Virtuous(106)

“I don’t even know what to say to you right now. We’ve got a ton of shit to deal with, and you’re throwing this at me?”

“I’m just pointing out that people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”

“Poetic, Flynn. Really.”

My phone chimes with a text from Addie. 911. Our code for call me right now no matter what you’re doing. My stomach drops, and my first thought is of Natalie. “I’ve got to go. I’ll call you back.”

“Flynn, wait—”

I drop the desk phone into the cradle and call Addie on my cell.

“We’ve got a huge problem,” she says.

“What? You’re freaking me out.”

“I don’t even know how to tell you this, but Hollywood Starz is reporting that Natalie is actually a woman named April Genovese who accused the Nebraska governor of rape when she was fifteen. It went all the way to trial, where he was convicted and sentenced to twenty-five years to life in prison.”

I’m going to be sick. “I’ll call you back.” I run for the bathroom that adjoins my office, where I’m violently ill. Oh my God, I’ve brought down the wrath of hell on my sweet Natalie. All I can think about is getting to her. Right now.

I wash my face, brush my teeth quickly and grab my coat and phone on the way out of the office. In the elevator to the parking garage, I feel like my skin is too tight to contain the rage and fear that I feel. She’ll never forgive me for this. I’m certain that any chance I had of a life with her is gone now, but that doesn’t mean I won’t do everything within my power to try to make this right.

Driving the Range Rover, I emerge into a swarm of reporters staked outside the Quantum office who are screaming at me for a comment about Natalie. I press the accelerator, not caring in the least if I run them down. All that matters is getting to her.

Liza calls, and I take it even though she’s about the last person I want to talk to. “Flynn, oh my goodness! Is it true?”

“There’s no comment from us on this, you got me?”

“You have to say something.”

“No, I don’t. This is her personal business, and it has nothing to do with me or my career. It’s off-limits.”

“But—”

“Liza, if you wish to continue working for me, I want the full resources of your company on this. I want you to threaten lawsuits and anything else you can think of to make it stop.”

“It’s too late to stop it. It’s already all over the Internet.”

“I can’t do this right now. I need to get to her. Do what you can to contain it.”

“Is it true?”

“I don’t even know, but that doesn’t matter. This is going to hurt her, and I promised I’d never hurt her.”

“You didn’t do this. You had nothing to do with it.”

“You know goddamned well I had everything to do with it.” After a quick call to Dylan to put Natalie’s security on alert, I throw the phone into the passenger seat and hit the gas. Getting to her is the only thing that matters.





Stone-faced Mrs. Heffernan is waiting for me when I return to my classroom after seeing my students off at the end of another long day. “We have a problem, Ms. Bryant.”

“What’s that?”

“We have reporters at our door looking for you, and we’re hearing from them that you aren’t who you say you are.”

I feel the earth shift under my feet, and for a brief terrifying second, I fear I’m going to pass out from the absolute shock that hits my system like a high-voltage bolt of electricity.

“Nothing to say?” She seems smug and satisfied, as if she’s always known I’m no good.

“I… I’m exactly who I say I am.”

“And you were never known by the name April Genovese?”

That name coming from Mrs. Heffernan is another high-voltage shock that rips through me. I can’t seem to speak over the huge knot of fear that grips my chest. It’s similar to the way I felt when I had the wind knocked out of me the day I met Flynn.

“The contract you signed is very clear, Ms. Bryant, or Ms. Genovese or whomever you are. Fraud of any kind will not be tolerated. I’m afraid your position here has been terminated. You’re to clean out your personal effects and be out by five o’clock, or you’ll be escorted from the premises by the NYPD.”