“Get the fuck out of here, you asshole! Lily is my fiancée!” Phillip shouts.
Jacob laughs. “I think that ended the second she got into my bed and agreed to be filmed.”
Phillip tries to break free of Carter’s arms, but he holds him back.
“Tell him to leave, Lily!” Phillip shouts.
But Lily can’t say anything right now. Her tears are flowing down her cheeks, but otherwise, she’s frozen. She has no idea how to handle this. This is the exact situation that Carter and I were hired to avoid.
“Escort Phillip out, Carter,” I say.
Carter begins walking Phillip out of the building while I grab onto Jacob’s arm and guide him out the back exit. I can hear Phillip fighting with Carter behind me, but to my surprise, Jacob doesn’t fight me.
When I get him all the way outside, I ask, “What are you really doing here? You don’t want to be involved in this, do you?”
Jacob shrugs. “Carter made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”
“Money?”
“Something like that.”
“Leave Lily alone.”
“You don’t have to worry about me. I get paid either way.”
I frown and sulk back inside. That was a disaster. I walk back into the meeting room, just behind Carter.
“I’m so sorry, Lily. Victoria and I should have talked before we took action, and—”
“Shut your mouth,” Lily says firmly.
I freeze, and so does Carter, who is sitting at the table in front of me.
“You two fucked up! Now, there is no way Phillip will take me back, and Jacob is too worked up to do anything you ask. I’m going to go get a massage and have lunch with a friend to try to get over my heartbreak at what just happened. You two have until I get back to come up with a plan together to fix this, or you’re both fired.” Lily walks calmly out of the room, leaving Carter and me alone.
I take a deep breath. This is not my fault, I repeat to myself over and over again. This is Carter’s fault.
My eyes dart to him sitting calmly at the table. It doesn’t matter whose fault it is. I’m going to be out of a job if I don’t fix this.
I walk over and sit down on the opposite side of the table. I need to keep Carter at a distance if I’m going to have any control over the situation.
“You’re mad,” Carter says.
“Yeah, I’m mad. What were you thinking?”
He smirks. “I was thinking that I had years of experience in fixing people’s problems, and I made a good living from doing it, so I should be the one who made the decisions.”
I raise an eyebrow. “And you think that I don’t have experience?”
“I know you don’t have experience.”
“I’ve been working in this industry, same as you.”
“And what do you have to show for it? You lost your job; you didn’t get promoted.”
I frown. I hate him. I should just quit. But I won’t give him the satisfaction of winning.
“Let’s just figure out a solution to the mess you created.”