Shattered (Anderson Special Ops #4) - Melody Anne Page 0,115

had to take in some deep breaths as she sat across from the reporter who looked a bit too smug at the moment. Had her earlier innocent act been just that, an act? Had Anna been in jail for so long now that she was so easily deceived? She didn’t like the thought of that at all.

“Watch what you’re saying to me, little girl. I don’t like the tone you’re using one little bit,” Anna stated. It was time to put this woman back in her place.

“It isn’t about the tone, Anna, it’s about the truth, and getting it out for the world to see. You being deceitful in an interview with me won’t help me write a story and won’t help the public see who you truly are,” Courtney calmly stated.

Anna found herself shaking with anger. Who in the hell did this woman think she was to push her like this? Didn’t she know Anna would one day be the President of the United States? There was no doubt in her mind that would still happen. She’d get out of this mess, just as she’d gotten out of trouble before. She wasn’t a quitter, and she wasn’t allowing some stupid mindless musclemen for hire to take her down. She certainly wasn’t letting Damien take her down. And there was no way in hell she was letting an inexperienced journalist take her down.

“I’m not deceiving you, Courtney,” Anna spat. “I’ve told you nothing but the truth today.” She paused, her rage fully consuming her. “Let me be clear so your small brain can process this. I never had sex with Damien. I never wanted to have sex with Damien. I never had any physical attraction to Damien. Not once . . . not ever. There’s nothing about him I’m attracted to. There never has been and there never will be. Do I make myself clear?” Before she gave Courtney a chance to answer, she threw her hand in the air. “I’m done explaining this simple fact to you,” Anna finished, her knuckles solid white from squeezing the phone pressed hard against her ear.

“I don’t believe you,” the woman dared say to her. “I don’t see how any woman could resist that amount of attention from a man like Damien Whitfield.” She paused as she leaned closer to the glass as if they were two old friends sitting alone while sharing secrets. She made her face innocent and sweet, and there was no longer any doubt in Anna’s mind that the woman was faking it. She was just as deceitful as Anna was — she simply played the naïve card to perfection. Anna was so incensed by this she couldn’t find her voice to interrupt the woman as she kept speaking.

“Just be honest with me. I really want you to tell me the truth, Anna. How is it possible for you to deny all of those advances from Damien when no other woman on earth would? It isn’t going to hurt your reputation if the truth that you and Damien slept together comes out.”

The woman had one thing right, Anna realized. Normally, if a man as hot as Damien wanted her, she took and took from him until she was done with the mindless idiot. She loved a hot body in her bed. Married men might not be off limits to her — but one thing actually was. This was a line even she wasn’t sick enough to cross.

Anna stood, her forehead pressed into the glass as she spit venom from her eyes straight into the reporter’s soul. She’d kill the woman in front of her if she could get away with it — that’s how furious she was. Her words came out in a growl, rage and thunder in her tone.

“I never, ever, ever slept with Damien. I never would. It’s easy for me to say I’m not attracted to him, and for me to be certain we never had sex and that I never wanted to have sex with him because . . .” She paused, her heart racing, her fingers so tight on the phone in her hand she was nearly cracking the cheap plastic. She didn’t care what she was saying anymore. “Because . . . he . . . is . . . my . . . brother!”

She barely registered the utter shock on the reporter’s face at her words. She slammed the phone against the glass dividing them, then punched it. She thought she heard