Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 89170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
“Shit! What happened?” My voice trailed off as I flew out of bed.
I swiped my phone and was about to call Lincoln when I saw I had a text from my father.
Dad: Call me as soon as you get this.
Fear seized my chest and my hands shook as I fumbled to hit the screen to call my father.
“Hey, Georgie. How’s Montana treating you?”
I blinked a few times, then rubbed my eyes with my other hand. “Dad, you told me to call you as soon as I could. What’s wrong?”
He took in a long, deep breath before he let it out. “I spoke with Ron.”
Ron Henderson was the new owner of Sports Monthly. I didn’t know much about the guy except that he used to play professional football.
“Did you ask about the interview with the Shaws and Blayze?”
“Yes.”
“Was it a misunderstanding by the editor?”
He paused for entirely too long. “At first Ron claimed that he didn’t know anything about the editor telling you to dig into Blayze’s past. After a few minutes, I got it out of him. He did know, and he was the one who wanted the information printed in the article. He wants to shake things up with the magazine. When I first approached him about you doing the interview with Brock, he loved the idea. But then this Doug guy was brought on to help change the image of the magazine, and he’s the one who came up with it turning into a tell-all article.”
“What?” I nearly shouted as I launched myself into the bathroom. I needed a hot shower and to splash some water on my face ASAP. “I knew you had something to do with me getting that job. Dad, I told you I wanted to get opportunities on my own, not with my father’s help.”
He sighed. “I know, I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
“That doesn’t matter right now. Back to Ron. Did you tell him I wouldn’t do it?”
“I did. He asked me to talk to you about it. When I told him I wouldn’t, he informed me that they’d never hire you again and would never work with me again as well.”
I nearly stumbled back. My father had been contributing articles for Sports Monthly ever since he retired from bull riding. He’d started off writing guest columns and doing some interviews and had worked himself up to becoming one of their top contributors.
“He said that. Dad, you’ve been writing for them for years, how could they do that.?”
“Georgiana, I don’t even care. I am not going to be involved with the magazine if they’re going to turn into a gossip rag. I told him he was a worthless piece of shit. Sweetheart, he was looking for a reason to not work with you. He figured if you wrote an article that leaked information about Blayze, the Shaws would be livid and he would be justified in taking action against you. He planned on pinning it all on you.”
Now I was going to be sick. “If he didn’t want me to write for the magazine, why not tell me that in the first place? Why not turn down your suggestion of the interview?”
“I think there were a few different reasons. One, he didn’t want to make the magazine seem like it wouldn’t work with a female journalist. Two, he knew you were close to the family at one point, maybe he thought by using you he’d get the information he wanted. Unfortunately, I’m the one who planted the idea there for him in the first place.”
I closed my eyes and sank down to the ground.
“Come home, sweetheart. You’ve got other work and you still have Vogue, and also that fashion magazine in London that adores you. Spend time working on the book you want to write. I told Ron and Kathleen you wouldn’t be giving them the story now anyway. Neither one seemed surprised. Ron actually seemed relieved, the bastard.”
Trying not to let my thoughts spin out of control, I counted to ten as I squeezed my eyes shut even tighter. I needed to let the sports thing go. I’d lost the passion for it, anyway, if I was being honest with myself. I knew I should leave Montana, but I wasn’t ready to yet. I had set out to write an article on the Shaws, and I was determined to do it, even if I did have to pitch it to another magazine. I wasn’t ready to leave Blayze. Not yet.
“Georgiana?”
“I’m not leaving. Brock and the rest of the family think I’m here to do an article about the ranch, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
“The magazine won’t print it if it’s not what they want.”
“That’s fine. If they don’t print it, they don’t print it. I’m not leaving and giving them the satisfaction of running me off.”