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Chapter 23
Izzy
Someone knows.
Ethan was supposed to go to the office, make sure he has access to everything we need so we can slip the article in with as few fingerprints as possible. Then he was going to come back to his place where I am waiting on the couch in one of his dress shirts, snacking on trail mix (it’s the only thing I could find in his pantry) while counting down the minutes till he gets back.
Instead, I get a call from him.
“I found an envelope on the corner of my desk with pictures inside.”
That is enough to make my stomach go sour. “Pictures of what?”
“Us.”
My mind races in a thousand different rampant directions. “Us where? When? Doing what?”
“Everywhere. My front door, your front door, the coffee shop. Basically everything shy of the bedroom.”
I mean I supposed I should be relieved that whoever is snapping photos didn’t take it as far as the bedroom window butstill. Someone knows. Someone who is also aware that it can be used against us.
“We’re being blackmailed,” I whisper into the phone. “Do you think it’s just one person? Oh my god, do you think it was my dad?!”
My breath is getting choppy as my heart races over the possibilities of what this could mean.
“Nah, if it was your dad he would have hired a hitman, not a photographer.”
“So someone threatened to show him the pictures then. Do you think more people know?” My head is spinning.
“Well. The last photo was of us at the baseball game…”
“Oh god.”
“Kissing.”
“Shit.”
“On the Jumbrotron.”
“Fuck! Ethan!”
“Calm down, Izzy. It’s going to be okay.” Ethan tries to reassure me but I don’t see how this is going to be okay. I don’t see how it could possibly be anything short of catastrophic.
“If we were on the Jumbotron, who knows how many people know!”
“It was probably only for two seconds, max. They don’t show people for that long before moving on to the next. Besides, we were in regular Rockies attire. And I had shades on. We literally looked like everyone else in that crowd.”
Yeah, except for the obvious fact that I am in my early thirties and he is clearly a hot cradle robber. Of course, I don’t say that. But he’s got to be thinking it.
“I don’t understand why someone would blackmail us,” I say, my chin starting to tremble.
“My guess? Whoever it is is trying to stop us either from being together…or they know about the article.”
Both of those possibilities are enough to make goosebumps crawl up my spine.
“What are we going to do?” I ask.
“I say we lay low. Other than the photos on my desk, everything else is good to go. The next issue goes to print in just a few days. So until then, we have to be careful.”