The Lawyer (The Dalton Brothers 1)

“And I would like to personally apologize to Kendall,” Ted went on. “What took place is unacceptable, and it’s not what we represent as a company. We’re adding extreme safety and security measures, and we can only hope our actions will ensure a situation like this never happens again.”

“Holy fucking shit,” Charlize said.

“Ted,” Penelope started, “let me make sure I heard you correctly. You’re saying someone employed by your company went behind Kendall’s back and submitted naked photos of her, intentionally hurting her this way?”

“I’m afraid so, Penelope,” Ted replied. “Believe me, I wish that weren’t the case, but I can assure you, that individual is no longer employed by us. We don’t tolerate any kind of malicious behavior. We want every one of our actors and actresses, reality stars, and employees to feel comfortable on our sets. We never want to jeopardize the trust we’ve established, and that’s exactly what happened with Kendall. We’re at fault, and we take full responsibility.”

I could feel my lips open, my hand holding the phone to my face, my eyes practically popping out of their sockets.

But the rest of this felt like a dream.

“How disappointing to hear,” Penelope said. “Has anyone on your team spoken to Kendall? How is she doing? I know our producers have reached out to her representatives numerous times, but we’ve gotten no response. She hasn’t posted on social media; she hasn’t been seen around town. We’ve been worried, Ted, and now that I hear this, I’m extremely concerned.”

Charlize looked at me, his eyes so wide, his head shaking. “I’m literally dying right now.”

“She’s doing the best she can, given the circumstances,” Ted answered. “It pains me that this happened to such a sweet girl. I don’t know if either of you have had the pleasure of meeting Kendall, but everyone who crosses her path only has the most wonderful things to say about her.” He glanced at my photo. “Everyone loves her—her costars, my staff, all of production. They call her a ray of sunlight.” He frowned as he added, “That’s one of the reasons it hurts me to say that Kendall won’t be appearing on our show.”

“Dude …” Charlize said. “This is fucking bananas.”

“We were afraid that rumor might be true,” Niko said. “I know I’m sad to hear this, Ted. Penelope and I were really looking forward to seeing her in front of the camera.”

“I’m positive everyone feels the same way,” Ted agreed. “But Kendall’s dealt with enough in her short time of filming, and we know that girl is going to do some amazing things in this world.”

“Are you going to share with us who’s been cast for the role?” Penelope asked.

“We’re going to save that information and keep today all about Kendall,” Ted replied. “The first episode of Glitzy & Fabulous will be airing in a few months, but in the meantime, we want to make sure the viewers give Kendall some time to heal.”

Charlize shook my hand in the air, like it was a gavel.

“As a woman who values her privacy, my heart breaks for her,” Penelope said. “I can’t imagine how she must be feeling. I know I certainly wouldn’t want any of my private moments to be released without my knowledge or approval.”

“I have to agree,” Niko said. “If I were in her situation, I know I wouldn’t want to be on the show anymore either.”

“There must be something we can do,” Penelope offered.

“I think the best thing would be to show her some support,” Ted suggested.

“Excellent idea, Ted.” Penelope took out her phone, and the camera zoomed in to show her clicking the Follow button on my Instagram account. “I’m going to show her some love right now.” She began to type and stopped, looking at the camera to say, “In fact, why don’t all of our viewers take out their phones and show that girl some much-needed support?”

“Headed there right now,” Niko said, his phone also in his hands.

Charlize’s grip tightened, my stomach doing the same thing.

Penelope eventually set her phone down and said, “Ted, thank you for stopping by the studio and giving us the cold, hard truth behind these rumors. We know it’s not easy to take responsibility for something like this.”

“Thank you again for having me,” Ted said, and the show switched to a commercial break.

I pulled the phone away from my face, the screen now exploding with notifications.

“To all things holy,” Charlize said, showing me my Instagram account, which was doubling in followers every time he refreshed. “The comments under your photos are blowing up, girlfriend. Everyone is telling you how much they love you. They’re red-hearting every damn thing on your page.”

“I …” My voice faded as I tried to process what had just happened.

Dominick hadn’t told me the final details of the settlement, aside from the amount they were giving me. He’d asked me to trust him, and I’d signed my name across the bottom of the agreement.

This was what I hadn’t seen.

I was positive of that fact because there was no way the CEO of a studio would have gone on national TV to apologize to me, making sure everyone knew who was at fault, without Dominick having something to do with it.

My lawyer had negotiated the best possible deal.

But my boyfriend had known this would make me feel better than any dollar deposited into my bank account.

“Dominick,” I whispered, placing the phone back against my ear.

“How do you feel, baby?”

I cleared my throat, moving some of the emotion away so I could speak. “I honestly don’t think I have words right now.”

“Making you speechless is exactly what I wanted.”

Tears were stinging my eyes.

My lips wouldn’t stop quivering.

My breath was long gone, my chest far too tight to take a breath. “You made it right.” I swallowed, my spit so thick. “You made it better.”

“I told you I would.”

Charlize’s hand was on my shoulder, the biggest smile on his face as he showed me the comment Kylie Jenner had just left, sending me her love.

“Dominick …” A tear dripped, hitting my lip. “I love you.”

“I love you more,” he replied, a growl then erupting as he said, “Now, get over to my office. I have something planned for that mouth.”