Chapter 30
Genevievehadfinishedfilling out and filing the paperwork to call her new place of business Mango’s when her phone started uncontrollably buzzing.
At first, she thought it was spam. So many phone calls and messages in the span of a few minutes? Half of them are from Wendy! The other half – including phone calls – were from Nyla.
Wendy was one thing. Nyla meant it was serious.
Genevieve didn’t read the texts. As soon as she had a moment, she called Nyla back and braced herself for the bad news. Is it the bar? Is it Taipei? What’s happening?
“Wow, you called me back,” Nyla greeted. “So, have you heard? Do you need some booze airdropped to you?”
“I haven’t heard anything.” Genevieve braced herself. “Should I be sitting down?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, God. Is it the bar? Wendy Ahn is blowing up my phone, too. Was it Taipei?”
“I bet Wendy is harassing you. She loves a good trainwreck. You know that.”
The life sapped out of Genevieve’s body before she had the chance to sit down on the couch. “Give it to me straight, Nyla. I trust you.” If any of Genevieve’s exes could give her some bad news, it was Nyla. Not only would she be blunt, but she’d keep Genevieve’s feelings in mind. She knows me well enough. Genevieve knew her well enough. Their relationship might not have worked out, but that didn’t stop them from knowing each other.
“One of the Japanese phone providers had a big hack recently.” Nyla cleared her throat. It was barely enough time for Genevieve to sit down with a pillow pulled across her lap. “We’re talking massive scandal now. Do you remember when someone hacked a bunch of Hollywood celebrities’ phones and uploaded their nudes and stuff? Like, ten years ago? It’s like that.”
“Oh, my.”
“Yup. And, uh, it looks like your girlfriend uses that company.”
It took a moment for reality to sink into Genevieve’s bones.
“Shit!”
“That’s what I would be saying right now, too, Gen.”
Genevieve tossed her pillow onto the floor, leaped back up, and paced back and forth in front of her couch. “How bad is it? Tell me!”
“Let’s say I knew it was you right away. Because we’ve slept together, and I know what your boobs look like.”
All of the color drained from Genevieve’s face. “I’ve also slept with Wendy before…”
“Uh-huh. Oh, everyone you’ve ever slept with knows that’s you in the video.”
“Video! What video?”
“You wanted to know how bad it is? That’s how bad. Nudes of you both have leaked, but the only video is of you masturbating in Paradise. It’s all over the porn sites. If you weren’t famous, it would just be humiliating for you, but enough people knew it was you and now your name is being tagged in it. The Chinese and Japanese tabloids are both having a field day with it. I’m honestly shocked you haven’t heard yet.”
“I’ve been working all day! The new bar is supposed to open in two months!” Surely, Nyla knew that – because she was supposed to fly in and help Genevieve hire and train new bartending staff.
“I’m really sorry, Gen.” Nyla sighed right into her phone. “This is awful. I’m sorry I’m the one who had to tell you.”
Genevieve leaned against the kitchen counter. If she wasn’t tired before, she was downright exhausted now.
Against her better judgment, Aya spent most of her Friday morning on the phone.
“I don’t think you understand,” she said in the politest form of condescending Japanese. “Very sensitive data has leaked to the press. Data I paid to keep encrypted through your servers.”
“We are so very, very sorry, Sugiya-san,” the customer service manager said with almost a soft whisper. “We are doing everything we can to rectify what has happened, and have credited your account for three months.”
“I don’t want a three-month credit. I want…” Aya pinched her nose before she snorted half her brains out her nostrils. “I want you to somehow magically fix this and erase my girlfriend’s naked body from the internet!”