Single Mom’s Guide to Love (Guide to Love #2)

35. Logan

35

logan

I’ve pulled many all-nighters in my life. Kat has been there to witness nearly all of them. But in all those years, and through all those cans of Red Bull, I don’t think we’ve ever worked side by side—or with more purpose.

Because we’re finding out where these pictures came from if it’s the last thing we do.

“I don’t care if it’s three in the morning. If you valued sleep you wouldn’t be in the business of fabricating celebrity news. So get your scrawny ass out of bed now!”

Ah, she finally reached the editor of the blog that posted the pictures.

“Now you listen here, you pencil dick weasel. You’re going to take those pictures down right now. You’re going to say that upon further review, you couldn’t verify them, and that you publicly apologize to Mrs. Banks-Matthews for the massive invasion of privacy.”

I can’t hear anything on the other end of the phone call, but my finger is ready to tap on the button of my mouse in a second when Kat gives me the signal.

Because yes, I’m about to shut down their website if they don’t agree to her demands.

Why? Because they fucked with my wife.

And I can.

“Oh, you’re not? That’s cute. So now…how about you get on your website? Why? Oh, just because I want you to see something.”

Kat gives me the nod, and with one click I’ve hacked into their servers, blaring an error message on the page that says their site is shut down. Also featured on it is the most unflattering picture we could find of him. It felt poetic.

“Oh…now you want to play ball? I figured you might.”

Kat continues to talk to the editor as I switch out my screen and try to figure out where these pictures came from. I ran every reverse image search I had—the legal and not legal ones—only to come up empty. Well, not completely empty. The photo of Maeve and I dancing the first night we met apparently had been circulating on the internet for a while, but somehow it never came up on Kat’s radar. Though that picture was innocent. The one that’s attached to the other pictures has clearly been doctored.

But who? Who would do this to Maeve? Or are they doing it to me?

That’s the other part of this—we don’t know why this is happening. On the surface, it looks like Maeve. But did they do it out of vindictiveness to her, or was it a way to get to me through her?

“I’m glad we’ve come to an understanding,” Kat says as she hangs up. “Pictures are down from there.”

I go to restore the page before Kat stops me. “Not yet. Make him sweat. He’s a prick.”

“Did you learn anything?”

She shakes her head. “He wouldn’t give up a source. And frankly, I don’t know if my threat of his website being shut down is enough to keep the pictures down forever. And even if those stay down, this is becoming a game of whack-a-mole. I can’t keep up with them. Any luck with you?”

“I know I’m not a world class hacker, but I thought I’d be able to find something. But all I’ve found is the email that sent the pictures originally to the editor. It came from a burner account from an IP address that’s a coffee shop.”

“Do you know when? Are there cameras? Hack away, computer boy!”

I laugh. “Hacking into cameras at some random coffee shop is beyond my skill set. And before you tell me to make a call, I already did. My friend told me he’d find the camera footage and send it to me within the hour.”

“God love hackers for having the worst sleep hygiene on the planet,” Kat says. “Really comes in handy in times like these.”

Both of us fall back into our chairs, exhaustion starting to hit us.

“Is it against me or her?” I ask, needing to know the answer that’s plagued my mind.

“Her.” Kat says flatly. “This was a direct attack against Maeve.”

I clench my fists, and my blood starts to boil. “I’ll kill them, Kat. I won’t think twice about it.”

“I know you’re pissed, Logan, and so am I, but a premeditated murder charge doesn’t help here.”

“Then what fucking will? How can I fix this for her?”

And that’s what I want most of all—to be the one to fix this for Maeve. For her entire life, she’s been the fixer. The controller. When there’s a problem, Maeve’s the one to solve it.

But here we are, a problem she can’t fix—and one that can ruin her career and take her son away in one swoop—and I can’t fix it, either. Even though between my smarts, skills, and bank account, I should be able to.

I can’t fail her. I won’t fail her. I don’t care if I have to stay up all night and call in favors from everyone I know including the fucking King of England, I’m going to do this for her.

“Who would do this?” Kat asks. “I mean, they have to be semi-smart to remember to send from a fake account, but dumb enough to do it in the first place.”

“It’s Vivian.”

Kat and I both pop up from our seats to see an exhausted, swollen-faced Maeve standing in the doorway of my office.

“Maeve? What are you doing up?”

“I couldn’t sleep.”

I hurry over to her, bringing her in my arms and all but carry her to the couch. Once the initial shock of the events swept through her, she said she needed to go upstairs with Jayce. That pictures or not, she had a child, and she needed to do bath time and make sure he went to bed for school in the morning. I went up to check on her after a few hours to find her asleep in his bed, holding him tight.

“Maeve, I know it’s been a long night for all of us, but did you say this is Vivian’s doing? As in your ex-husband’s new wife?”

Maeve nods. “I don’t know if it’s the lack of sleep, the headache, or pure delusion, but something is telling me it’s her.”

Kat and I look at each other and share a shrug. It’s not like we have any other leads to go on.

“Why do you say that?” I ask. “I mean, all because of the custody case?”

“I think so,” Maeve begins. “Earlier tonight I was talking to my sisters, and Stella mentioned that she was doing some social media stalking and thinks that Vivian is auditioning for that Real Lives of Nashville Wives reality show. And the insane theory that came from the sisters’ collective is that Vivian got married and is trying to get custody so she can be this bonus mom of the year and help her chances on the show.”

“That’s…” Kat pauses for a second. “Not as insane as some other things that have happened in entertainment.”

“There’s more,” Maeve says. “Back at the Christmas gala, I heard her and Candace talking. Before they were interrupted, she was about to say something to Candace about the reason that Logan and I got married was because of her marrying Josh. Which is true. What if she was about to tell her that she married Josh for the show too, and the chain of events ended with Logan and I getting married?”

“I mean…” I trail off for a second, because again, this sounds bananas. Or does it? I don’t have a second to ponder that because at that moment an email notification pings from my computer.

“Is it the footage?” Kat asks as I walk to go check it.

“What footage?” Maeve asks as she follows me.

I fill her in on the email we found with the pictures, and that a friend of mine was pulling security footage for me.

“I know that place,” Maeve says as we start to watch the tape. “It’s not far from Josh’s house. I used to go there occasionally if I was running early to pick up Jayce.”

The three of us are all on high alert as we watch the time lapsed footage. We know the email was sent around six o’clock, but since not all chairs are visible in the footage, we have to watch every second to see when customers come in.

“I think I’m going cross-eyed,” Kat says. “For the love of God, Vivian, just show your overfilled face so we can get on with this!”

As if she willed it into existence, in the next minute the three of us watch Vivian walk into the coffee shop, laptop bag in hand.

To her credit, she tried to disguise herself with a ball cap and oversized clothing. Too bad we were all on a mission to spot her.

“There! We got it!” Maeve announces. “Let’s go fucking get her.”

“Not yet,” I say, starting to bring up programs that will help me get into Vivian’s computer and email. “We need more.”

“More? We’ve proved she was there! She fucking sent the email!”

“He’s right,” Kat says, doing her best to calm Maeve down. “Right now we have a hunch and circumstance. What we need is evidence.”

I take Maeve’s hand in mine. “Let me find the proof. Because if I do, and it’s in fact her, this ends forever. Names cleared. Custody case dropped. It will all be behind us, and we’ll go back to the calm. It’s going to take a few days, but I promise, it’ll be worth it to put all of this behind us.”

Maeve nods, and when she closes her eyes, I think she might fall asleep standing up. “Please, Logan.”

“I got this,” I say, kissing her forehead. “I’m going to fix this for you. I promise.”