“That’s enough,” Roman cut in at the invasive question. “Miss Kane’s personal life is her own. As I told you, we’ve been dating. It’s no one’s business how long our relationship has gone on, but it’s not uncommon for people to visit their significant other at their place of business. No more questions.” He grabbed her hand, navigating through the mob of media who continued to shout questions at them. She held tight while he moved her through the crowd.
Two months back, Alexandra would have freaked out, but she found herself calm as they made their way to his car. She drove separately, but there was no way she was going to her car by herself now. Someone else could pick it up. Nothing was said, there were too many cameras, but she squeezed his hand to let him know she was okay. It was none of their business how long they’d been dating—it only mattered that they were.
“Fucking vultures.” Roman shook his head. “And why are you smiling?” he asked once they were buckled in the car and ready to leave.
“I thought the same thing when they came after us when we left the courthouse. What a mess. Get me out of here, please.”
“I’m going.” He pulled out, watching so he wouldn’t hit anyone, but they refused to give them the same peace, practically crawling on the car to get pictures of them.
“How did they know I’m a member?” She lay back, closing her eyes for relief from the flashes continuing to go off.
“I don’t know.” He rubbed her arm before he reached for his phone, calling his brother to get him looking for the leak. He pulled over at a corner diner once he was satisfied the news was gone so they could talk. Roman pulled her hands to his mouth, kissing them before looking her in the eye. “I’m going to find out. Whoever the hell it was, they’re gone. I promise.”
She nodded. “I know. We’re going to get through this. It’s not their business anyway. As long as we play it off the relationship angle, they won’t have a leg to stand on. The rest is just details.”
Roman cupped her face, the love shining through causing her eyes to become suspiciously wet. It was too much, and his sweetness threatened to overwhelm her. “I know you hate being exposed and I’m sorry it happened today. I’ll fix it.” Her phone rang before she could respond, and her stomach dropped again when she saw it was Henry. He would be freaking out; he never wanted any type of bad publicity, and would consider this inexcusable.
“Yes, Henry?” she answered, prepared for the verbal reprimand she was sure to get.
“I need you in my office, five minutes ago!” She winced at the tone, but directed Roman to take her back to work. He agreed to pick her up later, kissing her before she ran inside to meet with her boss. He was pissed, sure, but this was fixable. Everything would be fine; they’d release a press release and handle the situation. The raised eyebrows and open stares as she walked through the office told her they’d heard the news, but she refused to defend herself against these people. It was none of their business what she did on her own personal time, and she was done hiding Roman. She cared about him, knew he cared about her, and anyone else could fuck off.
She entered Henry’s office when he called for her to come in, watching the news coverage of their statements outside the courthouse. The headline was pretty damning—Promising Lawyer Member of Infamous Sex Club—and had all the information they’d been able to gather since they left. There in black and white were pictures of her leaving over the last couple months, pictures the bitchy reporter promised had been leaked. And wasn’t that the cap to a shitty day?
“Alexandra.” Henry gestured to the seat in front of his desk, not moving when she sat in front of him. She always thought the ornate chair suited him, a cherry wood detailed with gold embellishments, as powerful as the man who sat in it. But at that moment, it freaked her out with the way his eyes seemed to bore into her.
“You have information you want to disclose?” He pointed at the television, now muted but the story still running.
“With all due respect, sir, I have nothing more I would like to disclose. Roman Valentine and I are involved in a relationship, which is why there are pictures of me leaving Club Valentine. Anything else is no one’s business.” Including yours wasn’t added, but the implication was there.
Henry’s face grew red, the vein in his forehead popping out. “When the girl I was going to bring in as a partner of this firm is plastered all over the news like some common…” He stopped, standing up behind his desk, but all Alexandra heard was the girl I was going to bring in as partner.
“What do you mean when you say ‘the girl I was going to bring in’?” She hadn’t gone public with their relationship to anyone but her family, hoping to keep it private until she made partner. She wasn’t afforded that opportunity, but it didn’t mean she should lose what she’d worked so hard for.
“Are you serious?” His lip curled in disgust. “You think I want you to be one of the partners of this firm? To be part of what I helped build? You’re delusional if that’s what you believe. You’ll be lucky if you have a job after all this is over. I would fire you now, but I have to confer with the other partners. I loathe negative publicity, whether it’s because we lost a case or one of our associates did something stupid. This ranks at the top. I don’t want to see you for the rest of this week. You’re suspended.”
“My cases,” she tried to reason with him.
“Will be reassigned. All except for the Valentine case; you’re keeping that one. It got you into this mess.” She stood since there was nothing else to say. Her goals, her plans, were vanishing before her eyes. She wouldn’t be the lawyer her parents expected her to be, she wouldn’t be partner, and there was no way to fulfill her father’s dream. She was all but fired; Henry was just waiting on the approval of the other two, who’d never respected her as much anyway.
“I’ll call you next week,” she informed him, but he flicked his wrist at her as though she were an irritating gnat he wanted gone. She turned around; it wasn’t the time to go head-to-head with him.
“Alexandra.” He stopped her at the door. His eyes shot pure venom when he told her. “Your father would be ashamed of you, making a mockery of your family and this profession.”
She left, focused on putting one foot in front of the other while she lay bleeding, shredded by the bullet he’d just leveled her with. Leaving, she started grabbing a couple of items from her office and regrouping before they talked again. No one was perfect, and she’d just found out how quickly everything could change. Calling Roman, she opted for a cab when his phone went to voicemail. She had a million voicemails and missed calls to sift through, but there was no way she was calling her grandmother, her mother, or Parker at the moment. She wasn’t going to stew; she was going to fix this. Her parents raised her to be hard as nails, and Blair would come over with bottles of wine and want to commiserate. She wasn’t commiserating, she was fixing.
***
Alexandra was engulfed in a hug as soon as she let Roman in the door. She breathed him in as he kissed her head and held on to her. She wanted to stay wrapped in him for days and pretend like today never happened.
He held her out from him, his hands on her arms while he studied her. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.” She nodded, but then shook her head. “I don’t know. It was horrible today.”
He led her to the couch, pulling her into his arms. “I know. This morning was one of the worst days I’ve had in a while.”
She pushed back so she could look in his eyes. “I’m sorry all that went down.”
“You think I’m mad at you?” he asked, incredulous. “I’m mad for you, not at you. You were brilliant this morning. There’s no way Gerald is getting that list, but then when we got lambasted by the press and the sneaky bitch in the back it all went to hell.”
“Who was she?” Alexandra wondered aloud, something she’d mulled over all day. She couldn’t place her, and she’d developed a bit of a relationship with the local reporters who covered the courts.