Page 118

“I lost everything, Buzz. He kicked me out of our apartment, did you know that?” she says, laying her forehead against the wall, sounding hurt.
“And that’s why we wrote those stories about them sharing a girlfriend. It was a good place to start,” Buzz says, confirming his part in helping Julie out.
Sounding smug as hell, she replies, “God, that was a good one, but my favorite was the one I made up about Max dating a supermodel who said his dick was tiny.” I can hear the smile in her voice. “News flash. There was no supermodel. Now that I think about it, maybe it was the fake whistleblower story that was leaked.” She wraps air quotes around her last word with her fingers. “About sexual harassment in Hart Law.” She sighs. “If only that were true. Those fuckers are cleaner than a surgeon’s scalpel.”
“It’s not your fault you and Max didn’t end well.” Buzz tries to justify her actions when in fact it couldn’t be further from the truth. She had already started writing fake stories when she was dating Max; now she works under Buzz, I think he’s even worse than her.
I don’t trust any of them and will never believe anything I read in the tabloids.
“I may have done some things to his car and apartment that ended up with him placing an injunction against me, Buzz,” she admits. “It was just a little scratch on his car, I don’t know why he was so upset.” She twirls a lock of her hair between her fingers. I get the impression she believes her own lie.
I’ve seen the photos. She totaled his vintage car with a golf club.
“Well, we all do things we regret,” he replies, sounding genuinely sympathetic.
“Oh, I don’t regret any of it.” Julie shakes her head. “So, we’re still on for exposing Hart Law next week.” Changing the subject, she gets down to business.
“Yes. We’ll publish end of week, double-page spread and front-page exclusive. What about Kevin Taylor’s family? What do we have on him?”
“Nothing, but it doesn’t matter. The public will believe the headline because I’ve been planting seeds of doubt in the minds of our readers for years about Hart Law and their legitimacy. This story will seal their fate and they’ll have the authorities all over their archive files, questioning procedures, and before you know it they’ll not have any clients because no one will trust them and they’ll fall out of favor with the public. I guarantee they’ll fold before the year is out once we release this.”
Julie hasn’t been plotting against them for a few months, it’s been years, and she’s using my story as the big finale.
What a bitch.
“I like your plan, Julie. You’ll get a raise for this.”
“It was nothing really. Arianna working at Williams and Jones was a gift. Inviting her out for a drink that night after work turned out perfectly for us, Buzz, especially when I discovered Daniel Hart was the one who represented the man she thoughtkilled her family—that’s all the connection I needed. She was my in, she trusted me, and I used that. She made it easy for us to figure out a way to spin the story, to create that report, and together, we will build a stream of articles that will ruin him. And Nathan Hart? That man has never let a woman into his life before her. I bet he fell in love with her. We probably broke him too. Two birds, one stone.”
“Thank you, Ari.” Buzz’s slimy buoyant voice slices my heart open.
They used me.
I’ve been a pawn in their big game.
“Right, I gotta go, Buzz. See you back at the office. And I have an idea for who we target next. She’s a big celebrity.”
“Atta girl.”
I tiptoe quickly back to my seat and push the bile that I can feel rising in my throat back down.
Julie appears looking happy with herself while I die inside some more.
“Sorry, I need to get back to the office, Ari, but I’ll be in touch. We’ll do an interview, photos, the lot. Stay by your phone. Have my drink.” She points to the martini I wished the bartender had now laced with poison.
“Thanks.” I pull a fake smile, my fist itching to have a conversation with her face.
“Thanks for being a friend, Ari, you’re a trooper. I think it was fate that I met you.”
No, it wasn’t.
Admitting to Buzz on the call that she used me feels like she stabbed me with a knife I handed her myself. She’s vile. Dangerous. I feel like such a fool.
“We didn’t do this together, Julie. It was all you.” My stomach rolls in waves, my ears ringing, drowning outeverything around me, and it takes a massive amount of effort to sound calm.
“Whatever, that’s a matter of perspective.” She dismisses me, looking smugger than the devil sealing the deal, then she leaves.
Waiting several minutes to make sure she’s gone, with trembling hands, I pull my phone out of the inside pocket of my coat, hit stop on the voice record button then pull up one of my contacts and call it.