Mine to Steal (Mine to Love) (36 page)

Hattie strolls into my office donning a knowing look
. “We’re all set.”

Jett and I
watch as she takes a seat. “You set up the dummy email address?”

“Sure did, and Evan is aware of everything that’s going to happen.”

“Alright, first thing, I need you to call Rock Solid and ask for Faith Young because she came highly recommended and you want discuss her handling the press for your wedding. We’ll see what kind of response it gets.”

“When are we going to get started?” Jett rubs his hands together
maniacally, which makes me laugh.

“Hattie, I’ll send you the email in a bit. If you could send it right away, that would be great. In the meantime, go ahead and call their office to establish initial communication.”

She stands up to leave and gives me a salute. “On it.”

Jett waits until she’s out of earshot before walking to the door and closing it. He looks at me and crosses his arms
. “So what happens if he doesn’t take the bait?”

“I can’t think about
it, he has to fall for this.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“Then I’ll have to figure out a plan b.”

“Do you have a plan b?”

“No,” I answer in a clipped tone.

“Have you figured out how you are going to tell Faith?”

“I’ll know when the time comes. The one thing I know about Brad, he’s underhanded and conniving enough that he’ll cover his tracks well. But he won’t know what we have over him.”

He nods his head and smiles
. “Glad to know you have it in you to get your hands dirty.”

“I guess I have to if I want to prove to Faith I had nothing to do with this.” But it
has more to do with proving to her I’m not the man she has me painted me to be, I need her to see that. “Alright, get out of here so I can write up this email.”

Before he can open it himself, the door swings open, knocking Jett forward a bit. Hattie is on the other side and lets out a soft giggled apology to him before looking at me
. “Made the call. They responded exactly the way you thought they would. They gave me her email address.” She walks over and hands me a slip of paper with Faith’s name and email address. I hold it up and thank her before I hand it back to her and she and my brother walk out together.

There are a few accounts I know Faith worked on because she mentioned them to me over the course of our friendship. The one she
enjoyed the most and was a success was Jaysen, the florist I met with Emogen last year. He was an easygoing guy, and I can see why she liked him so much. I open up a document to draft the email that will be sent by Hattie.

Marshall, Hattie
October 16, 2014 8:21 AM
To: Young, Faith
Subject: Recommendation

Ms. Young,

My name is Hattie Marshall and I have recently become engaged to my boyfriend of two years, Evan Baker. He had to fire his publicist and with football season in full swing, he asked me to make some calls to line someone up to handle the news of our recent engagement and upcoming wedding. You came highly recommended by Flowers by Jaysen, so I wanted to check your availability. Thank you in advance for your help.

Sincerely,
Hattie Marshall

I reread the note to make sure there is nothing that will flag, but also to ensure it has enough information to be enticing. I send the document to Hattie with instructions to send it and remind her to blind carbon copy me on it.

My office line rings and Hattie’s voice comes through the phone. “I have Cal on hold and I sent the email. Check to make sure you got it.”

“Thanks, Hattie. I owe you.”

“R
emember that when I ask for two weeks off for my honeymoon,” she laughs before disconnecting.

“Good morning, Cal. How’s the fire there?”

“Doused.”

“Well, that’s good to hear.”

“Trey, I want to thank you for your help the other day,” he says. “Joel didn’t deserve to be thrown into the mud like that. Was he irresponsible? Yes. But what Rock Solid almost managed to do to him is unforgivable. Your press release was sent out to the local media outlets and everything has died down, for the most part.”

“That’s good. And we are moving ahead with the third promo in a couple of weeks.”

“Excellent. And how are we coming with charitable giveback thing?”

“I have Trevor and Jett working on it
, and they should have something to present next week.”

“Sounds good; keep me posted.”

“Will do, Cal and let me know if I need to do anything else.”

“Thanks for everything, Trey.”

When I hang up the phone, I check my emails to see if anything new has come through and find a forwarded message from Hattie. When I open it, I find ‘Faith’s’ response to the email we sent.

Young, Faith
October 16, 2014 9:03 AM
To: Marshall, Hattie
Subject: Re: Recommendation

Ms. Marshall,

Congratulations on your engagement and upcoming wedding. I apologize that I am unable to talk right now, I’ve been ill and lost my voice. If you would like to personally speak with someone I can refer you to Brad Emerson. He is Rock Solid’s top marketing and PR person; I think he would do a fabulous job for you and Mr. Baker. If you would like, I can give you his information so that you can contact him directly.

Thank you,
Ms. Young
Faith Young
Public Relations Manager
Rock Solid

There are so many things wrong with the email, all of which point to my suspicion that it is not Faith responding. The fact that it is signed, ‘Ms. Young,’ is laughable because she always ends with ‘Faith.’ And doting on Brad, to the point of giving away a golden opportunity for herself; that would never happen. She doesn’t brag to clients about her abilities, but she doesn’t do the fake modesty thing either. I’m more certain than before that this is, in fact, Brad acting as Faith. I open another document and draft a response for Hattie to send.

Marshall, Hattie
October 16, 2014 9:28 AM
To: Young, Faith
Re: Recommendation

Ms. Young,

I’m sorry to hear you aren’t feeling well. I would prefer to wait and talk to you when you are feeling better, as you are the person we would like to work with. I understand that Mr. Emerson has been with Rock Solid for many years, but I hear you are the rising star with new ideas.

Sincerely,
Hattie

* * *

Five o’clock rolls around and Hattie stops by before she heads out for the day. We’ve been at the emailing thing on and off a few times this afternoon, but I still have a company to run, which is still my focus. I’ve managed to stay on task with everything else that needs to be done, but now the day is done, I can focus on Faith.

“You know, I should have given you the login information so you could cut out the middle man,” Hattie points to herself. “Me.”

“Why didn’t you say something sooner?” I ask with a laugh. She shrugs her shoulders and hands me a piece of paper. “What’s this?”

“Username and password for the email address
.” She waves goodbye as she turns to leave the office. She stops at the door and turns around. “Lemme know if anything good happens.”

I give her a nod and wait until she’s gone before I open the email account. Jett and I are the only ones left in the office, but I doubt he’ll be here much longer. There are only emails between Hattie and Faith, since it’s a dummy account, so I don’t feel like I’m intruding when I read through them.

Faith responded to my second message sounding very much like Brad, but if you don’t know Brad, you obviously wouldn’t know the difference.

Young, Faith
October 16, 2014 9:41 AM
To: Marshall, Hattie
Re: Recommendation

Ms. Marshall,

I wouldn’t call me a rising star. I still have so much to learn, but I’d be happy to work with you if you are willing to take a chance on me. Until I’m feeling better, would you be okay with communicating via email? If you would like, you can work with Brad until I’m back to myself. Everything I’ve learned has been from him. He’s been a great mentor and has wonderful ideas. I think you’d like him very much.

Just let me know.

Thank you,
Ms. Young
Faith Young
Public Relations Manager
Rock Solid

I waited before responding to the message. I showed it to Jett, and he laughed outright because the entire response was too contrived and Brad-centric. We decided
Hattie
needed to step it up and start falling for the lies, finally asking for Brad’s email address to which ‘Faith’ was all too willing to share. The entire conversation shifted when that happened.

Marshall, Hattie
October 16, 2014 11:13 AM
To: Emerson, Bradley
Subject: New Client

Mr. Emerson,

My name is Hattie Marshall and Faith Young suggested that I contact you since she is sick. I was referred to her by Jaysen because of the wonderful work she did for him. Evan Baker and I have been together for two years and he recently asked me to marry him. Since he’s in the middle of football season, he is unable to interview publicists, so he has asked that I find someone to handle the PR for our engagement and pending wedding.

As I mentioned, Ms. Young has come highly referred, and I would very much like to work with her. However, until she is feeling better and able to talk, would you mind working with us?

Regards,
Hattie Marshall

Brad wasted no time in responding to ‘her’ email.

Emerson, Bradley
October 16, 2014 11:26 AM
To: Marshall, Hattie
Re: New Client

Ms. Marshall,

I would be happy to help. Faith has been out quite a bit lately, and I’ve been taking on her load anyway. I’ve worked with her since she started at Rock Solid, mentoring her and doing my best to help her grow.

While I think she could handle everything for you, I feel it necessary to notify you that she’s being investigated for leaking information regarding another client. I wish I could say with absolute certainty she did not do this, but I simply cannot at the moment. However, I can assure you, that as your representative, I will do everything I can for you and Mr. Baker.

I look forward to working with you and if you have any questions, please contact me direct.

Regards,
Brad Emerson
Senior Public Relations Coordinator
Rock Solid

The story Brad spun claimed I had somehow gotten to Cavette and turned him against Rock Solid and ultimately, Faith. But here it is in black and white, him selling her out, all to make himself look good. I never answered the message because I decided to let him sweat it out and wonder if he divulged too much.

Since it’s the end of the day, what better time to draft a response and see what other little nuggets he’ll divulge.

Marshall, Hattie
October 16 2014 5:21 PM
To: Emerson, Bradley
RE: New Client
Mr. Emerson,

I have talked to Evan and we agree that we need discretion regarding us. He’s in the public spotlight, being a professional football player, so it’s important that whomever we work with has our best interest at heart.

I feel I should tell you that given what you shared with us about Ms. Young, we are concerned about going forward with Rock Solid altogether. I know there are some local PR and marketing firms that we could go with like TM Enterprises, Jackson & Smith or even Reliable PR, to name a few.

We will continue to explore our options.

Regards,
Hattie

His response is rapid and reeks of desperation.

Emerson, Bradley
October 16, 2014 5:29 PM
To: Marshall, Hattie
RE: New Client

Ms. Marshall,

I understand your concern, but as a marketing manager here at Rock Solid, I can assure you that Faith Young acted alone and while I state she is being investigated, it’s merely a formality while we gather the information to terminate her as soon as possible. Rock Solid is an industry leader and I hope that you do not hold the actions of one incompetent employee against the entire organization.

While there are local firms that could help you, they do not have the resources or knowledge that Rock Solid has. For instance,
TM Enterprises is run by Trey Miller, a relative unknown in the marketing world who has been known to utilize shady practices. In fact, he heard about Faith Young’s recent actions and has reached out to hire her on with his firm.