Page 18 of Be Our Ghost (The Duchess Hotel #2)

His throat clogged with emotion. “What’s worse is that they’d been sleeping together for a while.

They’d kept it hidden, but now they wanted the world to know.

” He doused his fries in malt vinegar and ate a few, savoring the salty goodness before getting to the most painful part of the story.

“And this is where I screwed up. I should have walked away, but I lost control of my temper and lashed out at them. My behavior was inexcusable.”

Charlie flinched. “You didn’t hurt them physically, did you?”

The fact that she had to ask struck him like a knife through the heart. “No. I’ve never hit anyone in my life.”

“Then you have nothing to apologize for. Did they expect you to stand there and take it?” Charlie’s voice was so loud the people at the next table turned to look at her. “Plus, they hit you with the news right after you buried your grandfather. What kind of selfish assholery is that!”

Her indignation eased a little of his shame, but not much. He still regretted confronting them before he’d had a chance to cool down. “I still shouldn’t have done it. Before that, I’d never raised my voice around either of them.”

“Well, I want to kick their asses on your behalf. Screw Princess Elodie.” Charlie pounded her fist on the table. “I hope a tree falls on her head in the next season.”

He gave her a wry smile. “I doubt it, but I appreciate the sentiment. Anyway, after having it out with Lila and Evan, I packed a bag and spent the night at Logan’s place. I don’t know if I mentioned it earlier, but we originally met when we were both working on The Hidden Forest .”

Charlie squeezed a wedge of lemon over her cod and took a bite. “I’m glad he had your back.”

“Same here. It helped that he wasn’t Evan’s biggest fan.

He’d even tried to warn me against him. I should have listened.

” Knox waved away another seagull. “The next day, I went back to the apartment to apologize, but Evan shut me down. He insisted I move out immediately and said he’d never work with me again.

Then he gave me an ultimatum—if I didn’t leave the show, he’d tell everyone I was a raging alcoholic with serious anger issues. ”

Knox had never imagined his friend would retaliate that way. The threats had hit him with the force of a gut punch.

“But it wasn’t true, was it?” Charlie asked. “I know you’re a bartender, but you always practice moderation.”

He was grateful she knew him well enough to give him the benefit of the doubt. “That’s right. Mixing cocktails is something I enjoy. But getting drunk? Losing control of my emotions and my inhibitions? That’s not me.”

She nodded sagely. “I thought as much. So why would anyone buy into Evan’s lies?”

Knox set down his fork, trying to think of how best to explain the situation.

“He was so persuasive. The kind of guy who knew how to spin a story to his advantage. When he wielded his charisma, he usually got what he wanted.” He barked out a harsh laugh.

“Which is why it pissed him off when the producers chose me to be the executive story editor at the start of the second season. He couldn’t accept that I’d earned it through hard work and talent.

But I didn’t realize how much he resented me until he threatened to destroy my reputation. ”

“That fucking asshole .” Charlie said it with such force that the group at the next table glared at her. She gave them an apologetic wave and lowered her voice. “I hope you told him to go fuck himself.”

The fact that he’d made her swear not once, but twice, brought another smile to his lips.

“Sadly, no. I was done fighting. Everyone who worked on The Hidden Forest knew Lila and I were engaged, and now they’d see her with Evan.

If I’d stayed, the humiliation would have been brutal.

And I was heartbroken. Lila had left me for someone I’d trusted like a brother.

I had my agent figure out the contract stuff and announced I was leaving the show to be with my family.

It was an easy lie to sell, given that I’d just spent the last two weeks helping my parents. ”

Charlie’s eyes misted over. Grabbing a napkin, she dabbed at them. “God, that sucks.”

“It gets worse. A month after I left the show, I made the mistake of reading an interview Evan had given. When asked about me, he hinted that the real reason I’d left was to check into rehab.

Even though I’d done what he asked, he still discredited me.

Part of it was professional jealousy, but I also think he did it so he could justify betraying me. ”

“I saw that interview. It was awful. But I don’t understand why you didn’t fight back. Isn’t that libel? Or slander? I mean, it was all lies.”

“When I first read it, I was furious. I got in touch with my agent and told him I was going to write a rebuttal. But he warned me against it because public opinion wasn’t on my side.

Then I made the mistake of reading the comments.

Some weren’t that bad, but others? They just about killed me.

” Knox could still remember the sickening anguish that had coiled in his stomach.

There were some things you could never unsee.

“No!” Charlie let out a wail. “You’re not supposed to read the comments.”

He scrubbed his hands through his hair. “I know. But I couldn’t help myself. That’s when I realized my agent was right. He suggested I let things cool off for a while, but I did more than that. I just disappeared.”

“I noticed. I couldn’t find Mac Iverson online.”

“That’s because I deleted all my socials, my work profiles, every bit of it.

” That part hadn’t been a hardship since he’d never liked being on social media.

“Rather than go back home, where I’d have to deal with a ton of questions, I moved to Victoria and crashed in my brother Dave’s basement suite.

It was meant to be temporary since I didn’t want to put down roots—not until I figured out my next move.

In the meantime, I started bartending at a pub in Dave’s neighborhood.

Once I landed the job at the Duchess, I decided to stick with bartending and got my own place. ”

Charlie placed her hand over his. “I’m so sorry. You didn’t deserve any of this. I just wish you’d gotten the chance to tell your side of the story.”

“I should have, but…” He sighed. “The last thing I wanted was more backlash. Instead of getting drawn into an ugly feud, I stayed hidden and tried to rebuild my life.”

Did he regret not fighting back? Without a doubt. But he’d been afraid of making things worse.

She nodded. “Can I ask you one last question? Why the pen name?”

“My agent suggested it. Before selling the pilot of The Hidden Forest , I’d been using my real name. But since my only writing credit to date was a gory slasher flick, I needed something different. Hence, Mac Iverson was born. That way, I could keep writing horror on the side.”

“Do you think you’ll ever go back to writing?”

“I might.” It was too soon to say for sure. But now that he’d delved into his old screenplay, he wanted to keep going. It was a feeling he hadn’t experienced in a very long time.

“I hope you do.” She grinned at him. “Though your stuff might be too scary for me.”

“Don’t be so sure. Now that you’ve read one Stephen King book, you might get lured into the dark side.”

“Since we’re on the subject of books, I have something for you.

” She set a tote bag on the table and pulled out a paperback.

The cover displayed a woman in a long, off-the-shoulder gown leaning into a shirtless dude with wavy hair, set against the backdrop of a pirate ship.

“This is Love’s Enduring Bounty . I’m loaning it to you because you offered to read a romance novel. ”

“So I did.” He took it from her, glad she’d remembered his earlier offer. “You think I’ll learn anything from it? Any tips?”

Her cheeks reddened, but a smile played at her lips. “You’ll have to read it and see, won’t you?”