102. Michael

MICHAEL

I shake Zelle’s hand, congratulating her on her win.

And I let Alice see my raised brow when she moves in to give Zelle a big hug.

The cameras crowd in around us, and when Alice steps back, Colby and Drake move in to give Zelle hugs too.

I don’t bother looking for Amber. It’s no surprise that she’s a sore loser. And now that the special is done, I don’t have to pay her a single bit of attention for the rest of my life.

Alice stands beside me as Zelle brushes a tear off her cheek. “Sorry.” She chuckles. “It feels so silly to cry, but this is the first non-singing competition I’ve ever won.”

Joey grins. “Well, there’s no more hiding the fact that you’re an amazing baker. And if you ever get sick of singing, you could open a bakery.”

Zelle shakes her head. “I know how early bakers have to get up. I’m not cut out for that.”

Alice leans her head against my shoulder, and I entwine my fingers with hers.

She looks up at me, a gentle smile on her face. “I can’t believe I got to be a judge on Second Bite .”

“You’re a natural at it,” I tell her honestly.

Alice sighs. “Hopefully it came off that way because I’m pretty sure I was hyperventilating half the time.”

I shake my head, even as my own nerves start to grow. “You were perfect.” Then, seeing that Joey is done talking, I heave out a breath. “But we’re not quite done yet.”

Alice furrows her brows. “What do you mean?”

Joey moves to stand before me. “Ready for the next part?”

I nod, and, with my free hand, I pull my phone out of my pocket.

“What’s going on?” Alice looks back and forth between me and Joey, who has turned on one of the large TV monitors on the wall.

I squeeze Alice’s fingers. “Just taking care of some business.” Then I hit the selection to make a video call on my phone.

As it rings, the TV monitor lights up with my image on one side and a blank image on the other.

Then my private investigator answers, and his face populates the other half.

“Afternoon, Mr. Kesso.” His bushy mustache moves with each syllable.

“Hello, Mr. Forde. Are you in position?” I ask.

Nearly everyone on set is gaping at me, Alice included.

I didn’t leave her out of my plans for any other reason than I didn’t want to cause her any extra stress.

Once I was able to confirm that Joey had nothing to do with any of the schemes against me, I pulled him into my plans, and he happily agreed to help.

“I’m in sight and ready,” my PI replies.

My smile is wicked. “Move ahead.” Then I glance down at Alice, knowing the cameras and mics will pick up what I say to her. “Mr. Forde is the private investigator I hired. And he’s been very productive.”

“Oh,” Alice says before her brows jump up. “Oh!”

I dip my chin back toward the screen.

Mr. Forde has turned the phone around so it shows where he’s going.

And he’s going to a middle-aged man sitting alone at a table inside a coffee shop.

The man has his laptop open in front of him and a plate covered in crumbs next to him.

Mr. Forde pulls out the only other chair at the small round table, and as he sits down, he presses the lid of the laptop shut.

The man jerks his hands out of the way. “What the—” Then he notices the phone. And my face staring back at him. “Michael?”

“You’ve been a hard man to reach,” I tell my manager.

“What is this?” He tries to keep his tone even, but I can hear the panic.

“This is part of the show. Since you’ve decided to involve yourself so much over the past few days, I didn’t think you’d mind the screen time.”

“Screen time?”

I give a serious nod. “We’re still live. And to all our viewers, I’d like to introduce you to my manager. The man who purposefully didn’t tell me about the celebrity switch. The man who told casting to put Amber Addison on the show. The same man who talked to the producers two nights ago to tell them I wanted the middle challenge changed to ice cream.” I hear a few gasps from the crew around me.

“That was for ratings. It’s not personal.” My manager tries to justify. “And it’s not like it cost you anything to have a little bit of drama.”

I grit my teeth. “Your actions caused my woman emotional stress. And that alone is enough for me to end your career.”

“End my career?” He raises his voice, then looks around the coffee shop and lowers it. “After all these years, you’re going to fire me over this?”

“I’m not going to fire you over Amber and ice cream.” His shoulders relax. “But I am going to fire you over the photos.”

The world watches as my manager’s face pales.

He thought he got away with that.

He thought I only knew about the show shit.

Maybe even tried to distract me with all this Amber bullshit.

But he’d be wrong.

I look down at Alice, whose eyes are wide. “This is the man responsible for our photos being plastered all over the tabloids.”

“Your manager? Why?” she asks quietly.

“That’s a good question. And it’s one I asked Mr. Forde.” I look back at the screen. “Seems my lovely manager has had a bit of a spending problem. Too many lavish vacations and fender benders in expensive vehicles. And according to an email recovered from Mr. Forde—to the photographer—my manager had a suspicion I was considering firing him.” I sigh. “Which I’ll admit is true.”

Alice lets out a little snort at my insincere tone.

“I didn’t?—”

I cut my soon-to-be ex-manager off. “You did. And you did it over email.” I shake my head. “Mr. Forde could’ve dug the emails out, but he didn’t even have to. The man you hired to take the photos handed them over, along with his portion of the money you made selling the images.” I squeeze Alice’s hand. “And we’re using that money as the first donation to the Second Bite Scholarship Fund. And while Alice and I enjoy our New Year’s, you better get back on that laptop and file for unemployment because you’re fired.”

A hand moves into the frame from behind the camera and drops a cloth bag onto the table.

The sound is loud through the microphone.

“What’s this?” My ex-manager glares at the bag.

“Your severance,” I tell him. “It’s a bag of coal.”

Then I hang up.