The Performance
1238 Words
Dominic
I should have hung up.
Any other night I would have. That's what the contract would have called for. But the contract didn't account for the anger sitting in my chest.
Instead I leaned back against my kitchen counter and said, "How did you get this number?"
"I'm a sports agent, Mr. Ashford. Getting numbers is what I do." He had the kind of voice that puts people at ease.
I'd spent my whole career around men with voices like that and not one of them had ever called with good intentions.
"What do you want?"
"I saw the story this morning. It's such an unfortunate incident, really. The way the media takes a private matter and turns it into entertainment. I wanted to reach out because I know how overwhelming that kind of attention can be, especially for someone like Sienna who isn't used to being in the public eye."
Someone like Sienna? The way he said her name like he still had the right to made my jaw tighten.
"I appreciate the concern," I said, giving him nothing.
"I'm sure you're taking good care of her. She's a wonderful woman. I know things didn't end well between us but that doesn't change the fact that I spent four years of my life with her. I still care about what happens to her."
I'm so sure that he expects me to applaud him.
"Is there a point to this call, Mr. Hale?" I breathed massaging my forehead.
"Marcus, please." He laughed softly. "Look, I'm not calling to cause trouble. I just know how these things go. The story runs, people start digging, and before you know it they're pulling up things that have no business being public. I wanted to offer my help in case you need someone to talk to who understands the situation from the other side."
"The other side?"
"I was married to her, Mr. Ashford. I know her better than anyone. I know what she's like when she's under pressure. I know how she handles stress. And I know that the version of herself she's showing you right now might not be the version you get six months from now."
I almost missed it because of how well he wrapped it. But the message was simple. Don't trust her. He'd delivered that same message to her colleagues, her employers, everyone. Now he was delivering it to me.
I let the silence sit for a moment.
"That's generous of you," I said. "Offering to help like that."
"Of course. I know this is unusual but I believe in being direct."
"So do I." I paused. "How did you know she was working at the Icebreakers clinic?"
The silence on his end lasted half a second too long.
"It… was… in the article."
"No it wasn't. The article said she was my girlfriend. It didn't mention the clinic."
Another pause. This one was longer.
"I must have heard it somewhere. You know how the industry talks."
"I do know how the industry talks. I also know that the industry doesn't talk about entry-level physiotherapists at team clinics. Nobody would know she was working there unless they were paying attention to her specifically."
He recovered fast, I'll give him that. His voice didn't change but the warmth and performance was gone.
"I think you're reading too much into this, Mr. Ashford."
"Maybe. But I want to be direct with you since you believe in that. Don't ever call this number again."
"I was… just… trying to help."
"No you weren't."
I hung up and put the phone on the counter.
It took just five minutes for him to show me exactly who he was. He thought he was running the conversation but he'd been handing me information the entire time.
He thought I'd react the way everyone else had. Nod along, take his word for it, quietly step back from Sienna. He didn't know me very well.
I poured a glass of water and didn't drink it. Just stood there holding it and running back through the conversation piece by piece.
He knew about the clinic, that wasn't public information. The article named Sienna as my girlfriend and dug up the divorce records but it said nothing about where she worked or what she did.
Nina's team had been careful about that. The whole point of the arrangement was that Sienna looked like a regular woman I'd met, not an employee on the team's payroll.
So how did he know?
Either someone inside the organization told him, which meant we had a leak, or he'd been tracking her movements before the article even ran.
I put the glass down, picked up my phone and scrolled back to the article. Read it again with different eyes this time.
If Marcus knew about the clinic, what else did he know? Did he know about the contract? Did he know the relationship was fake? If someone inside the organization was feeding him information, it was only a matter of time before the whole arrangement unraveled.
And if the arrangement unraveled publicly, it wouldn't just hurt Sienna. It would confirm every suspicion the media already had about me. That I was a liar. That I manipulated women. That the accusation Vanessa made wasn't so far from the truth.
The foundation would be done. The rinks would close. Everything Nina had spent weeks building would collapse in a single news cycle.
This wasn't just about Sienna's past anymore. Marcus Hale was a threat to everything.
I picked up my phone and called Nina.
"I thought we agreed no more calls tonight," she said.
"Marcus Hale just called me."
The line went dead quiet.
"What?"
"Sienna's ex-husband. He called my personal phone five minutes ago."
"What did he say?"
"He said all the right things. That's how I know none of it was real."
"Ok, hope you didn't respond with anything incriminating?"
"I told him not to call again."
"Good. What else?"
"He also knew she works at the clinic. Either someone on our side is talking or he's been keeping tabs on her long before any of this started."
Nina was quiet for a few seconds. I could practically hear her running through the same scenarios I'd just run through.
"If he knows about the clinic he could know about the arrangement," she said slowly.
"That's what I'm thinking."
"If the arrangement goes public right now, Dominic, we are finished. Not just the image recovery. The foundation, the sponsors who are still on the fence, everything."
"I know."
"I need to look into this. Who has access to her employment records, who knew about the contract, who could have talked."
"Find out everything there is to know about Marcus Hale but keep it off the record. I just need to know what we're up against."
"Dominic, if you go after this guy personally it's going to blow up in your face. You're already dealing with one scandal, you don't need another."
"I'm not going after him. I just want to know who I'm dealing with."
"I'll make some calls in the morning."
"Tonight Nina, I need answers tonight."
"You're serious?"
"When am I not?"
She muttered something I didn't catch and hung up.
I put the phone down and went to the window. Marcus had assumed it would work because it had always worked before.
He was wrong this time.
- Writer
