Chapter 52 No Going Back

“Melissa, its Isabel,”
“Darling! how are you faring in your new house?”
“I’m barely getting by, and you guys? I heard about May and I think it is tragic how the wealthy in this country are treated.”
“That is too true, I can barely think straight.”
“Well I wanted to let you know that you might want to leave town for a while.”
“Why?”
“Because there are certain pictures that are going to be released on the Town Talk blog that might be uncomfortable for your family. I also don’t want you to get blamed for them.”
“You didn’t?”
“A reporter on the staff there owed me a favor and I called it in.”
“I love it!” Melissa said with glee, “May doesn’t’ have to be at court for two weeks so we can go to the cabin until then. The lawyer will just have to come to us.”
“Well he should.” Isabel said with a laugh
“Which pictures are being released?”
“All of them.”
***


“This morning we are bringing you a hot story in the land of the sky. That’s right Ashville residents, one of the cities elite has gotten herself into some hot water. Please click the link below to see the nude pictures this high profile girl doesn’t want you to see.”
The loud music accompanying the edited pictures sounded loud in the silence of the bedroom as an alert came through their phones. John and Anna both jumped awake as the sound of the webzine blared loudly through the room.
“Omg, Anna said as she rolled over and pushed the button to check the alert. Her own photoshopped eyes stared back at her and she felt a chill ripple down her naked body. “John look at this.”
“What,” John moaned as he rolled toward her “If you’re not waking me up for round two let me sleep, woman.”
“No John you really need to see this.”
John cracked open one eye and rolled toward her nuzzling her neck, “forget the phone, Let me distract you instead.”
“John really look at this.”
The insistence in her voice finally got through to him and he jerked his eyes away from her curves to the phone screen. The manipulated image of Anna on top of Anthony screamed across with pixelated areas to protect her private parts. Anna stared at her image and cringed inside as the rest of the images rolled.
“John, Seline released them. My warning didn’t work. What are we going to do?”
“I’m calling my lawyer.”
Anna’s phone began to ring and she quickly hit the decline on the calls. Her text messages blew up with texts from local media outlets and Anna ignored them all. Her eyes were glued to the coverage on the Town Talk site and she saw the counter at the bottom of the site that showed visitors soaring. The numbers moved so fast that it made Anna sick. She wanted so badly to throw up.
“What do you mean, they won’t reveal their source? How is that possible? They are slandering my wife, obviously, those photos are faked.”
John paced angrily as he screamed into the phone. And Anna sat on the bed in stunned silence.
“What the He**! The shield law is bull crap, they need to disclose their source. What am I paying you for?”
“John,” Anna said as she flipped on the tv and saw that a local news affiliate had picked up the story and was talking about it on the morning news. “Oh my God, it’s everywhere.”
John swore softly and squeezed Anna’s hand as he listened to his lawyer talking. “I don’t care, fix it.”
John threw the phone on the bed and wrapped his arms around Anna pulling her into his lap. She cried as if her heart would break and John raged at the helplessness that swamped him. “It’s okay we will stop this.”
“How?” Anna asked in tears as she held onto him “How can I ever go out in public after this?”
“We will prove that they are faked, we will make them retract their statement.”
“But the damage is done, everyone thinks they have seen me naked. How can I be considered a professional in this town again?”
“Anna, honey, we know those pictures are faked, we will make them apologize.”
“Why would Seline do this, even I thought she wasn’t this stupid or desperate.”
“She is a nasty, jealous person who can only be happy when others are miserable. I promise you we will make this right.”
Just then John’s phone rang again and he tersely answered. After a few moments of listening in silence, John hit end and threw the phone across the room. It hit the wall with a crack and the glass shattered.
“John, what is it?” Anna asked as he breathed heavily trying to control himself.
“The investors are calling a meeting.”
“Why?” Anna asked although she felt like she already knew.
Johns jaw tensed even further as he met her eyes, “They want to vote to pull funding for my business and call for both our resignations.”
“John, we could lose everything.”