Free Games Divas Play (A Diva Mystery Novel) by Angela Burt-Murray Page A

the meeting with his weekly financi al report.
    His flat monotone voice droned on as he moved through the traffic, revenue, and expense figures for each of the sites. For DivaDish and GospelWired , Bryan’s news was good. Traffic was up, revenue was climbing, and expenses were holding flat. But I heard Rodney shifting uncomfortably in his seat and shuffling some papers when Bryan got to his numbers, which were down across the board.
    “What’s going on with TheSportsBeatz , Rodney?” DeAnna said, turning an icy glance in the editor’s direction.
    “Well, as you know, DeAnna, there’s always a lull in our audience traffic right before the NBA season starts. But this weekend the new season starts, and we will have some really good stuff to post, ” he said.
    “In fact,” he continued, sounding more excited than he should, given the numbers Bryan just shared, “we have story and video on Marcus King that’s sure to create a lot of heat for the site.”
    Oh shit . . .
    “What’s the story?” asked Michelle. I tried to turn around on the ottoman as best I could in my tight skirt to look at Rodney. I wanted to be looking him dead in his eyes when he said he stole my story.
    “As you know, we’ve just gotten video of Marcus King leaving a Midtown hotel with vixen Laila James.” Rodney sat back against the sofa, keeping his gaze locked on DeAnna and refusing to look at me burning a hole in the side of his head as I started to speak up.
    “But wait a minute, that’s my . . .”
    DeAnna cut me off, raising a manicured finger to let me know silence was expected.
    “That’s great, Rodney,” she said. “Why don’t you head back to your office and get that up ri ght away?”
    “But DeAnna . . . ,” I started again, blood rushing to my cheeks. I felt hot all over. I clutched my pen and tried to restrain myself from jabbing Rodney’s story-stealing neck wi th my pen.
    “Just a minute, Nia,” DeAnna said again with a wave of a glossy nail before she turned and told Bryan and Michelle that they could leav e as well.
    Rodney quickly gathered his things and left the office to go post my story on his struggling website before I could say anything, and Michelle slinked out the door b ehind him.
    DeAnna turned her attention to me after the door closed behind them. Her gaze was cool an d distant.
    “I think I know what you were going to say, Nia.”
    “You do?” I was confused. How could she know what I was goi ng to say?
    “Yes, Nia,” she said cryptically. “You were going to say that Rodney stole your stor y, right?”
    “Uh, yes, actually I was,” I said, looking at her quizzically. “How did you know?”
    “How I know isn’t relevant, Nia. What is relevant is that you had a story on superstar Marcus King that would have been a big traffic driver for your site, and you hesitated to put it up because you were worried about your friend Vanessa. The only thing that’s relevant in this conversation is why you h esitated.”
    Yes, Vanessa was my friend, but she was also DeAnna’s soror, which I thought meant something, but I guess I was mistaken. This woman was take-no-prisoners for real. Sorority bonds be damned.
    “Wait a minute,” I said. “Yes, one of my reporters got a clip of Marcus King in a compromising position, and I was taking a moment to decide how we should proceed. That was my video.”
    “Well, in the hour it took you to decide how to proceed, a DivaDish competitor could have jumped on the story and taken the lead,” DeAnna said as she got up from her chair and walked over to her desk, sat down, and began scanning her e-mail in-box, indicating that she was wrapping up ou r meeting.
    “And actually that video is the property of PrimeTime Media. It’s not yours. So one of your internal competitors did what you were too afraid to do, and now they have the lead.”
    My phone began to buzz repeatedly in my pocket, and I knew it was MJ texting me with the news I now already knew. I’d