Chapter 19
Gage stared at the closed door before him, willing Carly to come answer the thing. He doubted that she was still sleeping; she’d told him herself that she never slept in past seven. It was more likely that Carly hopped into the shower, especially since she wasn’t answering her phone.
He pulled the ball cap lower on his head and adjusted his sunglasses.
The last thing he wanted to do was expose Carly’s location at a time like this.
He tucked his phone into his pocket and made his way back to the elevators.
Once safe behind the closed doors, Gage grabbed his phone once more and pulled up the image his father had sent him.
Daggers shot through his center at the sight.
A young and obviously heartbroken Carly cradled a small bundle in her arms. Beside her, arm wrapped lovingly around both, was Jimmy the Cowboy Poet; the kid looked as young and broken as Carly.
What that time must have been like, he could only imagine.
Gage only knew that he was furious that the press chose to air the tragedy in such a heartless manner.
Posting the photo itself was unfathomable, but to suggest that there was something untoward behind the infant’s death…
there wasn’t a term low enough for a person capable of that.
Leave it to Mark Craven to add insult to injury by bringing up Diana McCarthy among the chaos, insisting that she was the ticket to freeing Gage from the bad press.
He’d insisted the two stage a meet up once he got to Maui, let the press have their way with the pictures, and the “surfing instructor would be all but forgotten.”
“What a jerk,” he mumbled under his breath.
Gage ducked his chin as the elevator arrived at the parking garage. Perhaps he’d sit in his car while he waited, recline the seat and take a nap until Carly called him back. The garage was underground, after all. There probably wasn’t a safer spot.
Still, as he settled in behind the wheel and reclined the seat, Gage knew he wouldn’t catch so much of a wink. What he’d do instead—he decided as the thought came to mind—is seek retaliation.
Yes, that was perfect. He had to find a way to set things straight. To clear Carly’s name and make the press regret daring to spread the half-truths in the first place.
His dad may not help him with the issue at hand, but Gage knew someone who would; the producer who’d taken a liking to him. The same man who, from what Gage understood, owned a certain network.
A rush of adrenaline surged through him as a plan formed in his mind. His father wouldn’t be happy about it. But Gage had long been through caring about that. All that mattered now was clearing Carly’s name. And he’d do everything he could to make that happen.