“Who else knows about James?”
Julian shook his head. No one knew. “Just you and Murray. And Gretchen.”
“Well, I certainly didn’t leak the story.”
He knew that was true, and with Murray on his honeymoon and worrying about anything but Julian and his brother, that left an unacceptable alternative. He just couldn’t believe that Gretchen would sell him out and leak that story. She’d hardly seemed interested in the money he already owed her. But how much would the press be willing to pay for a story like this? Perhaps more than she could turn down?
“No,” he insisted with a shake of his head. “I’ve been with her nonstop until this morning when she went to work. There’s no way she could’ve contacted a reporter and sold that story without me knowing it.”
Ross rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so ignorant, Julian. You weren’t with her every single second. You showered, you used the restroom, you slept. For all you know, she slipped out of bed in the night and emailed a reporter while you were satiated and unconscious.”
Julian dropped into the chair beside him, the doubts finally creeping into his mind. He’d trusted her. Could Gretchen really have sold him out just like all the others?
A sad expression lined his manager’s face as he reached out and patted Julian’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, I really am. I know you think I’m a cold, heartless businessman, with all my confidentiality contracts and arranged relationships, but I’ve been in this business a long time. I’ve seen a lot of my clients get sold out by the people they trust the most. I try to protect my clients, but there’s only so much I can do.”
There was only one person who knew about everything that had happened with James over the past few days. The idea of that betrayal made his protein shake threaten to rise in the back of his throat. He didn’t want to believe it. Every fiber in his being screamed that it couldn’t be true. But Ross was right. There was no other answer.
“We’ve got to figure out how you want to handle this. Ignoring the article will make it seem like you’re ashamed of your brother, which we don’t want. It’s probably best that we set up a tell-all interview of some kind, where you talk about him and explain why you tried to keep him out of the harsh spotlight.”
“That sounds fine,” Julian said in a flat tone. He really wasn’t listening. At the moment, damage control was the last thing on his mind.
“While I’m handling that, you need to talk to Gretchen.” He laid a fat envelope on the table. “Here’s the money we owe her. Pay her and make her go away. Or I will.”
Julian nodded. He knew Ross was right, but he didn’t relish that conversation. “She’s supposed to be coming over here today.”
“When?”
Julian looked at the clock hanging on the hotel room wall. “Soon. She was coming back over before I left for the airport.”
Ross nodded and stood up. “I’m going to head out, then. While I’m in New York, I’ll see who I can talk to about that interview. When you get back to LA, call me and let me know how it went with Gretchen.”
His manager slipped out of the room, but Julian hardly gave him any notice. The pain in his chest had subsided, leaving only the numbness of disassociation and the faint heat of anger licking at his ears. He knew what he had to do, and it was a role he didn’t want to play. But play it he would to remove the malicious cancer from his life.
* * *
Gretchen had a hard time walking down the hallway to Julian’s hotel room. A half hour ago, she’d damn near skipped down the same path, arriving earlier than she’d intended. She’d been so excited to see Julian one more time before he left that Natalie had let her cut out of the staff meeting early.
As she’d raised her hand to knock, she’d heard the sound of two men arguing loudly. She hadn’t intended to listen in, but there was no way she was going to interrupt their argument. She’d decided to wait for a lull, then knock, but instead, she’d overheard more than she’d bargained for.
Ross’s words haunted her, even now. She is not the kind of woman Julian Cooper is supposed to be with, he’d said. That hadn’t surprised her. But when Julian said that he might be right, she’d felt her heart break. He’d done nothing over the past few days but tell her how beautiful she was, how worthy she was. To hear he really felt otherwise was a crushing blow to her fragile ego. She’d rushed to her car, sobbing against the steering wheel until she saw Ross leave.