calling and leaving messages? Silly me, I thought you were asking me to do interviews. Which you were, I guess, technically. I finally got around to listening to the voice mails.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Wow. Really creative vocabulary you have there, Lila. That last voice mail was quite a doozy. I wasn’t expecting the threats about how you were going to destroy me, how you were going to leak damaging rumors about me, how you’d been behind a lot of the hate I received online with bot accounts.” Jada grimaced. “Ugly stuff. You sounded drunk or high when you admitted that, so you might not remember saying all that, but you did.”

Jada kept her gaze trained squarely on Lila. She ignored John’s gasp.

Lila’s already pale skin turned ghastly white. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Jada sniffed. “Oh, I think you do. Really, I’d hate for those messages to fall into the wrong hands.”

Lila sneered, her veneer finally cracking. “You wouldn’t dare. You’re a spoiled, rich girl. You don’t have the balls.”

The courage of her convictions swept through Jada. “Keep telling yourself that.”

Jada turned to the other member of the blackmailing crew. “As for you, John, I’m sure people would love to know their perfect Mr. America has slid into the DMs of no less than three contestants from My One and Only with a woe-is-me story, trying to get back together with them, all at the same time.” Jada snapped her fingers. “Did I forget to mention I ended my social media hiatus to check my DMs? I do so love it when women have each other’s backs.”

Jada gave the cowards a moment to respond. When none came, she offered up the kill shot. “If none of that reasoning convinces you, and I can’t imagine why it wouldn’t, please remember this spoiled, rich girl has a billionaire grandmother who loves her very, very much. If I tell her what you both attempted to do to me, she will ruin both your lives, barely lifting a finger. Contrary to what you believe, Lila, I don’t make idle threats. I suggest you both slink away and forget you ever knew my name.”