Escape (Part Three) Read Online Free PDF Page A

fixed on mine until there was a light voice on the other end. A woman’s voice.
    “Marie,” he said, heading towards the door. “Get Jennifer Mitchel’s agent on the phone now.”

Four
     
    “I don’t want to talk to him,” Jennifer said, one leg thrown over the other as she sat on the brown leather couch in the living room. She was wearing a short black dress, something reserved for dinner or a gallery opening, but there she was, overdressed and over styled for a meeting with Jonah and me.
    I was sitting across from her, in a straight back chair next to an end table. A wicker basket full of candles and dead leaves was balanced on top. A picture of fall in the middle of summer.
    “You have to talk to him,” Jonah said. “That’s why we’re all here.”
    “I’m not here because of Chace,” she said, his name cutting against her teeth.
    Jonah furrowed his eyebrows. “Then why the fuck are you here?”
    She dropped her gaze to me. “She knows why.”
    Jonah looked at me, impatiently awaiting my response.
    “I have no idea what she’s talking about.”
    He ran a sharp hand through his hair, a shock of grey at the temples. “Okay. Jennifer, please try to elaborate.”
    “I want Alice to do an interview with Cheryl Collins.”
    “Why?”
    Jennifer tilted her head to the side. “Isn’t it obvious?”
    “No,” Jonah sighed. “That’s why I’m asking you.”
    “I want her to set the record straight.”
    “ You want to humiliate me in front of the entire world.”
    Jennifer raised an eyebrow.
    “Is that true?” Jonah asked.
    Jennifer’s eyes locked on mine, her hands folded neatly in her lap. “I don’t have to humiliate you,” she said. “You’ve already done enough of that, by fucking my boyfriend.”
    “Ex-boyfriend,” I said.
    Her jaw twitched. “The father of my child.” She straightened her shoulders. Beat that.
    “I’m not doing it,” I said.
    Jennifer gripped the couch. “Then I’m leaving.”
    “No you’re not,” said Jonah. Jennifer stood up. “Please sit back down.”
    “Not if the two of you are just going to waste my time.”
    “I promise we won’t.”
    Jennifer took her seat, her knees pressed together as she placed her hands back in her lap.
    “You just want her to do this interview?” Jonah said.
    Jennifer nodded. “And admit she stole him away from me.”
    “I didn’t steal him,” I said. Then to Jonah, “He wasn’t cheating on her.”
    “You lie so easily,” said Jennifer. “I would love to see you crack on national television.”
    “That’s enough,” Jonah barked. Then to me, “You say my brother wasn’t cheating on her?”
    “He wasn’t.”
    “But he thinks --” Jonah cleared his throat. “The two of you are together now?”
    A small knot twisted in the base of my stomach. “Yes.”
    Jonah took the seat next to me. “We can spin this into a positive.”
    My eyes flickered to Jennifer. She glanced between the two of us with her signature smug smile.
    “I don’t want to spin anything,” I said. “I’m not doing it.”
    “You have a sister don’t you?” Jennifer said.
    I whipped my head towards her. “What?”
    “Your sister. She has two kids living in that shitty apartment of yours in Hell’s Kitchen?” I narrowed my eyes. “Oh yes. You think I didn’t do any research on you? The second I saw you were Chace’s assistant I knew there was something off with you. You and your sister are cut from the same cloth.”
    My hands gripped the bottom of my chair. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
    Jennifer tightened her mouth. “Don’t fucking talk to me like that,” she snapped. “Your sister fucked a governor. A man with grandchildren who plans to run for president in the election after next.”
    I pulled my tongue between my teeth, training my face not to react. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    Jennifer smiled. “One phone call. That’s all I need to make before your sister’s trash is thrown into