“This is serious, Daniel.”
Daniel raked his hand through his hair. As if he didn’t have enough problems already.
“I ran into Linda Boyd today,” his mother started. “She told me about the article in the New York Times.”
Shit!
If Linda knew, then everyone knew. He should have known he wouldn’t be able to keep the article a secret for long.
He let out a sigh.
“So you know about the article,” his mother continued.
“Is it true? Is Sabrina a call girl?” his father asked.
“No, of course not.” Daniel glared at his father. “Sabrina is a respectable woman! She’s not a call girl!”
“Then why would the paper run a story like that?”
“I don’t know.” Daniel sighed. “That’s why I went to the city today. To try and find out. I talked to that gossip columnist, Claire Heart.”
“And? Is she going to retract the story?” his mother pressed. Her tone and her eyes were hopeful.
He hated to disappoint her. “No. She claims she has solid evidence. And she wouldn’t give up her source.”
“But what proof can there be when Sabrina isn’t a call girl? How can they print something like that? No editor in his right mind would let a reporter get away with that. They must have some sort of evidence,” his father insisted.
“They have nothing, because there’s nothing they can possibly know.”
His father narrowed his eyes. “What are you not telling us?”
Daniel took a few deep breaths. Maybe it was time to come clean. His father was a reasonable man with a bright head on his shoulders. He wouldn’t condemn him and Sabrina for what they’d done.
“The source is Audrey,” he bit out. “I found an entry in the reporter’s day planner, confirming that she met with Audrey just a few days ago.”
“You found it in her day planner?” his father asked with a raised eyebrow. “Did you do something illegal?”
Daniel shrugged. “Dad, I don’t think trespassing is my biggest problem right now. Besides, nobody saw me.”
His mother slapped a hand over her mouth, choking back a gasp, while his father, a pragmatist at heart, shrugged.
“Sit down, son, and tell us what Audrey could possibly have told the reporter to make her believe that Sabrina is a call girl,” his father demanded.
Daniel sank into the leather couch, and his mother sat down beside him. His father remained standing, leaning back against his desk.
This was one conversation he’d hoped never to have with his parents. He’d promised Sabrina that they would never find out. But it was better his parents found out the truth rather than assume things even worse. Because Sabrina was no call girl.
“Tim and Holly really did set us up. That is the truth, but it didn’t happen the way we told you.”
“What do you mean?” Raffaela touched Daniel’s forearm. He placed his hand over hers and squeezed it.
“As you know, right before I left for San Francisco, I caught Audrey in bed with Judd, my attorney. I broke it off with her right there and then. On my way to the airport I called Tim and asked him to . . . ” He hesitated. Could anything be more embarrassing than having to admit to his parents that he wanted to hire an escort?
“You asked him to do what?” his mother asked.
“I asked him to find me an escort service.”
“Oh, Danny!” His mother pressed her hand against her chest, clearly shocked. “An escort service? Why? You’re better than that!”
“I know. But, I had a big reception to attend, and I didn’t want to go alone. You both know how I hate those social events where every gold-digging socialite tries to dig her claws into me. And after what happened with Audrey, I didn’t want to spend the evening fending off women like her. So, I hired an escort to go with me.” He shoved his hand through his already messy hair. “I made it very clear to Tim that I only wanted her to pretend to be my girlfriend so that those single women at the reception stayed away from me.”
“And Tim sent you Sabrina? You mean Sabrina really was an escort?” his father asked.
“Yes. No!” He stared into his parents’ confused faces. “Tim sent me Sabrina, but she was pretending to be an escort. It’s complicated.” How could he tell the story without revealing that Holly was in fact an escort? He couldn’t betray her confidence like that.
“I don’t understand. Why would Sabrina pretend that she’s an escort?”