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Roman-2(Lane Brothers, Book 5)(165)

By:Kristina Weaver


“That absolute worm of a man!” Sasha cried.

Tears flooded her eyes. How had she fallen for his bullshit? And what had been the point of it all? If he’d just wanted some disgusting tape out of it, why all the pretension about giving it a go, about starting some kind of relationship? Unless he had one of his sick cameras set up in every one of his houses. Maybe he was going to tour her around the world, leaking tape after tape of her.

She felt Kelly lightly touch her shoulder, but she couldn’t bear to look at her boss. She knew what that hand of sympathy meant. It was all over. She’d made a mockery of herself and had lost the internship.

Finally, she took a deep breath and swiveled her chair back round slowly, ready to learn her fate. She tipped her head up and looked at Kelly. “Am I off the internship?”

Kelly frowned. “Off? Darling, I’m promoting you.”

“Why?”

“Because the world is going to want to talk to you now. You’re worth ten times what you were before.” Kelly looked so eager Sasha thought she was about to pull her into an embrace.

“But I… I don’t want to be promoted because of this. I don’t want to be known as the woman in the sex tape. Kelly, that’s…that’s abuse! I never consented to being filmed.”

Kelly pouted theatrically. “I know, sweetie. It’s horrible. But it’s also a wonderful opportunity for you.”

Sasha stared at her aghast. “How can you say that? I’ve been used. Betrayed. And you want me to profit from it?”

“What’s your other option? Let it tear you to pieces? Now come on, darling, you’re stronger than that. This is an opportunity, and you need to use this to your advantage. When you write your kiss-and-tell, there won’t be a single person who reads it who can say you’re making it up. You’ll have the feminist community behind you. It won’t be like what happened with Alicia.”

Sasha stood, but she felt light-headed. “I never wanted this. I never wanted any of this.”

She noticed that people in her office were turning round and staring—people who never said good morning or even thanked her when she’d brought them their coffees. Suddenly, people gave a crap about her, and all because she’d been the victim of Thomas Lloyd’s sick plot.

“Can I take the rest of the morning off?” she said breathlessly, feeling sick.

“Darling, you can take the year off. All we need now is your name. Oh, and your article, don’t worry about that. I’ll get one of the others to write it. ‘How Hollywood’s Sex Pest Duped Me into Bed.’ Something along those lines. You go home and rest up. I’ll have someone in the marketing team add you to the permanent staff part of our website.” Kelly beamed as she sauntered away.

Her head pounding, Sasha packed up her stuff quickly and slung her satchel over her shoulder. The ground felt like foam beneath her feet. As she bustled down the aisle, Alicia gave her a dirty look, then stepped forward blocking her path.

“Well played,” she said coldly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Sex tape scandal. Wish I’d thought of that when I had the opportunity. So how’d you do it? Put your iPhone behind the kettle? Resting on the toaster?”

“You think I leaked my own sex tape?”

Alicia frowned. “But if you didn’t, then that must mean…Oh no!” She feigned shock. “He filmed you without your consent.” She tapped her chin in faux contemplation. “But why would he do that? Because he has a new film coming out?” She shook her head over dramatically. “The levels of depravity these actors will sink to for self-promotion. On one hand, you’ve got to give it to him. It was diabolical scheming on his part. He must have been thrilled when an unknown intern showed up to interview him. My name was already smeared thanks to the article I wrote. But you, you’re a journalist virgin. As pure as the cold driven snow.”

Sasha racked her brains. What was it that Thomas had said under his breath when he realized they’d sent the intern? That it was a miracle? Could that have been what he meant, that sending the intern had given him the opportunity to create a paper-selling, sensationalistic story?

But what about the beautiful moment they’d shared last night? They’d let so much of themselves out to one another. There’d been trust and true affection.

Alicia reached out and rubbed Sasha’s arm, feigning concern again. “Oh Sash, you didn’t think there was something special between you, did you? He didn’t pull his whole mommy and daddy burned to death routine?” She squeezed Sasha’s arm tightly. “You poor thing.”