Chapter 52
Amir
“Tell me he was drunk,” Avery demanded.
Leaning back against the kitchen sink, I avoided her gaze. I’d only just watched the damn thing an hour ago. He’d posted it late at night, which meant it had a whole eight hours to circulate before I caught wind of it.
“Amir.”
“Let me fucking think, Avery.”
She began to pace. “You’ve had a long time to think. Five months.”
“It’s not like that.”
“Then tell me what it’s like. Was the relationship a ruse?”
Swiping a hand down my face, I sighed. “At first.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“Not for long. It was a stupid PR stunt, but we had feelings for each other from the start.”
“Oh, you had feelings for each other?” She whirled on me, her blue eyes icy. “Is that what we call blackmail these days? He has a sex tape of you, Amir.”
The thought of it made my lip curl. I knew he had cameras in the bar, but I hadn’t been aware of them then.
He’d never mentioned a video of us, and he also hadn’t threatened me with it like he’d claimed.
He’d mixed lies with the truth, and it made it hard to sort through everything.
Did the explanation really matter in the end?
He’d set off an atomic bomb, and I didn’t see a way to escape the fallout.
“What we had was real.”
“You should’ve told me from the start,” she snapped.
“I know.”
“You let me introduce him to Mal.” She put a hand on her forehead. “I thought you’d known him for months, but he was a stranger. He slept in the same house as our daughter.”
“Avery, listen to me.” I took her arm so she’d stop pacing. “Remi never blackmailed me.”
“Never?”
I decided to bypass the pool table thing when I shook my head. “It’s an attempt at self-sabotage. That’s it.”
“Well, it’s one hell of an attempt. How can you expect the two of you to come back from this?”
“I’m assuming the point is not to come back from it.”
“Can you accept that?”
“I don’t know if I have a choice,” I admitted. “I have to be in Boston today. It’s bound to be a shit show.”
“What’s going to happen?”
“I’m not sure.”
“He made you look weak, Amir. You’re vulnerable here, and you can’t let them direct you like a puppet this time.”
“What would you have me do?”
“I don’t know.”
I couldn’t deny that I was pissed at Remi. He’d taken it too far, all in the name of forcing me to keep my distance. Renshu had already told me that I wasn’t allowed to go near him. There would be eyes everywhere.
For someone who wanted to stay out of the headlines, he’d really put himself out there in a major way.
An atomic bomb wasn’t the right way to put it. Those lingered for too long, corrupting everything for decades. He was a flashbang. One violent burst of light, and then nothing. By the time my vision cleared, he’d just be gone.
“Let me get through this meeting,” I said. “Then we can discuss it.”
She nodded, and there was a flicker of something in her eyes. Trust. I wasn’t sure that I deserved it right now, but I would hold on to it in order to get through whatever I’d have to face on the road ahead.
*****
Everyone stopped talking when I entered the board room. Various expressions stared back at me. Some were pitying and others were annoyed that I’d dragged them into this mess, as if I’d knowingly gotten myself here.
The big glass window made the room feel like a giant fishbowl. As I sat next to Vera, I wondered if I was the guppy they all wanted to feast on.
Casually, I adjusted my tie. “I wish I could say it’s nice to see everyone, but the frown lines would indicate otherwise.”
Shawn forced a laugh, but when it drew attention to him, he fashioned a more compliant expression. I wasn’t even sure why he was here. Hopefully, it was to defend me. There were too few people in this room who I thought might have my back.
“Mr. Darya,” a man in a pressed blue suit said, his hands folded like he was initiating negotiations. “I’m sure we don’t need to tell you why this meeting is so important.”
“I saw the video.”
“Good. Before we do anything else, let’s cut to the important part: your statement.”
“I don’t exactly have one of those.”
He frowned, his eyes shifting to Vera. She cleared her throat and leaned forward, all business. “We’ve all been caught off guard, as I’m sure you understand. Might I suggest keeping this conversational as we navigate it together?”
He grunted his agreement. “Mr. Darya—”
“Just Amir,” I interrupted.
The frown lines deepened. “Did Remi Keane blackmail you?”
“No, absolutely not.”
Someone from legal cleared her throat. “Amir, we understand that this is a sensitive topic, but in order for us to remedy this situation, we need full transparency. Of course, as your legal counsel, anything you say here is protected. We can’t help you unless you want to help yourself.”
“I understand, and my statement doesn’t change. Remi didn’t blackmail me.”
She glanced at her colleague. He offered me a business-like smile as he slid a piece of paper toward me. “We need a formal statement asserting your position.”
I pushed it away. “I just gave it.”
“In order for us to pursue legal action—”
“Legal action? For what exactly?”
“Blackmail, if that’s what we determine it is. If not blackmail, then libel, at minimum.”
“We’re not suing Remi.”
“This is bigger than bad press, Mr. Darya. Surely you can see that.”
I gestured toward Renshu across the table. “You can fix this, right?”
He opened his mouth, then closed it as he glanced around. “I’ll do what I can, of course, but clearly, this is bigger than me. While they sort all that out, you need to distance yourself from him.”
“And if I don’t?”
They all looked at one another. Wrong answer, I guess.
“Amir,” Vera said, her voice sounding more reasonable than the others.
She touched my arm and dug her nails in slightly, probably to make me stop shooting daggers at the people around me.
“The league is going to require an investigation. Blackmail is a criminal matter. Even if he’s lying, the optics—”
“Optics,” I scoffed. “You think I care about optics right now?”
“You have to. People are already talking, and the longer you stay quiet, the more leverage there is against you.”
“There’s no leverage because there was no blackmail. End of story. We move on like we should have this entire time.”
Renshu sighed. “Amir, you need to get ahead of this. We’re drafting a statement. Something neutral. You’ll say you’re disappointed that he misrepresented the nature of your relationship, but you’re committed to transparency.”
“I guess that’s reasonable enough,” I said reluctantly.
The woman from legal dipped her head. “Then we need to discuss the possibility of filing a formal disavowal. Or”—she hesitated—”a cease and desist.”
“I told you I don’t want to take any legal action.”
“It may be necessary. It shows you’re not allowing this behavior to continue.”
“You can’t be painted as a victim,” Renshu agreed.
“I’m not taking legal action against Remi.” My voice cracked on his name.
“While we strongly recommend it,” the other attorney said, “we can consider another route.”
“Good.”
“We can discredit him.”
Blinking, I tried to catch up, but I wasn’t given a chance to speak.
Renshu jumped into action, flipping open a folder already prepared with what must’ve been evil plans.
“We issue a statement that he has a history of instability. You were trying to help him, but it got out of control. Remi’s video is a betrayal of that goodwill, but he also praised you for being an honorable man, so that actually helps us. ”
“It protects Amir,” Shawn agreed. “It paints him as a do-gooder, and it won’t be hard to convince anyone that Remi is unstable. Clara’s interviews can back that up.”
“Amir, you’ll remain completely separated from him. No contact, no showing up at his bar, no public statements defending him. We can’t look like we’re still”—he gestured vaguely—”whatever this is.”
“Maybe we can get McKinney on this too,” another person from PR suggested.
“Oh, that’s a good idea. Since they’re already friends, it works in our favor.”
A laugh escaped me, and the entire room went silent. I dropped my face into my hands, riding out the break in my sanity.
“This isn’t funny,” Shawn said.
When I looked around, I laughed some more. “It’s hysterical. Are you all insane?”
“This is for your protection,” Vera reminded me.
“No, this is you trying to control the narrative.”
Renshu lifted a brow. “Exactly. Right now, the narrative is that you’re either a victim, complicit, or a fool. None of those help you.”
“There’s a fourth option.” They waited. “I’m in love with him.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yeah, we’re aware of that. What you’re not going to do is run and preach it to the world.”
“I know this is hard,” Vera said.
“Hard?” I scooted my chair back and stood, smoothing down my suit jacket out of habit.
With a growl, I unbuttoned it. To hell with appearances.
“Hard was when I realized Clara Kessler was going to attempt to tear my life apart from the inside. It was when I accepted that I was falling for a man who didn’t understand what it meant to be loved.
Hard was when they went for the jugular, attacking him in his most vulnerable places, yet he stuck around and did everything you fucking asked of him. And what good did it do?”
“Amir—”
“Hard was when he walked out on me because of all this.” I gestured harshly around the room.
“This circus right here? This is exactly what he hates, exactly what he was trying to get away from, because Remi knows abuse more than he’s ever known love.
” Leaning my hands on the table, I didn’t bother to hide my anger.
“How dare you ask me to throw him under the bus when he spent so long fighting for me, even as it wore him right back down to that helpless, broken child that’s inside of him. ”
“Maybe we should dial this back a notch,” one of the men suggested. “It’s clear this is a . . . sensitive subject.”
Vera tried to take my arm so I’d sit again, but I shook her off. “No, let me finish.”
I scanned each seat, noting how many of them lacked remorse or empathy. Remi could see that. He was an expert at it. No fucking wonder he’d fled in the night to get away from these demons.
“You know what this looks like to me? It looks like the exact same shit McKinney dealt with the last two seasons.” Silence again.
“I saw the way it changed him. Maybe you didn’t care, but I did.
It was all about what the public would think, how the fans would feel, how it would affect team support.
He bowed for a minute, but then he stood back up and told them to go fuck themselves.
And guess what? He’s still standing, a god in the league.
The Braves talked a big game, but they would’ve been fools to let him go over putting his foot down for what mattered to him. So, what’s it going to be here?”
The first man who’d spoken when I walked in leaned back in his seat, looking mildly amused. “Are you giving us some sort of ultimatum?”
“I don’t know. Do I need to?”
Shawn cleared his throat. “You’re a valued part of this team, Amir.
I think we can all agree on that.” Murmurs of assent went around the room.
“Yes, this brand matters, but we really are trying to protect you. Both things can be true at one time. After all, there’s no brand without the players, and it’s just a fact that you’re a fan favorite in Boston. ”
“The ideal situation,” Renshu chimed in, “is for you and Remi to reconcile. Now, it’s a hell of a lot more complicated after the stunt he pulled, but the fact remains that most people love the two of you together.
If we’re looking for good press, it’s going to be in a reunion.
The question is: What’s our most realistic outcome? ”
I didn’t have an answer for that, and Renshu could see it. His lips pursed as he cast looks at the rest of his team.
“To be clear,” Vera said, “Amir’s not getting sacked, right?”
The man in the blue suit chuckled. “Not unless he somehow makes a bigger mess of this than we already have.”
“Perhaps we can get some assurances on that.”
As they talked business, I sat down again. My gaze remained on the window, and I could hardly process anything they went on about. It seemed incredibly trivial at the moment.
They wanted me to turn this back into an epic love story, as Remi had put it. I wanted that too, of course. Now, though, it felt orchestrated, just like everything else he hated.
However long it takes. That was what I’d told him. But what about what it would take? I was just as lost on that front.
Except, really, I wasn’t. But I wished that I was, because the sort of love Remi and I shared required sacrifice. And that was a terrifying concept to grab hold of.