version adds to my mythos as a hard-ass prick. It helps keep everyone in line, in all sorts of ways. Plus, it’s a disgrace I never realized Troy’s songs were stolen in the first place. Believe me, I’m much more careful and knowledgeable about that sort of thing now. But, yeah. For a whole bunch of reasons, I let everyone think I’m just that ruthless.”
I laugh. “I love you so much.”
“Glad to hear it. Because I love you.”
“So...” I say. “There’s something else I want to talk about. Two things I need to come clean about, actually.” I take a deep breath. “Stephanie Moreland. I already had a copy of her complaint when I asked you about her in your kitchen.”
“I know,” he says. “After you got drunk and passed out that night, when I put you to bed, I noticed her complaint sitting in a box at the foot of your bed.”
“Oh, snap.” I wince. “Were you mad?”
“For a split-second. But quickly, I felt nothing but proud of you. I knew you’d been hired to ‘peel my onion.’ And that’s exactly what you were doing.”
Butterflies whoosh into my stomach. God, I love this man. “I hope you know I’d never write about Stephanie in my article about you, any more than I’d write about Troy or Isabel. I only got copies of those three lawsuits—that lease dispute, Stephanie, and Troy—because I was following breadcrumbs. It’s what I do. I can’t help it. But I’ve never once considered writing any sort of exposé on you.”
“I know that. You were smart to follow every breadcrumb, for both professional and personal reasons. The first night I met you, I told you I admire hustlers. And I meant it.”
I beam a huge smile at him. “If you’d snooped a little more into that box, you would have found Troy’s complaint at the bottom.”
Reed shrugs. “I saw Stephanie’s lawsuit on top and didn’t have the stomach to root around further. So, what’s the second thing you feel the need to ‘come clean’ about?”
“Yeah. Uh.” My cheeks blast with heat. “Howard Devlin. I’m investigating him. Hoping to write an article about him for Dig a Little Deeper.”
Reed looks confused. “What’s the nature of your ‘investigation’? You think Howard has committed financial crimes of some sort?”
I shake my head. “No. I’m gunning for Howard Devlin because I’m ninety-nine percent sure he’s a serial sexual predator, and that it’s the worst kept secret in Hollywood.”
Reed looks deeply shocked, and I know, in my bones, he has no idea about Howard’s reputation among the women who’ve interacted with him.
I tell him everything I know thus far, told to me by CeeCee, Hannah, and Francesca, fully admitting all my information is based on hearsay. All of it adding up to the same conclusion: Howard Devlin almost certainly regularly harasses and/or assaults women. Sometimes, as part of a “casting couch” scenario. Other times, when he’s not getting what he wants through coercion and manipulation and dangling carrots, he resorts to flat-out roofie-ing his victims.
“CeeCee gave me the green light to pursue my investigation, full steam ahead, this morning. I called her before boarding my flight and told her about my conversations with Francesca and Hannah. So, I’m a full-fledged investigative reporter now, chasing a story. But I want you to know, I’m not doing it to get back at Isabel, or to hurt or humiliate her in any way. She’s irrelevant to my reasons for pursuing this article. But I admit she’ll probably feel humiliated, and most likely want to break her engagement, if I’m successful. But I’m not going to hold back on writing this, simply because Isabel happens to be Howard’s fiancée and your beloved ex-girlfriend.”
“As well you shouldn’t. And, to be clear, I didn’t love her, Georgie. I never fell in love with her. Now that I love you, I know that for sure.”
I touch his cheek. “Do you think Isabel knows about any of those rumors?”
Reed screws up his face. “I can’t imagine she does. We’ve had several conversations about Howard over the years. I used to be annoyed about how obsessed he was with her, and told her so, and she never once said a word about any of this kind of stuff.”
“Well, if that’s the case, then she’s going to get blindsided. People are going to wonder how much she knew, and if she looked the other way, simply because Howard was helping her career. That narrative won’t be a good look for ‘America’s