“You owe me a god damned drink. You told me my sister was a good lay!”
Merritt and I both laughed. “Done,” he said into the phone. “But man we gotta go, my PR head is calling.”
“Yeah fine, later lovebirds.”
With a chuckle, I moved off his lap and sat down on the seat next to him. He switched the call.
“I’ve put you on speaker, Marissa. Camilla is here too. Anything new?”
“Actually, yes. We’ve just received a call from the police. They have found the culprit.”
Merritt and I glanced at each other in surprise. “They have?”
“Yes. The editor from the tabloid cracked and revealed the name of this person. They tracked the man and brought him to the police station. He admitted to all of it.”
“Thank God,” he muttered and took my hand in his, giving me a reassuring squeeze. “That’s great news. But who is he?”
“Apparently the new bill that you had just gotten onto the floor had made you some serious enemies, Merritt. According to the investigator, the man said his business was suffering from the stricter regulations. He wanted revenge, so he stalked you for quite some time, trying to dig up anything he could use against you. So when Camilla entered the picture, it was the perfect opportunity for him to act.”
I shuddered, and Merritt brought my hand to his lips to kiss it. I couldn’t believe someone could hate Merritt so much to drag me into all of that. He hacked my phone, for Christ’s sake! I didn’t even want to think what else he could have done if the police hadn’t found him.
“But why did he hack Camilla’s phone? Why did he sell them to the tabloid?”
“It seems that this man was hopeful that by the public seeing you dating an aide people would think less of you and your own party would turn on you. It was a possible outcome, however, it only backfired on him because just the opposite happened.”
Confusion settled on his face. “What do you mean?”
“Just before I called you, we received a call from the president Benner.” The president of Merritt’s party.
“Yes?”
“He told me that they aren’t turning on you. Not at all. Your party is actually congratulating you on settling down and turning off your whole Playboy persona.”
My jaw dropped, and I met his gaze. He was equally astonished.
“I can’t believe this,” he said. “Is this for real? They are actually approving of my relationship with Camilla?”
“Yes. President Benner said, and I quote, I wish them all the best and many, many more years together.”
Merritt shook his head, laughing. “That man. He always nagged to me about not settling down. I should have known this situation would be to his liking.”
“So, we can use this chance to turn this into your favor and tell the public that you’ve finally found the woman of your dreams.”
Merritt placed his hand on my cheek, gazing at me with adoration, and pecked a kiss on my forehead.
“We can do that.”
“How about that man?” I asked. “What is going to happen to him?”
“Since a high-profile politician is involved in this, he will be kept in custody until his trial without bail. I assume he will spend many years in prison even though he’s admitted to it.”
“That’s good to hear,” I said, feeling relieved.
“I’ll prepare the statements for you, Merritt,” Marissa said. “You’re probably going to have a few press conferences this week, but you know how this goes.”
“Yeah, I know. The public will be breathing down my neck the next few weeks, but everyone will forget this once the dust settles. It’s just the way it goes.”
“You know it. Then...”