Page 128 of Last Fall

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Zoe

It Will All Dissolve Under the Weight ofOurLove

“The only thingyou need to decide is if you want him to go to jail or just disappear. I can make either happen.” Brian—yes,theBrian from the plane—dropped a file onthedesk.

“Disappear?” That sounded...extreme.

“Guys like him don’t go away quietly and I personally believe society is better off without them.” He shrugged like it was nobigdeal.

After he followed Tony out of the airport he went to work, which being at a security company, meant he had the opportunity to follow up on his instincts and put together a dossier on Tony. That was the file now onmydesk.

“The evidence you have is enough?” Turns out my lovely ex was not nearly as perfect as he liked to think he was. In the matter of an afternoon Brian found two other women who claimed to have been hurt by Tony, plus a slew of shady businesstransactions.

“I have enough evidence to prove I can put together enough evidence to put him away. Give me a month and this guy istoast.”

I liked the sound of him being toast. I did not like the idea of it taking amonth.

“In themeantime?”

“This is not a sales pitch,” he put his hands up. “My girlfriend would kill me if I took money from her favorite author. But I think you should keep someone from my staff with you throughout the playoffs. There’s too much publicity. Too muchexposure.”

“This is a service you provide?” I honestly knew nothing about bodyguards other than what I put in books and most of that was completelymadeup.

He smiled wide. “This is exactly what we do at Contention Security. It’s how I know Lucy. You remember that Madeline Faintsfiasco?”

Madeline Faints was one of my favorite singers but she retired after someone tried to kill her. “I have all heralbums.”

He nodded as if he expected as much. “We were her security team. We were also the team with her when she dated Scott. Protecting celebrities is our most profitableservice.”

Oh, now that was funny. “I wrote a book about you guys.” That’s when the giggles started. It was oh, so late and the exhaustion wasgettingreal.

His eyes sparkled. “Oh trust me,Iknow.”

The pictures of Madeline Faints and Scott Kaine’s brief relationship were epically dramatic, but it was the security detail surrounding them that had set my writer brain on fire. I wrote a book about a star in hiding falling in love with herbodyguard.

“Your girlfriend read it?” Iguessed.

“We all did...after Molly pointed out the similarities. You made her day, by the way. She owns a bookstore and yourButterfly Rebellionis her top recommendation. She even used it to get our friends Logan and Noratogether.”

Oh my god.“Wait, wait, wait...not Logan and NoraPhillips.” I knew, from paying entirely too much attention to Madeline and Scott that Logan Phillips was the main bodyguard. I also knew my favorite composer—the one composing the score formymovie—was married to Logan Phillips, and her name was Nora Phillips, andoh my godthey got together because ofmybook.

I was going to pass out frompurejoy.

Brian chuckled. “Yep. That’s them. We’re all friends,” he made a circle with his index finger. “Scott, Lucy, Nora, Molly, and now Lily and Colt too, since we provide all the security for theirmovies.”

I started crying. I mean, yes, I was thrilled by all of this, but mostly I was just done. Too many feelings for too many hours and nosleep.

Brian was a good dude. He sat down beside me and put a comforting arm around my shoulder. “It’s going to be okay, Zoe. Ipromise.”

“I didn’t realize this was part of the service too,” I saidbetweensobs.

He laughed. “You’d besurprised.”

I guess that was why he seemed to know what to do instead of ready to climb out a window. “You’re really good atyourjob.”

“Thanks. Does that mean you’ll let usprotectyou?”