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“My brother called.” Grabbing her cell, she brought up the article and handed it over to him. “This article appeared in an English tabloid first thing this morning UK time.”
Gavin took the phone, squinting as he read the article. He tapped his finger against the screen, scrolling through the entire thing, his mouth firming into a thinner line with every paragraph he read. “Damn,” he muttered, glancing up to meet her gaze.
She nodded gravely. “I just spoke with Matteo. He’s demanding I do damage control.”
“It’s the smart thing to do.”
“But I don’t want to reveal such private information.” She paused, her mind awhirl with too many possibilities in how to handle this. “It’s no one’s business, what happened between my mother and Michael Worth.”
“The Daily News just made it everyone’s business.” He handed the phone back to her. “This will appear in the Post tomorrow morning. You know this.”
“I do know.” She sighed, threw the phone back onto the bed, watching it bounce. “I’m scared, Gavin. I don’t know how to handle this.”
“Let me help you.” He sat next to her, so close his solid warmth seeped into her, giving her comfort. “I’ll contact Alex tomorrow morning. Hell, I’ll call him right now. He can have his PR department come up with a press release or some sort of statement and it can be sent to the press first thing.”
“Do you think that will work?”
“When you’re attacked, you need to counterattack. A press release will do that. Hopefully it will shut everyone up and that’ll be the end of it.”
“But what do I say?”
“You tell them the truth. Don’t deny anything. Yes, I’m the daughter of Claudia Renaldi and Michael Worth. And yes, my father is also Giorgio Renaldi, because he’s the man who raised me. I’m now lucky enough to have two families, both of whom accept me with open arms. The end.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair, turned to look at her. “What do you think?”
“They’ll still ask questions.”
“You don’t need to answer them. Let them speculate all they want. You’ll all know the truth.”
“They’ll drag my mother through the mud.” That thought hurt the most.
“Stasia, you need to realize that your mother has to take responsibility for what she did. This isn’t your fault. She’s the one who had the affair with Michael Worth. And she’s the one who gave birth to you and never told your father that you really weren’t his daughter.” He grabbed her by the shoulders, turning her so she had to face him. “You’re not the guilty party here. She is.”
“Knowing that doesn’t make any of this easier.” She dropped her head, stared at her knees. It was hard to look at him when he had such sincerity, such caring in his gaze. It made her hope too much. “I don’t want to see her go through this.”
“She’s a grown woman. She can make it. And so can you.” He gave her a little shake and she lifted her head, met his gaze. “I’m going to call Alex so he can get the ball rolling on this. Hopefully he can get Hunter involved. He’s the head of their marketing department. I’m sure he could come up with a fantastic statement that’ll cover all aspects of the story.”
He released his hold on her and stood, yanking his phone out of his pocket and scrolling through his contacts before he brought the phone to his ear. She watched him pace the room with his long-legged stride, his expression one of fierce concentration as he waited for Alex to pick up.
“Alex. Sorry to bother you so late. Yeah, it’s me. Listen. We have a situation.” He left the room, pacing the hallway instead and she left the bed, went and stood behind the door so she could spy on him.
But she couldn’t make out everything he said. It was mostly a jumbled murmuring of words. Sighing, she raked her fingers through her hair. She was in good hands. He would know how to explain this to Alex and if anyone knew how to handle a scandalous situation, it was Alex. He’d had many to deal with, most of them brought on by Rhett when he’d been New York City’s resident bad boy.
Reas
sured, she decided to take that shower she’d meant to get to. And hopefully wash all of the day’s grime away.
“Okay, I talked to Alex and they’ll release a statement in your name to all the pertinent media outlets in the morning,” Gavin said as he strode back into Stasia’s bedroom.
No one answered. He realized the room was empty and he was talking to himself.
Huh. Figured.
Glancing around, he saw the shut door, the light shining from beneath it. The sound of water running clued him in that Stasia had finally taken that shower she’d spoke of.
Images of a naked, soapy, sexy woman filled his mind, and he approached the bathroom door without thought, tempted to go in and surprise her. Maybe join her, if she’d let him.
But would she? Talk about one traumatic hit after another. The woman had had her fair share in the last few months, let alone the last few hours. A never-ending shit storm surrounded Stasia and she always seemed trapped in the middle of it all.
She most likely wanted to shower and then collapse into bed. She needed alone time, not him hanging around and bothering her.
