Page 90 of Ghostly

He turned to the crowd. “Here’s a quick version for you: my opponent hired a photographer who took pictures of me and my clientin flagrante delicto. They surprised me with them before the closing day at court. And to rub it in—my opponent? A rival, an asshole I’ve hated since law school. I was interrogated, investigated, and found guilty. Suspended. My clientwon her case and is doing well—as for me, you’ve seen me around. You know how I am doing.”

He nodded to the Schuyler Sisters, to Mark’s parents. “And now you know who I really am.”

Silence fell. Natalie’s mouth formed a perfect O—he gathered the victory feeling hadn’t made it through the shock yet.

His victory feeling, on the other hand, transformed into relief. He finally got it all out. No more silence, no more running and hiding. He’d been stupid—so let them fucking know it.

Perry clapped, once, twice, then looked at the others, as if to prompt them. A few more claps followed, but mostly, people appeared stunned.

Marge separated herself from the trio and walked up to Natalie. “Listen, missy,” she said with her strictest librarian voice. “You can write all you want. In fact, let me share the first secret. There’s only one road out of this town.” Marge’s eyes took on a steely glint. “And folks have been known to disappear while driving on it.”

Natalie’s mouth slowly closed. She looked at Gabriel, who only accompanied Marge’s statement with a smile.

“You better get out while it’s still daylight,” Janice shouted.

“Well…” Natalie lifted her chin, though her movements felt wooden. “I got what I wanted. And you can rest in peace. I couldn’t care less about this backwater town.” And she huffed and puffed away.

“You don’t really kidnap people on the road, do you?” Gabriel asked.

“Of course not.” Marge waved her hand. “Those reporters, though, they have overactive imaginations. Works like a charm.”

Janice and Dina came up to Marge.

“You know she’s going to write that story about you,” Dina said to Gabriel.

“Yes. Yes, she will.” Gabriel bowed his head, waiting for judgment. He’d done the exact opposite of what he promised Ernest and Clifford, and with how he’d done it, he basically ignited the second Great Chicago Fire. Natalie was going to write that article and pour in all the fuel she could find. And she wouldn’t just drag him down—she’ll try to do it with the firm, too. His bosses were going to be furious.

He was done for.

“Well.” Marge patted his shoulder. “We’ll have something to talk about when you next invite us to dinner.”

Dina smiled. “I’ll bring the wine.”

Gabriel relaxed his shoulders. “You don’t mind…?”

“Pfft. You’re probably the most interesting resident this town has,” Dina said.

“And I heard old Trent was retiring,” Janice added. “If you’d be interested in provincial life.” She winked at him.

“I… I need to think about a lot of things,” Gabriel said. “And first, I’ve some business to do. But…” He took in the three women and the remaining onlookers. “Thank you.”

“Oh, please. I haven’t had a day this fun since the incident with Edison’s cow,” Dina said. “Thankyou.”

Chapter 22

“You didn’t. Oh, you didn’t.” Ida paced the living room, the hem of her dress waving erratically. “And she’s gone already? You let her go?”

“Relax,” Gabriel said. It was enough that he was nervous; he didn’t need Ida to accidentally hurt herself mere hours before the ritual.

“Say, couldn’t Ida use her ghostly powers to help us?” Perry looked the least nervous by far, stretching out on the sofa.

“It doesn’t work like that,” Gabriel said. “And no one is doing anything in regards to Natalie Waller. We have more important business.”

“But she’s going to ruin your career!” Ida stopped and hugged her middle. “You have to go after her. You have to stop her, prevent her from writing that article—right now!”

Gabriel did feel sick at the thought of the soon-to-be-born article, and a part of him wished he could run after the damn reporter and fix whatcould still be fixed. By now, she’d surely called her boss, if not somebody else, too, just to brag.Gabriel Vane is so self-important he needs to be the star, even if therole is in a scandal.His head pounded. Of all the stupid things he could’ve done, why had he let her provoke him?

“Gabriel, please.” Ida came closer. “You have to leave as soon as possible. You should be there when the news hit, so you can explain yourself.”