The last straw was a drunk driving incident when Janus drove into someone’s house. That was when Janus had stopped acting and only Leander continued on to fame as an adult.
But it wasn’t like I was going to say any of that to the man’s face. Or ask any of the thousand and one unanswered questions of our generation: Why had only one twin continued to act and the other quit? Janus never took interviews and Leander was notoriously tight-lipped about his twin.
But I didn’t want to screw this up before we’d even gotten started. More than anyone, I knew how important it was to respect a public person’s privacy.
“So. The situation?” I prompted again.
Milo tried to start talking but Janus just shook his head, cutting him off. “First, my brother. You know his career. Have you seen his movies?”
I frowned. “Has he made other movies? I thought this one was his big break into film.”
Janus narrowed his eyes. “So you didn’t see his couple indie films?” He reeled off some titles I didn’t know. One of them was vaguely familiar, maybe I’d heard it on some entertainment news show or from buzz in the community.
I blinked and glanced at Milo. Why was this starting to feel like an interrogation? “Uh, sorry, no. Do I need to? Is whatever happened related to one of—”
“Janus, stop it. I told you, she’s a good girl.”
I looked back and forth between Milo and Janus, and Milo obviously must have seen the confusion on my face.
“He’s trying to see if you’re hardcore,” Milo explained, as if that was any explanation at all.
“Hardcore?”
“If you’re some kind of hardcore fangirl.”
I laughed out loud at that. And then realized when no one else did that Milo was being serious. What the hell?
Milo was a friend, but even that was kind of a stretch. We only sort of knew each other. I was about three seconds from grabbing my purse and making tracks. “Look, you called me here. Please stop disrespecting my professional reputation with this crap. Either I can help you or I can’t. But stop wasting my time.”
And I did reach for my purse. If only because I was annoyed at how close they were getting to the truth. Getting out of here might be best for my sanity anyway. This clearly wasn’t a gig for me.
“You’re the one who showed up to an interview looking like you’re in junior high,” Janus shot back.
My face flamed. “Because he said it was an emergency. So sorry I didn’t stop home to change, your majesty. And what are you talking about, job interview? I thought this was just a consult on a specific situation?” I looked to Milo for confirmation.
But it was Janus who clarified. “Well, now it’s an interview. Here’s our problem. A woman is threatening to go to the tabloids with a story about Leander. About both of us actually.”
“Okay,” I frowned, not getting the point. “Surely you must get that kind of thing all the time. What makes this one any different?”
Janus drew his hands together, interlocking his fingers as he leaned forward, elbows on knees. “Well, this situation is a little more delicate because the allegations she’s making are… true.”
I blinked and sucked in a little breath, not sure if I wanted to hear the answer to my next question but determined to barrel on anyway. “And what exactly is it she’s alleging you two did to her?” —at the same time praying, please don’t let it be something that will make me hate you.
Still, in no way could I have prepared myself for what he said next.
“She’s going to go to the press and tell them that my brother and I like to fuck the same woman at once. And she has evidence that will prove it.”
I swallowed hard. “Oh. Evidence?”
“A video recording.”
“Oh.”
He nodded. “Oh.”
My mind began spinning. “Well, with deep fakes, any video can be manipulated—”
“It’s not a deep fake. She must have set up her phone to record before we fucked.”
Dear Lord, he just admitted it so casually.
He and his brother—
Both at once?
How did that even work? My mind stalled out. I couldn’t even understand the mechanics of it. There was only one hole down there. Then I felt my eyes widen even further. Well, I mean technically there were two. Had she—whoever this she was—had she taken them both at the same time, one in each, or—?
“Ms. Robins?”
“Mmm hmm,” I said, looking back into the gorgeous face of the man who’d just admitted sharing a woman with his twin brother. I blinked rapidly then reached down to yank out a little notebook from my purse to keep him from seeing my flaming face.
Okay, Hope. Time to refocus and do your job. I could let my brain wrap around it later. I clicked my pen, ready to start jotting down notes. “And who is this woman? Someone you came across at a club? Where did you find her?”