Faith Washington
Seven Years Later
“Close the door behind you, Faith,” my boss, Barbara Miller, said as I strolled into her office.
As soon as I saw that shit-eating grin plastered on her face, I knew that she was about to ruin my day. Barbara only smiled when she had a big ask. My eyes narrowed in suspicion as I pushed the door closed and walked over to stand in front of her desk.
“Have a seat.”
I shook my head. “I think I’ll stand.”
“Girl, sit down. It’s actually not that bad.”
“You saying that actually makes me feel worse,” I replied.
“Well, it shouldn’t because I have a huge exclusive for you. I’m talking about game changing for both you and the show.”
Reluctantly, I plopped down in the chair, letting my eyes drift to the file in front of her. “What is it?”
“I thought Cassidy would be here when I spoke to you, but she had an emergency this morning.”
“Is she OK?” I asked, referring to the host of the show I worked on.
I had been an investigative journalist for the news show The Daily Word for a couple years.
The Daily Word started out as an entertainment and world news blog before making it to TV.
Cassidy was known for asking the hard questions and telling the uncomfortable truths.
She was also a gossiper, but that was beside the point.
Aside from the occasional difficult subjects and my boss’s insistence on getting to the bottom of the story, I liked my job. I loved that I wasn’t tied to an office and only had to check in when I was close to a deadline.
When I was deep in research mode, sometimes I didn’t come up for air for a week at a time.
Usually, when I resurfaced, I had a hell of a story for Cassidy to tell.
That was the other thing I loved about my job.
I loved doing research and digging through piles of information to find the butt naked truth.
What I didn’t like was the spotlight. I didn’t have to be out front. I just wanted my story told.
Cassidy and I had the perfect dynamic. I wrote a story, and she delivered it to the people with flair. Now as I looked over our boss’s shoulder out the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Downtown Lulaville, I wondered what this particular job would entail.
Whenever there was a file this thick involved, I knew somebody was about to have a bad day. Unfortunately, that person was usually me at first. I had the task of sorting the huge pile into trash and keep categories. Most of the information went into the trash pile.
“So, what is it?” I asked since Barbara didn’t seem to be in a hurry to elaborate.
I hated when she did that. It was best to rip the bandage off quickly. I needed to know how much coffee I would need for this one. A smile lifted the corners of her mouth again as she slid the file across her desk.
“I’ve got something huge.”
My interest was piqued enough for me to open the file. There were several articles clipped together on a stack of financial records and anonymous statements. Much of the information was redacted, then I came to a familiar company logo accompanied by a stack of pictures.
“Oh no, no, no. I am not doing this,” I said, shaking my head as I pushed the opened file back across her desk.
Leaning back in her chair, Barbara smirked. “You haven’t even read through it yet.”
“I don’t have to.”
“Faith.” She sighed.
“No. I’m not doing it. Find something else, and I’ll kill it, but I’m not doing this one.”
Folding her arms across her chest, she narrowed her eyes. “And can I ask why not?”
My chest tightened as I considered my answer. The question was loaded. I could tell by the look in her eye. She already knew the answer. Freaking Cassidy.
“I just don’t want to.” I shrugged, trying to sound as casual as possible.
“I’m sure you know that’s an unacceptable answer. I could see if you had some kind of history with the owners or something.”
“That’s a mighty specific thing to say,” I countered.
Yes, I had history with the owners. I’d been so busy with life in general that when a resort and casino opened a few miles outside of Lulaville, I didn’t even bat an eye. I wasn’t a gambler, so I never even considered going.
When the story broke about high-level corruption and internal money laundering, I was slightly disappointed that I didn’t get the scoop.
My jealousy was short-lived when I saw the one and only Reed Fuller being interviewed about the scandal.
Apparently, he was the personal relations director or something they were using as code for professional bullshitter.
He should have been damn good at that job by now.
It had been seven years since I’d laid eyes on Reed, and I didn’t care if I never saw his ass again.
Even seeing him on TV was triggering. Laying eyes on him after seven years still felt too soon.
How the hell did I not know he was involved with that place?
Better yet, since when did he live around here?
When I left his place in college, we were two hours away from here and nowhere near either of our homes.
Why the hell did he choose to put down stakes so close to mine? I was sure he knew I came back home. As tempted as I’d been, I rarely tried to figure out what became of him. I was too busy building a life for myself in the aftermath of our fallout.
“I just find it strange that you wouldn’t mention that you dated one of the owners. You know how much material we missed out on?”
“I didn’t know they owned it until that scandal broke a few months ago. Besides, it didn’t matter who I used to know. It wasn’t an amicable breakup. One of them hates me, and the other one broke my heart. We’re not on speaking terms and haven’t been since college.”
“Hate is often the best ammunition.”
“When did Cassidy tell you?” I questioned.
“Who said it was Cassidy?” Barbara asked.
“I assume that’s why she’s conveniently sick or whatever lie you made up to excuse her not being here.”
“That’s not important. I have on good authority that there is still corruption going on behind the scenes.”
“So have someone check it out,” I said, lifting my shoulders.
“I can understand your apprehension to report on people you know, but this is huge.”
“Be that as it may—”
“Wait, which one of them broke your heart?”
“Why does it matter?”
“It was that handsome spokesperson with the hypnotic eyes, wasn’t it? He’s charming as hell in those interviews. I can see why you fell for him.”
“It sounds like you have a crush on him. Maybe you should do it.”
That only made her cackle. “This is actually perfect.”
“How is this perfect? I literally said I wasn’t doing it.”
“You’re a wizard at decoding bullshit, and you know the owners. This is gold, Faith.”
“Correction, I knew the owner. I also said that they hate me, and the feeling is mutual, but you seem to keep overlooking that part.”
“The revenge angle just makes it better. How long have you been waiting to get those rich bastards back?”
“I’m not doing it, Barb.”
Opening the file, she landed on a picture and shoved it across the table. There he was. Reed Fuller, once the love of my life, now the bane of my existence. The last time I had the audacity to look him up, he was overseas doing family business, whatever that entailed.
I liked the idea of him being on the other side of the world.
It figured that he and his boy Nicholas King would link back up for a business venture.
Why the hell did they have to put their casino so close to Lulaville?
Knowing he was a short drive away made my skin crawl.
How long would it be before I ran into him? Barb had just put a timeline on it.
“You see that smug-ass grin on his face? Tell me you don’t want to wipe it right off.”
“I’m not in the revenge business.”
“I’m sure you’ve never had a chance to get paid to deliver it.”
She was right, but even getting Reed back wasn’t a good enough excuse for me to see him on purpose. That was what Barbara didn’t seem to get.
I shook my head. “It’s not worth it.”
“I think it is. We have to get in front of this before the story breaks.”
As I flipped through the files, she explained how there were missing transactions, padded vendor payments, and irregularities matching the patterns from when the former partner, Darius, was skimming.
“Darius has been in prison for months.”
“I’m aware.”
“Then why are his patterns still in effect, and why hasn’t anyone else noticed besides your source?”
“Now you’re asking the right questions. Somebody helped Darius pull off his scheme. I’m willing to bet money that it was the other owners. Darius was just the scapegoat since he was the most dispensable. Word is he and King are first cousins and were raised in the same household.”
“Who else knows about this?” I quizzed.
“Just me and my source.”
“Hm,” I said, nibbling my bottom lip as I scanned the information.
The operation seemed to have started back just a couple of months after Darius went down. I hated that I was intrigued. What I hated even more was the fact that Barbara wasn’t going to back down. We had gone through this before.
The good thing was as much as I couldn’t stand Nicholas, he was the numbers guy.
He was the one I needed to talk to. Hopefully, I could get what I needed with little to no contact with Reed.
There was a large part of me that wasn’t sure if I could survive even being in the same space as him.
At the same time, a small part of me wanted him to go down with the ship. Barbara was rubbing off on me.
“This is not about your ex. It’s about bringing the truth to the light.”
“That’s easy for you to say.”
“You’ll thank me later.”
“You always say that.” I shook my head.
“Hmph, yet I’m still waiting for somebody around here to show me a little gratitude.”
As I stood from Barbara’s desk, I knew that I was about to either break the biggest story of my career or walk into the biggest shit storm I’d ever witnessed. Either way, Reed Fuller would be somewhere in the equation. That thought alone had my stomach in knots.