Page 74 of The Bad Girl

Chapter 27

Maxwell

In the blink of an eye, my life went from low-level, easy to manage chaos to bonkers, off the wall, world-ending, nuclear meltdown explosion.

“Now, Mr. Stryder,” Mr. Anders, my main attorney says, “it’s imperative that we get these details—”

“I’ve done nothing wrong!” I snap, sliding the inch-thick file back across the table.

“And I’m not trying to insinuate that you did, but we need you to come out of this smelling like roses in the court of public opinion.”

For the last three hours, I’ve been in a conference with my PR and legal team with the purpose of making sure the boat calamity doesn’t effect InStryde. I’m angry, frustrated, and…distracted.

A part of me never left that boat. Never lefther.

“There’s a problem,” Stacey says from the other end of the conference table.

“What?” Mr. Anders replies.

“Maxwell’s sister Arianna was recently arrested for drug possession. They’ve kept it quiet because of who she was with, but it will get out soon with what’s going on.”

Fuck!

It’s not shocking that my sister does drugs, or as she calls them, party favors, but it’s never affected the business before, and really, it shouldn’t now. I bought her out shortly after I took over, and she owns no shares. But that won’t stop the public from associating her with InStryde.

I exhale sharply, gazing around the room full of tense faces, all being paid exorbitantly to be here.

“We have some good things to work with,” a PR woman by the name of Jenna says. “That assistant of yours, Nadine Winters, helped coordinate the takedown of Johnson. We’re going to want her to give some statements—”

“Absolutely not!” I pound my fist on the table to emphasize my dismay. “She’s been put through quite enough.”

“She’s the best shot we got,” Mr. Anders says as he thumbs through a stack of documents. “She volunteers at shelters for women, she’s smart, comes from a good background—but not a privileged one. She’s perfect.”

“Are we sure her reputation is good?” Jenna asks.

“Actually, I’ve been working with her a lot lately, and she’s squeaky clean,” Stacey replies. “I doubt she’s ever had a library fine. Hmmm…but we did send a pic of her boobs out last week.”

My head snaps in Stacey’s direction. “Wait—what?”

“Girl stuff,” Stacey replies. “Oh, and there was the strip club outing, but I doubt anyone will realize that was her.”

“She’s already been through enough,” I say. “There’s no way—”

“Let her decide that,” Stacey chimes in. “She may shine in this role. Think of Nadine as a gift.”

Oh, yes…she is quite a gift.

I almost smile as my mind briefly wanders to the time we shared together in confinement.

“We pinheras the hero,” Jenna interjects. “We prep her, make it worth her while to go forward with her story, and make sure she plugs in a few details of her brave, courageous, and morally responsible boss. Overnight, the world is going to become obsessed with her and fall in love. It will turn every speculative news story on its head.”

“Yes, except for the fact that it’s my fault she was drawn into this mess to begin with, and it would be morally reprehensible to use her in such a way.”

“Mike’s already getting offers for interviews,” a voice from down the table pipes up.

“Has he been prepped?” Mr. Anders asks.

“Yeah, he can’t wait to ham it up. He is going to lean into his single status and try to get on something like The Bachelor.”