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  I shuddered, walked back to my car, dialed my mom's number and she picked up. "You got a chance to read it?" she asked me.

  "Yep."

  "So could you please tell me what's going on?"

  "Mom, this is a bunch of bullshit, and I'm going to fix it. Just give me a couple of days, and don't answer any more calls from strangers, okay?"

  "All right, but please behave."

  "I will, Mom." Or I'd try. I hung up and sighed. Now all I needed to do was figure out a way to fix it. At times like these there was only one thing to do, and that was to call up my boss and see if he had any idea how to fix it. I dialed his number and halfway through the first ring he'd answered it. "Waiting for me?" I guessed.

  "I heard about the new article from Cecil," he explained to me.

  I snorted. "Does that guy read anything else nowadays?" I wondered.

  "I'm glad he isn't, but he's looking into these unnamed sources as we speak."

  "Why? I already know who they are."

  "You do?"

  "We've already made two people mad who'd know about me replacing your last secretary."

  Through the phone I heard the sound of John's teeth grind together. "Monroe."

  "And Sievers," I added.

  "Four can play at this game."

  I expected him to think of something, but this was rather fast. "So you have a plan?" I asked him.

  "Yes, but I won't like what has to be done."

  I frowned. "Why?" I slowly returned.

  "Because it means I have to do something terrible."

  I blinked in bewilderment. "Um, I think I might need to be told this plan before I agree to it."

  "Come over to the house and I'll tell you."

  "Why don't you tell me right now?"

  "Because I need your car."

  "Um, why?"

  "You'll see, but come over as soon as you can." I opened my mouth to object, but he'd hung up. With no other choice I removed the disguise, drove to his house, parked, and stepped inside. Sassy met me at the door and yowled her greeting. "Mind telling me where your man is?" I asked her. She turned tail and trotted down the hall to the study. I followed and found the room darkened and the chair half turned from the doorway. The desk lamp was on, but I could barely make out John's form seated in the chair with his hands clasped together.

  I reached for the light switch to my right, but he spoke up. "Don't touch it, and close the door behind you."

  I frowned, but my arm dropped to my side, and I hesitantly stepped inside and closed the door behind myself. "Mind telling me what this is all about?"

  He turned to face me and held out his hand across the desk with the palm upward. "Give me your car keys."

  I was taken aback by how firm and serious he sounded, and I actually clutched at the keys in my pocket. "Why?"

  "Because this is what has to be done for you to return to a normal life, now please give them to me," he insisted.

  "What exactly has to happen?" I asked him.

  He frowned and leaned back. Sassy jumped on his lap and completed the picture of the cold and diabolical man. "Don't you see? We have to part ways and never see each other again."

  My mouth dropped open. I never expected to hear those words from him. "W-what?" I stuttered. Surely I'd heard wrong, or maybe misunderstood.

  "Let me put it more bluntly. Our relationship is done. There's no longer anything between us."

  I stumbled forward, but caught myself on the desk. He didn't move to catch me. "Y-you're joking, right? You're just practicing for the papers, aren't you?"

  His response was to hold out his hand again. "The keys, if you please."

  A deep pain stabbed at my heart and I struggled to hold back the tears in my eyes. "John, this isn't funny."

  "I'm not trying to be funny," he calmly, coldly replied. "Now the keys, or do I have to call the police?"

  "But it's my car!" I protested. I felt like my world was collapsing around me and I tried to hold onto it.

  "Not according to the Department of Licensing and the title," he countered. He sighed and stretched his hand out closer to me. "Now if you would please hand me the keys we can get this messy business to an end."

  My hands shook as I reached out my arm, but I hesitated over his hand. I just couldn't release the keys, and I looked into his eyes for some hint of mischief. The darkness was too strong to get a good look and his scowl too deep for me to see any hope for this being a joke. I turned my face away and dropped the keys into his hand.

  He snapped his arm away and half turned from me. "Your old car is still in the garage. The keys are on the table in the hallway."

  I stood before his desk with my hands at my sides balled into tight, quivering fists. My voice held a tremor of anger and pain. "So this is it? This is how we're going to end?" I asked him.

  "This is it," he agreed.

  "Will you miss me at all, or was I just useful like Sievers?" I accused him.

  He scoffed. "You weren't evenly remotely useful like Sievers, and what's there to miss? Your endless chatter and foolish idea to get me out into the world?" he nonchalantly asked me.

  My face fell and I bit my lip. I spun on my heels, and rushed out of the study and down the hall to the front door. Blinded by my tears, I stumbled into the entrance table and clutched onto the sides. The drops of betrayal and sadness poured down my face and my entire body trembled. I glanced down between my arms and saw that my old car keys lay where he'd said they were. He'd put them there in a premeditated breakup. I grasped the keys in my hand, and recalled something that I'd forgotten. I whipped my head over my shoulder and glanced down at the open study door. There was on last bit of business with him.

  I stomped back down the hall and flung open the door. John had sat facing the door, but at my wild entrance he quickly swiveled away so I confronted the back of the chair. I marched over to his desk and slammed my palms on the top. "Give me back those keys," I demanded.

  He half turned to me and from the light in the hall I could barely make out a raised eyebrow. "You want your car back that badly?" he wondered.

  I scowled at him. "No, it's got my apartment keys on it."

  His eyes widened and I heard a strangled noise come from his throat. He jingled the car keys in his hands and tossed my apartment keys to me. "There, now our business is done."

  I clutched onto the keys and my lower lip quivered. "I guess it it." A sob escaped my throbbing throat and I rushed out of there before I made a bigger fool of myself.

  CHAPTER 9

  The drive home was a blur of tears, sobs and blubbering. My car clunked along and somehow reached my apartment only to die in the garage. The engine made a horrible grinding noise and I knew Old Reliable had made its last trip. "Just my luck," I hoarsely whispered with a wry, sick smile on my face.

  I walked up to my apartment, but barely made it to the door when Andy peeked his head out. He grinned at me and stepped out into the hall. "Good morning!" he cheerfully greeted me.

  I turned my head away to hide my bleary face. "Hi," I muttered.

  Andy frowned and moved to stand beside me. "You feeling okay?" He leaned forward and caught a glimpse of my face. His eyes widened. "You don't look so well. Something happen?"

  I opened my mouth to tell him off, but a devil appeared on my shoulder. It had a proposal for me. It said that now was my chance for revenge, to get even for his using me and tossing me aside like an old rag. I could tell the whole world everything that I knew and he'd be out there for the whole world to see.

  The devil didn't count on me weariness, and I deflated like a leaky balloon. I shook my head. "I'd rather not talk about it right now." I went inside my apartment, shut the door and leaned my back against the entrance. Another sob escaped my throat, and I slid down the door. By the time I hit the floor I was a mess of tears and choked sobs.

  Over the next few days the scene was rinsed and repeated in a depressing consistency. I shut off my phone and forsook classes, family, an
d friends. The week passed in that blurry existence of heartache, but by Saturday afternoon I had a problem. My food supply was running low and I didn't have a car to drive me to the store. That presented another problem. Though I'd saved up as much as I could from working for Mr. Benson, that didn't change the fact that I was now unemployed. The only option I could think of was to return to the diner and resume my meager existence as a poor college student. Yay.

  All these thoughts spun around in my head as I lay face-first on my decrepit couch. The only change in monotony for the last few hours was my hearing Andy's door open and close, and his footsteps retreat down the hall. Must have had someone else's life to ruin. I rolled over and groaned. My stomach was as empty as the cupboards, but I didn't have the energy to go to the nearby gas station or any of the restaurants for food. I barely had energy to lift my head when I heard the knock on the door.

  "Who is it?" I mumbled. The reply was another knock. I groaned, got up and walked over to the door. Through the peephole I saw a tall guy in a chauffeur's suit with the hat pulled low over his face. "What do you want?" I asked him.

  "I'm here to pick up a Miss Trixie Calhoun," he replied.

  I wrinkled my nose. "Pick up? Why? Where are you going?"

  "Are you her?" he wondered.

  "Yeah, and who are you?"

  "I was instructed not to tell you that until you got into the car," he told me.

  "Like hell I'm going anywhere unless I know where I'm going," I refused.

  The stranger frowned, rummaged through his pants pocket and pulled out a slip of paper. He looked over the contents for a moment and glanced back at the door. "The gentleman who hired me said you'd be difficult, but he told me if I said the world 'uncle' you'd know what I meant."

  My face furrowed. "Uncle?" I whispered. "Uncle. . ." My eyes lit up and I snapped my fingers. There was only one uncle I knew of, and that was Cecil. Then I was confused all over again. "What's he want with me?" I asked the guy.

  He shrugged. "Don't know, but I'm supposed to drive you somewhere."

  "That's a little vague. Can't you give me some more info, or at least your name?" I persisted.

  "The name's Ben, but as for the other stuff I'm afraid I can't." He pulled down his wrist and showed a watch over his pale skin. "We're kind of running late already, so if you're not coming with me than I have to leave you."

  I was torn between two actions. The first was I could tell him to tell Cecil to shove it along with his stupid nephew, or I could blindly go with this driver and see why Cecil wanted to see me. I sighed and shrugged. "Why not? Let me get my coat."

  I grabbed my jacket and stepped out into the hall. Ben led me down to the street where a stretched limo awaited us. He opened the door and I hesitated to step inside, especially when he roughly grabbed my arm and shoved me inside. Then he hurriedly slammed the door and slid into the front seat. In the darkened space of the backseat I panicked and grabbed for the door handle. It wouldn't budge. He'd locked it on me.

  "Hey! Let me out!" I ordered him.

  The window between the front compartment and the rear was open, and the driver leaned one arm over the back of his seat so he could look at me. He had a sly grin on his face, one that was very familiar. "Are the two of you comfortable?"

  "Two of us?" I worried about my driver's senility and intentions until I noticed a strange ball on the seat across from me. I leaned forward and stared at the lump. A head arose from the mass of fur and eyes sleepily blinked at me. It meowed, sat up and jumped into my lap to knead at my clothes. I recognized those sharp claws and that needy purr. "Sassy!" I cried out.

  Ben chuckled, and I was sure I'd heard that sound some place else. "She insisted on coming," he told me.

  I blinked in bewilderment. "Why'd she want to go with you?" I asked him.

  "We've had quite a few lonely days to bond," he replied. He swept off his cap, and the fake hair with it, and used a handkerchief to wipe the skin-colored makeup off his face. My mouth dropped open when John emerged from beneath that detailed disguise. "Happy to see me?" he teased.

  At his words my mouth snapped shut and I frowned at him. "Let me out."

  His face fell. "Why?"

  "Let me out, and you come out, too," I ordered him.

  John frowned, but followed my commands. We stood out there on that dingy street with Sassy watching through the heavily tinted window. "What the hell is going on?" I asked him.

  John sheepishly smiled. "I've come to take you away from this terrible apartment building once and for all," he replied.

  I narrowed my eyes. "What about that dark study and all that crap you said to me?"

  "The dark study was for my benefit. I didn't trust myself to keep my true emotions hidden from you without it," he explained to me. "As for what I said, well, that was to throw the reporters off your scent and give you a few days rest."

  "So you still love me?"

  "More than ever."

  I wanted to kiss him and slap him, so I did both, and in that order. He frowned and rubbed his cheek. "What was that for?"

  "What do you think that was for? You tricked me!"

  He slyly grinned and shrugged. "We needed your part to be convincing."

  "My part? Convincing?" I poked my finger against his chest and with each jab he retreated a foot until he backed up into the brick wall of a building. "Who the hell do you think you are to be doing that to my emotions?"

  He sheepishly smiled. "Your future husband?" he guessed.

  I folded my arms across my chest and glared at him. "You've got a funny way of showing it."

  He stepped forward, swept me into his arms and trapped my lips in a kiss so passionate that the world around us disappeared. There was only his warm body against mine, and his lips sending an electrical charge of deep, heady emotions. It communicated his longing and love for me, and when we broke apart for air I could see the pain in his eyes. He'd really missed me, and I couldn't deny that I'd desperately missed him.

  "Is that a funny way of showing it?" he teased me.

  I caught enough air to reply, and playfully scowled at him. "It's a start, but you're still in the doghouse with me," I warned him.

  He smirked and wagged his eyebrows. "Woof," he replied.

  I rolled my eyes and pushed him away. "Down boy, I don't want you drooling all over me."

  "Even if I had that intention that won't be the dress you're going to wear," he told me.

  "Huh?"

  He reached into his suit and pulled out a magazine. "I don't know what you've been doing this past week-"

  "One long infomercial for anti-depressants," I replied.

  He paused and winced. "And I'll make sure that never happens again, but first we have some loose ends to tie up." He held out the magazine and I caught a glimpse of the cover story. It was all about how we'd broken up because I'd stolen valuable documents from him. My jaw dropped open and I glanced up into John's now-serious face. "I was hoping the cover stories would slow down, but there's been more fuel to the fire."

  "And courtesy of our old friends?" I guessed.

  "Exactly, but we're going to make them regret spilling their own story," he told me.

  I raised an eyebrow. "How? By chauffeuring them around the dark alleys of the city?"

  He chuckled. "Not exactly. Do you remember Cecil mentioning a Reporter's Dinner that's happening today."

  "I can barely remember what I had for my last meal," I replied. It'd been white bread with a single pickle. Like I said, my cupboards were bare.

  "The Reporter's Dinner is the chance for the media to rub elbows with the high-society people they report on."

  "Sounds like the perfect time for back-room dealing," I mused.

  "And the perfect time to out a reporter and his accomplices for the frauds they are," he added.

  I crossed my arms over my chest and tilted my head to one side. "And how are we going to do that?"

  John pulled down his sleeve again, and I saw the pale skin again
. I could have slapped myself for not putting two-and-two together earlier. "How about I explain when we get there?"

  "Where's there?"

  "The Reporter's Dinner."

  I looked askance at him. "I know you're rich, John, but how are you going to get into a fancy affair without us being noticed?"

  He nodded at his seat where lay the hat and wig. "With a little help from the theater department at the university."

  CHAPTER 10

  "You're mad, you know that?" I asked him from the rear seat. John sat in the driver's seat and drove us to the Reporter's Dinner at the city's convention center. The normally mundane hall was now packed with more security than around the president, and there were throngs of people taking pictures of stars and their media watchdogs. This night they were going to be the lapdogs as deals were cut to avoid bad publicity in exchange for exclusives.

  "There may be a slight touch of madness in my family, but my plan isn't crazy," he insisted.

  I scoffed at his comment. "A slight touch of madness? You can't lie to me, I've met Cecil," I reminded him.

  John chuckled. "Good point, but this isn't madness."

  I leaned over the partition between the seats and Sassy at my side imitated me with her front paws. "You know, I might do a better job of arguing against this madness if you told me what you're planning to do."

  "You might, but I admire your bravery to argue in the face of ignorance," he teased.

  I knocked my fist against the back of his head. "Behave," I scolded him.

  He playfully cringed. "Yes, ma'am."

  "Good, now tell the nice ma'am what your plan is. You said you wanted to get us into the Dinner so we could get revenge on Andy and the other two. How are we going to do any of that?"

  John grinned, and it was full of mischievous evil. "The plan was put into action the day I sent you away. Our fake separation ensnared Mr. Parks into believing we weren't together, and his two anonymous sources also took the bait. Cecil and I have-"

  "Wait, Cecil's in on this, too?" I interrupted.

  "You think he'd want to stay out of all this fun?" he countered.

  "If he were sane, yes, but we are talking about your family here," I mused.

  "Exactly, so Cecil pulled a few strings at one of the larger, and more reputable, newspapers and we've set up an article to run tomorrow in a special edition of the paper."