The Exposé 3 by Roxy Sloane

some business to attend to, so why don’t
I pick you up at your place at eight? We could have that dinner, then
stop by the club for dessert.”
    “Sounds
good to me.” I smile. Then a thought strikes me. “You
won’t do anything stupid, will you? Going after Nikolai, I
mean.”
    With
all the hot sex, I forgot about what happened before that last night:
Nikolai’s guy threatening Maria, and what I learned at the
party about the land deal.
    Dax’s smile slips. “I
can’t promise you that.”
    “Please, just wait,”
I beg him, suddenly scared. “There’s a way out of this,
if we just think it through. A way to expose his blackmail, so he
gets what he deserves. He’s not someone you can just walk up
and threaten.”
    “Believe me, I know just
what kind of man he is.” Dax’s jaw gets tense. I reach
over and take his hand.
    “Give it a day or two,”
I urge him. “Let’s play this smart. I know between the
two of us, we can figure it out. I don’t want you getting
hurt,” I add. “Please.”
    Dax takes a long moment, then
nods. “I agree, brute force won’t achieve anything. I’ll
take a beat to think about it -- but I won’t take long,”
he warns me. “Nobody messes with the people I love and gets
away with it.”
     
    *
     
    I get dressed in last night’s
clothes and head home, ready to take a half-hour hot shower and revel
in my memories of last night. But just as I make it through the door,
my cellphone rings.
    Granger.
    I
feel a guilty pang. There’s no way I can keep talking to him
about everything that’s happened with Dax and the club. We
crossed a line last night, and now my loyalty is to Dax, not this
editor. Maybe the mess with Nikolai and the land deal will turn out
to be something, but I can’t say for sure anymore that I would
run with the story if it risked harming Dax.
    I’m facing a choice now,
between Dax and my future, but after everything we’ve shared,
it feels like no choice at all.
    I need to quit the story for
good.
    I
quickly shower and change, and head in to the newspaper office.
Granger waves me straight in, and I nervously take a seat on the
other side of his desk, bracing myself to break the news.
    “So
where are we?” he asks, munching on a sandwich. “I’ve
been pulling background on Landsley, lots of happy family values
bullshit, but it’s going to blow up in his face when we run the
truth about all his kinky extra-curricular games.”
    I feel a chill. “That’s
the thing...” I hate having to do this. I’m basically
committing career suicide, blowing the one big shot I’ve got.
    But Dax is worth it. I know he
is.
    “I’m
dropping the story,” I tell Granger.
    “What the hell?” He
pauses, his sub halfway to his mouth.
    “I’m
sorry,” I say quickly, “But I can’t keep digging
like this. It’s nobody’s business what Andrew Landsley
does in private. I can’t just expose him like this, not without
proof he’s done something corrupt.”
    “Of
course he’s corrupt!” Granger explodes. “He’s
a fucking politician getting spanked on the weekends.”
    I stare, shocked. “This was
supposed to be a real investigation, in the public interest,” I
tell him. “But there’s no evidence he’s been
compromised, or doing favors.”
    Sure,
I heard him talking with Nikolai, but he hadn’t agreed to
anything. And Dax is refusing to give Nikolai any leverage for
blackmail, so I don’t see how Andrew is corrupt.
    Granger
snorts. “Are you stupid, or just naive?” he demands. “Sex
sells, what kind of business do you think we’re in here? If I
get photos of that guy in a ball-gag on my front page, circulation
will go through the roof.”
    I
can’t believe it. I look at him in disbelief. “But you
told me, this story was about money. Power! Real news that mattered.”
    Granger
gives me a pitying look. “Sure, that would be the icing on the
cake, but hell, we’re running this either way. You don’t
even realize what you’re sitting on. A