“That’s just it,” he said. “That’s why I’m here. I didn’t send anyone. Would I like you to drop the lawsuit? Hell, yeah! But I would never have anyone hurt you.”
“You hurt me!” she cried. “You posted that video online and—”
“Look,” he broke in. “You’re suing me. I can’t comment on that. I’m sorry if anything I’ve done has caused you pain, but I didn’t do this.” He gestured to her neck.
The door slipped out of Emery’s hand as Dallas opened it wider. “We’re going to find the cowboy who choked her and prove you were behind it all, so you might want to admit the truth now. I promise I’ll be in a far more forgiving mood if you do.”
Ethan stepped back. “I know you...”
“I’m going to get to the bottom of this if it’s the last thing I do—even if I have to hire a private investigator,” Dallas went on, ignoring his reaction. “And when I have the proof I need, I’m coming after you.”
Ethan lifted one hand. “You were the guy who came to the house and asked for Tommy. You said...” He glanced between them. “Oh, I get it. That was a setup. You’re also the one who threatened me.”
“Like I said, we’re going to get the information we need—one way or another,” Dallas reiterated.
“I can understand why you wouldn’t believe me. But I didn’t have anyone choke Emery.”
“Maybe that wasn’t what you specifically requested, but if you sent someone out there, you’re responsible for it,” Dallas insisted.
Ethan pressed a hand to his chest. “You don’t understand. I really didn’t do it! Having someone attack her is serious. I’m not that kind of guy.”
The neighbor came out and looked down at them. “Thanks for the call,” Ethan said, wearing a forced smile as he waved at her. Then he lowered his voice, “Can I please come in so that we can work this out in private?”
Emery shot her neighbor a dirty look for taking Ethan’s side, and the woman ducked back into her own apartment as Dallas opened the door even wider. “I’d love to have you come in,” he said.
Ethan shot Emery a worried glance. “This guy’s going to hear me out, isn’t he?”
“To be honest, I don’t know,” she said but only because she took some small pleasure in the fact that he was nervous. For all everyone had to say about Dallas’s temper, she knew she could trust him not to go too far.
“You’ll be fine as long as you don’t lie to me,” Dallas said and waved him in.
Emery perched on the edge of the sofa. She saw Ethan’s eyes flick to the table where their photograph had once been, but he didn’t mention that it was missing. “Where did you meet the cowboy who assaulted me—this Terrell?” she asked as Dallas settled beside her and he sat on the chair across the coffee table from them. “He wasn’t anyone I’ve seen you with before.”
“I don’t know a Terrell, or any cowboys, for that matter,” he said. “What’d he look like?”
Emery described him.
“I honestly can’t think of anyone in my circle of friends who fits that description.”
“You had to have met him somewhere,” she insisted, but before Ethan could respond, Dallas spoke up.
“Could it be Heidi who’s behind what happened?”
“Our producer?” Ethan said.
“Your producer,” Emery clarified.
He blanched at the reminder of her lost job but responded to Dallas. “I can’t see her doing anything like that. She knows if she were to get caught, it would only make matters worse. And she doesn’t have the kind of friends she could ask to handle something illegal. I don’t think she has any friends. All the woman ever does is work.”
“It has to be you or her,” Emery insisted.
“I thought so, too,” Dallas said. “Until I remembered the email that came with that obscene picture. Whoever wrote it mentions the freckle on your thigh.”
“I changed at work all the time,” Emery explained. “She could’ve seen it. It even shows below some of my shorts—my cutoffs, for sure.”
Ethan stretched out his legs and his chest lifted as he drew a deep breath. “I hate to even suggest this, but...do you think it could be Tommy?”
“Tommy?” she echoed. “Why would Tommy do something like that?”
“He’s weird when it comes to me. He has this...crush on me, I guess. He always acted jealous of you.”
Tommy had admitted his feelings for Ethan, and he’d certainly been protective of him—to the point he wouldn’t help her with the suit—but she couldn’t imagine he’d go so far. “He has a partner. And I’m out of the picture. Why would he try to do anything to me?”
“He and his partner are on-again, off-again. Now that I’m available, it could be some misguided attempt to curry favor with me.”
“If that were the case, wouldn’t you know if he was up to something?” Dallas asked.
“Not necessarily. He could be hoping Emery will drop the suit before he takes credit for making her do it.”
“No,” Emery said. “If it’s not you, it has to be Heidi.”
Ethan shook his head. “I don’t see it. I would be shocked if it was her.”
“Let’s see if we can find out,” Dallas said.
Emery looked askance at him. “How?”
Dallas directed his response to Ethan. “You tell Heidi, Tommy, everyone you know that a man called you, claiming you put him up to assaulting Emery, and now he’s demanding you meet him at the Santa Monica pier tomorrow night at twelve fifteen with five hundred dollars in hush money. Tell them you’re afraid that even if you give the guy the money, he’ll tell someone and you’ll lose your job and go to jail. Or he’ll just come back and demand more. Say you aren’t going to meet him because you didn’t do anything wrong, but you’re terrified to imagine what he might do when you don’t show.”
“Someone did call me and say those things. He...” Ethan’s words suddenly
