Insider (Exodus End #1)(137)
Author: Olivia Cunning

Mom didn’t show up all through dinner or during Birdie’s bedtime routine. Toni was starting to worry that something had happened to her. It wasn’t unusual for her workaholic mother to come home late at night, but Mom knew Toni was awaiting the delivery of her phone. Unable to take the wait any longer, she gave in and called her.

When Mom answered, Toni said, “Why aren’t you home yet? I’ve been imagining you dead in a gutter.”

“I’m on my way,” she said, her voice distant since she spoke through her car’s speakerphone function. “Another half hour or so.”

“Did you remember my phone?”

“Yep.”

“Mom, have you seen my journal?” Toni’s stomach twisted with anxiety as she waited for her response. She knew how desperate her mother was for cash, but surely she wouldn’t sell information to the tabloids.

“Which journal?”

“Pink faux leather cover. Small enough to fit in a pocket.” And with privileged information written inside.

“No idea what you’re talking about. Maybe Birdie has seen it.”

Toni let out a deep breath as relief spread through her body. “I’ll ask her. See you in a bit.”

Grandma had already retired to the guest suite, so Toni retrieved the copy of the tabloid she’d bought at the airport. At the time she hadn’t been sure why she was encouraging the further publication of trash by giving them her money, but now she was glad she’d bought a copy.

Dread weighed heavy on the back of her neck as she sat at her desk, opened the paper, and scanned the first article. There was no doubt that the stories could have been fabricated based on the snippets in her journal, but there was far more information in the articles than she’d written. She’d hardly even mentioned the false rumors of Steve having a homosexual relationship with Zach Mercer, and yet the author of the article had run with that. Another article was about Steve and his ex-wife. A third about Steve’s mystery second wife. Wait? Had she even written about Steve’s second wife in her diary? She didn’t remember doing so. Another article about Steve fooling around with various women.

Why was there such a huge section devoted to Steve?

Toni flipped to the next article. Logan’s troubles with his brother were completely blown out of proportion, making it sound as if he cried nonstop into his pillow over his lost childhood. And poor Reagan. No wonder she’d been so upset. Not only had the article author revealed the nature of her relationship with Trey Mills and Ethan Conner, but he or she had completely trashed Reagan’s character and her “novice guitar playing.” It was even suggested that the only reason Reagan had gotten her shot in the limelight was because she was screwing every member of the band, going so far as to imply marathon orgies.

The tragedy that bonded yet still stood between Max and Dare had been twisted into a story of back-stabbing cruelty when in truth it had been young, misguided love.

The group had been thoroughly and savagely trashed.

And then when Toni saw the picture she’d taken of Logan and Steve that first night—with the caption Seems there’s more than friendship between this pair. How many men does Steve Aimes keep in his closet?—she knew without a doubt that the information in the articles hadn’t come from her handwritten journal. It had come from the files stored on her laptop.

“Shit.”

Toni removed her glasses and buried her face in her hands, racking her brain for times her laptop had been insecure. She’d left it on the bus when she’d followed the band members around. She supposed someone could have snuck onto the bus and downloaded information from her hard drive, but that seemed unlikely. Especially since her computer was password protected and the bus was never left unsecured. She’d taken her laptop to the hotel with her when Logan had helped her with her presentation, but the only time it had been unattended was when they’d gone to the motocross track.

Toni’s heart slammed into her ribcage and her head shot upright as a clear scene of her unattended laptop flashed through her head. When she’d taken Birdie to the restroom to see to her bloodied nose during her presentation, her laptop had been open and running in the conference room with her mother and Susan. Toni had even encouraged the two women to look through her files while she’d tended to Birdie. During those few minutes, Susan had unexpectedly disappeared and her mother had decided that Toni was capable of completing the book.

“Fucking hell!”

And Toni had thought their change of heart had been due to her brilliant presentation.

“That back-stabbing, lying, double-crossing, motherfucking cunt!” Toni raged, hoping that the insult was reserved for Susan, but in her gut knowing that the woman hadn’t worked alone.

She flipped through the articles again, this time paying more attention to the images. Perhaps she couldn’t sue them for printing privileged information, but she might be able to sue for printing her photos. She recognized a few she’d taken, but most of them weren’t hers. A photo of Steve’s wedding party caught her eye. She smiled at how young and handsome he looked in a tux. He couldn’t have been much more than twenty in the picture. She was a bit surprised to see Zach Mercer as his best man. How long had Steve known the guy? He’d been married before Exodus End had formed. Steve’s wife looked stunning and radiantly happy. Her maid of honor looked pissed off and shockingly familiar.

“Susan?” Toni blurted.

The woman in the picture was at least fifteen years younger and about fifty pounds heavier, but there was no mistaking her cynical stare.

“What the fuck?”

Susan must be involved somehow, but had she acted alone or was Mom in cahoots with her? Toni prayed that Susan had taken her files when Mom had stepped out of the conference room to answer a call or something. Surely her mother wouldn’t break her own daughter’s trust and potentially ruin her entire career on purpose. Who did that?

Gravel crunched in the driveway when a pair of headlights turned onto the property. Toni slapped her glasses back on her face and crumpled the tabloid in an angry fist. She was going to get to the bottom of this right now.

Mom was just coming into the kitchen when Toni charged into the room.

Looking weary, Mom smiled and held out Toni’s cellphone to her. “Here it is. Calm down. Sheesh!”

Toni was so pissed off, she couldn’t form words. She stood there shaking for a long moment before yanking her phone out of Mom’s hand.