Chapter Twenty-Two
“I don’t know,”
Anika says a few days later. “I think pretty much any press is good press. Right? That’s what they say.”
We’re standing in the ballroom at the close-of-day filming. Patrick is helping Tom get good shots of all the changes Reid and Jeremiah have made, putting the finishing touches on what is now a grand salon that connects all three brownstones.
“I hate the fuckers,”
Luca says. “I want to know when we can get rid of them. Has Ivy found anything?”
Anika and Luca got back yesterday, and while they’re completely pleased with how the work is going, they don’t appreciate the photographers who’ve taken to hanging around.
“The last I heard she thinks it’s got something to do with a fashion line Britta started a year ago,”
I explain. “I’ve been keeping her fueled with tacos and coffee.”
Reid grins as he sets down the stack of coffee table books on the big, gorgeous table that looks like he time traveled back to Versailles to get. This whole space has a palatial feel to it, but the individual homes themselves are much more modern and functional. There’s one with a Northern European style. One that’s mid-century modern, but with all the luxury touches that make it comfortable. And one that’s sleek and ready for a gamer, weirdly enough. Like there’s a massive game room, and the Internet connection is platinum. “Ivy is treating this like a CIA op. I worry they’ll recruit her. I don’t want to lose her. I now know who to go to when I want to destroy my enemies via laptop.”
“He can’t do it himself though,”
I say to Ani. “He’s not actually very good with one.”
He shrugs and wraps an arm around my shoulder. “I find your sisters endlessly useful. One is a queen and the other is the queen of the Internet.”
He looks to Anika and Luca, sobering. “Though I am sorry for the mess. I promise we’re going to figure this out before Britta’s interview.”
She called the night of her power play to inform Reid that she had an interview with a major entertainment news outlet set for next week, and it would air sometime soon after.
Luca frowns, arms crossing over his chest. “She’s truly doing this interview where she’s going to tell the world she’s pregnant and you’ve left her?”
Reid sighs, and I know how weary he is of this. “That’s her plan. She sent me the instructions on where the interview is taking place. If I join her, she’ll announce our engagement and life goes on. If I don’t, she’s going to trash my reputation. I should have been smart enough to tape her.”
I might have mentioned that a couple of times. “It doesn’t matter. We’re ready for the storm. I’m sorry it might upset production. I honestly think the guys outside right now are being paid by Britta herself. I worry what happens when the actual interview comes out. For you, though. Not for me. I’ve been practicing my sarcastic comebacks.”
Reid laughs. “She has. Every morning. She runs them by Aggie, and they select the best zingers.”
Luca’s head shakes. “You seem oddly calm about this.”
“I’m willing to deal with the fallout,”
Reid admits. “But I am worried about my brother. Jeremiah is a part of this, too, and since I announced I’m staying here in New York with Harper, he’s been supportive but quiet.”
Patrick’s head came up the second he heard Jeremiah’s name. Those two have spent the last couple of days circling each other like wary sharks. I’m waiting to see if they pounce and what pouncing will mean for them. I happen to believe in a good pouncing. Just take my advice and cover up the cameras. I notice that Patrick stays close even though the director has moved on to another part of the room.
He’s still interested, but I worry once filming is done, he and Jeremiah won’t see each other again.
“Well, I’ve talked to him about redoing a couple of rooms at the palace,”
Anika admits. “It might do him some good to get out of the States for a while.”
“Oh, I assure you the European press will be interested in the story,”
Reid replies. “But we have some plans in place. I want to keep the focus on me. I’m the bad guy.”
“Hey,”
I say, reminding him.
He chuckles. “We’re the evil couple. She says being a Disney villain is a life goal of hers. The point is, Harper and I feel like we can handle the heat, but I worry Britta’s going to push this further when she realizes we won’t break.”
Luca considers him for a moment. “I know we haven’t talked about the situation, but from what I’ve gathered she’s been holding something over your head for a long time. This should be your worst nightmare.”
Reid stills for a moment. “If it goes to hell and the world hates me, are you going to stop being my friend? I’ll understand, you know. You have a reputation and a country to hold up.”
Luca waves the idea away. “Of course not. You’re with the woman who is basically my sister-in-law. I assure you there is only one point of view my family will consider. Even if you weren’t, I would believe you. Especially since I’ve met Britta. She talks openly about never settling down. She doesn’t believe in monogamy. I don’t understand why she’s doing this.”
“I do.”
Ivy walks in with Heath, and she’s got the biggest grin on her face.
Oh, that is her gotcha grin.
Anika rushes to my side and we welcome Ivy. “Tell us.”
Heath joins the guys, and they look so comfortable together, this family of mine. “Before she does, you should all know that I put her on the right track. She kept looking for a lover Britta was hiding or a shit ton of cocaine. I figured it was something way more ordinary and way worse.”
“So money?”
Luca asks. “That’s where I would look. It’s all she’s concerned about.”
“Bingo,”
Ivy announces. “Turns out there’s some reporters sniffing around a manufacturing plant in Cambodia where Britta’s fashion line is made. She’s been working hard to cover up the fact that she signed off on paying far below normal wages and has seen reports on the safety situations in the workshops, but I got the receipts. I think she decided if it comes out, she can do an ‘I had no idea’ tour while announcing her engagement or terrible treatment by a powerful man, and guess which one would get the most airtime?”
“I do not like this woman.”
Anika looks down at the tablet Ivy’s holding. It’s got a ton of information about the working conditions, and none of it is good. Including the child labor going into Britta’s two-hundred-dollar pairs of jeans. “I consider myself a girl’s girl, but sometimes girls are awful, too.”
“We can take her down like we used to take down the mean girls in high school,”
Ivy says with a grin.
I stare at the information and realize something sad. We can’t use it. “Guys, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We have to think.”
“Or we could upload it all to the Internet and let the world decide,”
Heath counters. “This could get her in serious trouble, especially in Europe.”
I look to Reid, who seems to be thinking the same thing I am. “And then she won’t have any reason not to release what she knows. I talked to Jeremiah and we’re going to see a lawyer, but I still worry about what it’s going to do to his mental health.”
Ivy’s jaw tightens, and I know she’s biting back all her questions. I asked her not to look into Jeremiah. It’s killing her to not know, but she’s been a good sister.
“So we need to sit down and figure out how to leverage what we’ve found,”
Reid says with a nod. “We could use this to get her to keep her mouth shut about what she knows. I think we’ll still have to deal with the interview. We have to give her something.”
“Or I can do what I should have done all those years ago,”
a familiar voice says. “I can tell the truth and shame the devil.”
Jeremiah looks tired as he walks in wearing stylish clothes and a weary smile. “The sad thing is I figured out I’ve been the real devil all along.”
“Jer, you have not,”
Reid insists. “I agreed to all of it.”
Jeremiah holds up a hand, staving his brother off. He has his laptop, and he opens it. “I put this up on social media. I’ve already got a bunch of requests for interviews, and I’m probably going to need a lawyer for when she sues me for libel. The good news? It’s only libel if it isn’t true. Anyway, this is it.”
I stare at the screen, and Jeremiah is sitting at the dining room table in the penthouse. He gives the camera a smile before talking.
“Hey, guys. My name is Jeremiah Dorsey, though I suspect you already know that since you’re following me, but I expect I’m about to go viral, so I thought I would introduce myself. Two years ago my brother, Reid, his girlfriend at the time, Britta Olensoff, and I were coming home from a party in the Hamptons and had an accident with a family of four. My brother was injured pretty badly, and the driver of the other vehicle ended up needing some medical attention for soft tissue injuries. There is a police report that states my brother was driving. This report is a lie. I was behind the wheel. I was also drunk, though I was excellent at hiding it. I started drinking at a young age, and I was always good at deflecting. I suspect my brother caught me a dozen times over the years and never thought there was a problem until he found out that night. I panicked. Utterly panicked. We had a hit show, and no one knew that I was not only an alcoholic, but I started trying drugs. Pot at first, and then cocaine. I was also high that night. We got my brother out of the car before the other car could see us. We placed his injured body in the driver’s seat. It was Britta’s idea, but I went along with it, and it was Britta and I who told the police he was the driver.”
Reid’s hand is suddenly in mine, but he looks his brother’s way. “Jer. What did you do?”
“What I should have done a long time ago,”
his brother says, tears in his eyes. “I should never have allowed you to take the fall.”
“It wasn’t a fall. I would have done it if I’d been conscious,”
Reid admits.
“And if I’d been sober, it would never have happened.”
Jeremiah gestures to the screen where he continues his tale.
“My brother and I offered the other family a settlement that included a nondisclosure agreement and hoped that was the end of it,”
Jeremiah says on screen.
“I quietly went into rehab. We decided with the producers of The Dorsey Brothers show that it was for the best to shelve the series. That was supposed to be the end of it, but we found ourselves in a situation where the person my brother should have been able to trust decided to blackmail us. Yes, I said blackmail, and I have the receipts. Literally, since mostly Britta wanted money. However, she would also force my brother to perform for the cameras when she needed publicity. All because I was too scared to tell the truth. Lying on a police report is a crime, and I’m willing to step up and do whatever it takes to fix this situation because my brother is in love and he and his girlfriend deserve far more than the trap Britta Olensoff is trying to put them in. So I will be surrendering myself this afternoon. My name is Jeremiah Dorsey and I am an alcoholic and an addict, but what I will no longer be is a coward. To all the fans out there, I am sorry for letting you down. I’m sorry for not coming forward and sharing a story that might help people in my situation. I don’t know what the future will bring. I only know that I will face it with love and courage and hopefully sobriety. I love you all.”
I’m crying at the end. Big fat tears that feel full of love and not sorrow. Despite the idea of Jeremiah facing charges, these tears are filled with hope because it’s out in the open and he can deal with it. We can all deal with it because he’s part of us now.
“You did not have to do that,”
Reid says, his voice hoarse.
Jeremiah’s head shakes. “I did. I have to face what I did so it doesn’t bury me. I’m an addict. I have to be honest and open or I’ll go under, and I swear I don’t ever want to do that to you. I’m sorry it took this to get me to do the right thing, but it won’t happen again. I won’t let her hurt you and Harper.”
“Lawyer is going to have so much fun,”
Ivy says as she pulls out her cell phone. She points Jeremiah’s way. “You do not go to the police without Lawyer. Am I clear?”
“As crystal,”
Jeremiah replies. “I was going to grab a lawyer on my way in, but I bet whoever CeCe brings in will be better.”
Reid looks Ivy’s way. “We will do everything CeCe tells us to do when it comes to this. I think we need to talk to more than a lawyer. Tell her she’s completely off the leash when it comes to this. Raze the earth, and I’ll have a martini waiting for her at the end.”
Ivy’s grin lights up the room. “Will do.”
“Well, that’s going to be fun,”
Heath says. “I don’t know it’s a good idea to use the words off the leash around CeCe. She’s been weirdly emotional lately. She even called me Heath the other day. Jer, good on you, man. Anything you need, we’re here for you.”
“So are we,”
Anika says. “I’m going to call the publicist and have her write a statement that says our company fully stands behind you.”
“That’s all well and good, but there are no receipts,”
Reid argues. “She was careful. She’ll say the money was a gift or a loan. This is why I should have recorded my last conversation with her.”
“You didn’t,”
Jeremiah agrees. “But I did. I was the one who told security to let her up. I used the security system we have in place to record the entire encounter, both audio and video. Father was paranoid and had cameras everywhere.”
“I remember, and we turned them off,”
Reid counters.
“And then I turned them back on.”
He holds up his phone. “Heath taught me how to do it on my cell.”
“I built an app,”
Heath acknowledges.
“She can fight me on it or I can release the tape where she admits what she was about to do. As for the accident, I have several text conversations and a couple of emails where she admits what we did and that it was her idea. There’s a lot of stuff about me being weak and her being strong, but it should be enough to prove what happened. I also have the driver cam. She was smart enough to hide it before the cops came, but I was smart enough to take it from her. I could have stopped this at any time, but I didn’t…I didn’t want to be known as your addict, screw-up brother.”
“You could be known as a man who has the courage to correct his mistakes and take his rightful place in the world.”
Patrick stands at the edge of our group, his eyes steady on Jeremiah.
The saddest smile hits Jeremiah’s face. “You were right. I was hiding something. I know you won’t believe it but it was especially hard to do this now because I have feelings for you. But the me I presented was a lie. This is it. This is me. I’m sorry…”
“Fuck sorry.”
Patrick walks right up to him, plants his hands on either side of Jeremiah’s cheeks, and kisses him then and there. We all stand around watching because what else are we supposed to do? Patrick comes up for air, staring at Jeremiah like he’s something precious. “Hi, there, sunshine. I’m grumpy. You want some company at the police station? Maybe we can get a coffee afterward. Or if you’re anxious we can find you a meeting and when you’re done, I’ll be waiting.”
A tear spills from Jeremiah’s eyes as he nods. “Yeah, I’d like that.”
Patrick steps back and gestures to the crew. “That’s a wrap for today. Go home and enjoy the afternoon with your families. We’ll do pickups tomorrow, and then we’re sliding into home. We’ve got inspections and last-minute stuff and in a couple of weeks, we’ll be back to do the big reveal.”
Reid looks to Jeremiah. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
He’s holding Patrick’s hand. “I have never been more sure of anything in my life. Brother, I cannot thank you enough for everything you’ve done to love and support me, even when I maybe didn’t deserve it. So I’m going to ask you to sit back and let me do this for you. For me. For our suddenly larger than I expected family.”
“Okay,”
Reid says and pulls his brother in for a hug. “I love you.”
“I love you,”
Jeremiah whispers.
“Uh, we need to walk over to CeCe’s,”
Ivy says as she enters the room again. “I might have started World War III. The good news is Chef is making lunch, so we won’t be hungry while we make our war plans. CeCe’s words, not mine. I already called the other moms. They’ll meet us there. It’s nice to be so close. I usually have to fight my way here via subway when she calls me in.”
“This should be amusing.”
Luca takes his wife’s hand. “But I could definitely eat. She has to understand that Ralavia must remain neutral in this war. I’m sorry. We have good relations with Sweden.”
“Oh, I’ll work on that,”
Anika vows.
Heath and Ivy along with Patrick and Jeremiah follow, and suddenly Reid and I are alone.
I squeeze his hand. He’s less happy than I would expect, but I’m sure he’s worried about how this whole thing will go. “CeCe really will take care of it.”
“He could go to jail,”
Reid says. “The crime of lying on a police report is punishable by one year in jail, and if it’s considered bad enough, up to seven years in a federal pen. I can’t. He won’t survive in there.”
He’s panicking. “I think that’s for filing a false report or lying about critical information when it comes to a serious crime. Lawyer will point out that this is Jeremiah’s first offense and he’s clean and sober and willing to help others do the same. You might have to write a big check, but there’s no way they send him to jail. You didn’t use insurance to pay for the other car.”
“I did it myself to avoid insurance fraud,”
he admits. “Harper, I know this means Britta can’t force her way into my life anymore, but it’s still a scandal. If she takes this fight to the press, I likely won’t be able to work in TV for a while. I’ll have all the problems I had before.”
I’m going to have to play a role I never thought I would play. Sunshine. My grump is anxious and needs some optimism. The good news? I’m feeling optimistic. “Then we’ll figure them out. Together.”
I go up on my toes and brush my lips over his.
“Together,”
he promises.
“Hey, what’s this about some viral video with your brother?”
Tom, the director, has his hands on his hips and looks ready to face Armageddon. “If this is another sex tape, I quit.”
Poor Tom. He thought he was doing a staid little reno show and he got us. “It’s him admitting he swapped places with his brother after an accident because he was super drunk and likely high and then he got blackmailed by a supermodel.”
A long sigh comes from Tom. “Finally something normal. All right. Carry on.”
I can’t help but laugh.
“We should get to the war room then,”
Reid offers.
I let him lead me out, but I wonder deep down if he’ll ever be truly happy working at Ross Construction.