Across the room, I saw Nolan talking with Bizzy and made my way towards them, arriving just as Nolan offered to get Bizzy a drink. "I'll take one too," I said, flashing the pair a smile. "Vodka cranberry if you would," I said before putting my arm around Bizzy's shoulder and starting to steer her away from Nolan.
"Bizzy, I need to talk to you about something," I said, keeping my voice low and starting to replay the information Amanda had told me to feed Bizzy to keep her distracted, information my own PR team was ready to handle.
"Sounds like something must have been dug up on you," Bizzy said, and I could practically see the wheels turning in her head, wondering what information she would need to bury.
"It's true. I tried to keep it quiet, but when my PR team found out about me hiring you," I trailed off, letting Bizzy fill in the pieces.
"What information are they threatening to expose?" I glanced around nervously, giving Amanda a slight wink when I spotted her watching me, before looking back at Bizzy and taking a step towards her, indicating this was to be in the strictest of confidence.
"That I once had a relationship with one of my father's former advisors when I was in college. He was a professor at the University and I was a freshmen who was trying to adapt to life in America again after spending so much time in Europe. It wasn't a long relationship, but if it got out," I lied. Truthfully, I hadn't seen my father's advisors since that fateful summer, though I had kept up with their lives occasionally since then. Mostly, I kept up with them to see when karma hit them, always annoyed when I found out that they were in high paying corporate positions still. It wasn't until my sister came around that their fates started changing, though that was besides the point. The point was, the rumor was completely untrue, but with Bizzy there was a good chance she'd buy it.
"Was he married?" Evidently, she bought it.
"Bizzy, please don't judge. I was eighteen, I was just looking for someone's attention, and Alex doesn't know. If it got out, he'd be devastated and this man's life would be ruined." I said, my tone pleading.
"I'll bury it quickly, though I'll need to talk to your PR team to do that, or whoever is threatening to release it." I nodded, quickly reaching for my phone, though starting to babble as Amanda had instructed.
"Thank you. It's just one of the men threatening to release it. He's mad I don't give him a bigger role in the company, but I don't want to do that for so many reasons. The biggest reason being that I only hired him because he was friend's with Emily's first husband and Emily asked me for a favor." I said, before acting as though I realized what I had just said and throwing my hand over my mouth. "I shouldn't of said that," I muttered, my words muffled by my hand.
"You knew Emily's first husband?" I quickly shook my head.
"I shouldn't of said that, I should not of said that. I promised I would never speak of him," I said, putting my hand on Bizzy's shoulder. "You have to promise you won't tell Emily I told you. She'd be mad if she found out I talked about him. She wants so badly to move on with Daniel." Bizzy looked a little stunned.
"What was his name?" I shook my head, quickly starting to back away from her.
"I've said too much already. I need to go before I say anything else." I said, moving as fast as I could, flashing Amanda a quick thumbs up as I went. Amanda looked pleased as she gave a small nod of acknowledgement, and I was excited to have done something right.
My excitement didn't last long however as I spotted Charlotte making a beeline towards me. I tried to divert into another direction, but she was faster and before I knew it I was standing face to face with her.
"I'm glad you're here, I want to talk to you," I shook my head, and tried to move past her, only to have Charlotte stand in my way.
"Not interested," I muttered, trying to get by again only to have her block my way once more.
"I'm your sister," I glanced at her for a moment before looking away.
"Half sister," I corrected, my eyes falling on Daniel and then Sara. I didn't hear what Charlotte was saying as I watched them, their interaction fascinating to me. It was the kind of interaction I saw between those with long standing feelings for one another, or people who were together. It wasn't the awkwardness between exes, rather the palpable tension between people that were destined to be together.
Watching them, part of me was excited that Amanda would be off the hook for marrying Daniel, though the other part of me knew this would mess up my sister's plan. Marrying Daniel was her ultimate revenge scheme, and if Sara stood in the way… She wouldn't be so innocent anymore.
"I need to go," I said, cutting Charlotte off and finally just pushing past her, my sights set on Sara. I felt the need to save her from my sister's wrath, get her out of here, but Margaux grabbing my arm, forcing me to stop, diverted my attention.
"I think I'm going to publish Conrad's memoirs, he promises to expose some secrets." I turned my full attention to her, my need to do business automatically canceling out my protective sense.
"Secrets or manipulative lies? With the Grayson's secrets aren't always the truth," I said, knowing that I couldn't have my company's name tied in any way to Conrad's book. We prided ourselves on remaining scandal free in a time when media revolved around scandals, and Conrad's book would certainly controversial, and not in a good way.
"It's still something I want to pursue," I pursed my lips, about to retort when I heard my son's voice.
I turned my head, spotting him a few feet away with Jack, who was looking at me apologetically.
"Hey, I can't watch him anymore," He said as he grew closer, my son in his arms.
"Okay," I said, my tone confused as I took my son from Jack, nestling him against my hip. "You have something you need to do?" I asked, unsure of why Jack was bringing my son back, or why he'd bring him to the Grayson's property. This was the lion's den after all, and my son was too small to be here safely, something I thought Jack understood.
"Yeah, maybe," I glanced between him and Margaux, sensing there was something I was missing.
"Okay, well I need to go. Margaux, we'll talk about this mess tomorrow," I said, refusing to remain in the Grayson's household any longer. By myself, I could remain a while longer, but with JD now in the picture, I needed to leave ASAP. He was vulnerable here, and I wasn't about to let Victoria Grayson at my child.