Big Easy Temptation (The Perfect Gentlemen #3)(56)

“Was?”

“I think Gus effectively quashed it.” Roman sounded so grim.

“Gus?”

“It’s part of what she does for Liz. Of course Liz runs the press office, but Gus is like her enforcer. She heard about the story first. It’s why she thought it best to bring your mother here to D.C. In case the paper decided to print this shit anyway, she wanted your mother here with us where we can insulate her a bit. But I want to assure you that when Gus says something’s dead, it usually is.”

“What is the story about?”

“Pictures of your father have surfaced.”

“All right. There were pictures when the scandal first broke.” Of his father entering the seedy motel with the girl. “What’s different about these?”

Roman paused for a moment. “He’s in bed with the teenage prostitute, the one from the video. They’re . . . explicit.”

Dax’s stomach took a nosedive. Lousiest fucking timing.

“And there’s more. Someone is planning an exposé on your family. Do you know anything about your father having multiple affairs?”

“Yes, but only because my mother told me.” What the hell was going on?

“Someone else knows about it. Someone is shopping a book deal airing all of your family’s dirty laundry and naturally they found a publisher to bite.”

Dax could feel his whole body tense. “Goddamn it. I do not need this. My mother doesn’t need this.”

“I know. Unfortunately, I’m not done yet,” Roman continued. “Gus has been asking a few questions and poking around. She thinks she’s found the source for this sudden story. There’s been a leak. Those photos were kept in lockup at NOLA PD. Recently, another investigator got hold of them. This particular investigator had a hundred thousand dollars deposited into her account from an offshore bank yesterday. Not sure why she chose to do it that way. She should have gotten an offshore account herself. It took Gus all of five minutes to figure it out.”

His stomach was still sinking. Only one investigator would have gone after those files. “Are you saying Holland sold pictures of my father and this teenage prostitute to the press?”

“It looks that way.”

“It’s not possible.” Holland would never do such a thing. Someone had to be framing her.

“Look, I’m not going to tell you how to play this and I’ve got Gus on a leash for now. I can’t begin to tell you what she wanted to do. Your sister is very creative with revenge. This is your girl and you have to figure out how to handle this. As for the scandal, it’s done. There won’t be a book.”

God, what had they done to get that tell-all book quashed? “How did you manage that?”

“The publisher is part of a media conglomerate. Zack agreed to give their news arm an interview about Joy’s death.”

“No.” He couldn’t let Zack do it. He was one of the most private human beings Dax had ever met, and talking about something as personal as the death of his wife would crush him. “Tell him I said I’ll find another way.”

“He knew you would, which is why he’s already made the deal. It’s done. There’s no backing out now.” Roman paused. “Dax, he needs to do this for you. Let him, so he can feel as if he’s done one damn good thing to help.”

Because his job seemed so very large there was nothing he could contribute. “All right, but I can never repay him for this.”

God, what had happened? How had it come to this and who was fucking with Holland? There was zero chance she had chosen to sell him out. Something was going on and his need to see her skyrocketed.

She could be in danger. This whole situation had suddenly gotten so out of hand.

“He doesn’t want repayment. He wants you and your family safe.” There was a pause over the line. “Dax, I know how you feel about your father, but I need you to think of Gus now.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean if this story blows up again, she’ll be directly in the line of fire. She’ll be all over the papers and a good amount of her credibility could come into question. We put out this fire today, but you reopening this investigation will likely cost Gus her career. I hate that. I hate even saying it, but image is everything here. Zack can keep her on, but if these photos of your father get out, Gus goes from having a tragic background to pictures of her father abusing young women being the top story every time someone Googles her.”

“Gus would disagree with you,” he said, though Roman’s words were making him think.

“Yes, she would, but I’m worried about her. I’m worried about your mother. Gus would want you to soldier on. She’s a tough lady, but this is a world where a person’s career can be ended with a single news story. The only reason I brought Gus on for such a high-profile job in the first place was that the media had died down and most people have forgotten.”

“Why didn’t you hire her because she was good?” Anger was starting to thrum through his system.

Roman paused. “I know you probably think I’m being ruthless, but I really am thinking about Gus. And quite frankly, those pictures . . . Dax, I don’t want to believe it, either. Not about your dad, but I saw them. I can’t unsee them.”