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

later learn from MJ that Basil had overheard Che talking about the Marcus King exclusive in the office and had gone into the site’s story queue, seen the story waiting for my approval, and then forwarded a copy of the clip to DeAnna to cu rry favor.
    But how had Rodney gotten in the loop? There was no reason to think that Basil would go directly to Rodney, because then that Judas wouldn’t have been able to score points with DeAnna. No, this snake had gone directly to her, and then she had been the one to pull in Rodney.
    “I wasn’t aware I was competing internally,” I said as I gathered my papers and put them back into my folder. “But, believe me, DeAnna, I’m very clear now.” I wanted to add “bitch” on the end, but that probably wouldn’t have gone over too well.
    “The web moves fast, and it won’t wait for you to figure out your personal loyalties, Nia,” DeAnna said over her shoulder as I started to walk out of her office. “And neither will I. Close the door behind you , please.”

    I sank back into the warm leather seats of the town car, thankful that my new job came with the perk of a car service but not thankful for much else after that afternoon’s ambush in DeAnna ’s office.
    What the hell was that?
    I’d never worked at a place where titles within a company would steal one another’s stories. And explaining to Che what had happened to her big exclusive had not been easy. Getting a story like the Marcus King video, however much I might loathe the idea of outing my best friend’s husband, would have been huge for her career. I did manage to appeal to what was left of Rodney’s journalistic ethics and get him to put her byline on the story and video on TheSportsBeatz site. And just as DeAnna had predicted, the story had taken off like wildfire that afternoon. Sites all over the web were linking and outright grabbing the video. The PR team had agreed to push Che to do the TV and radio interview requests that came pouring in. They were no dummies. Putting a young, pretty editor on the screen versus the curmudgeonly vet Rodney was a n o-brainer.
    As I was leaving the office, I saw Che getting her makeup done for an interview with Access Hollywood . Getting the byline and doing the on-air interviews seemed to have smoothed things over with her and shut down her initial threat s to quit.
    But I was more worried abou t Vanessa.
    While she tended not to troll the Internet to read gossip blogs, she was still sure to have heard the news or seen the video. This was big news not only with urban sites, but the mainstream media had jumped on the story as well. I was actually surprised that Vanessa still wanted to get together, but perhaps she neede d to talk.
    I wasn’t sure if I was going to tell her that my reporter had gotten the video. What could I say to her? And what was I going to say about the ongoing coverage that was bound to jump into high gear now that Marcus had essentially been confirmed as having an affair with the Golde n Goddess?

CHAPTER 5
    Vanessa
    T he dark Mercedes sedan headed downtown in the congested evening traffic, cutting seamlessly back and forth between a sea of honking taxis and cars. I stared out of the dark tinted windows into the crisp October evening. It was Friday night in Manhattan, and everyone seemed to be heading somewhere.
    For a moment I was thankful that Marcus was leaving tonight for a game in Chicago, but then the familiar knot hit my stomach as I tortured myself with thoughts of Laila joining him in the Windy City. He tried to call me several times after the video hit the Internet, but I sent his calls to voice mail. I wasn’t prepared to hear any more sorry lies about how it wasn’t what I thought. I didn’t think I could even look at him right now without clawing out his eyes.
    I glanced down at my silver snakeskin Philip Stein watch to check the time. The larger face on the watch was on New York time and read six forty-five. I was supposed to meet