Tycoon Takes Revenge by Anna DePalo Read Free Book Online Page A

his shirt.
    Kayla discovered they had spent three years toiling away in the bowels of established high-tech companies, working eighty-hour weeks, before they’d decided tostrike out on their own—so they could still work eighty-hour weeks but be their own bosses.
    Over dinner, the conversation moved across a variety of topics, from which tech company had recently lured a top employee from a rival to which new computer software products would soon be launched onto the market. To her disappointment, however, there were no hints as to what sort of business relationship, if any, Noah was contemplating with Tim and Ben’s company.
    However, if tonight was any indication, it didn’t seem as if Noah would have any reason to be interested in nefarious offshore investments in the Cayman Islands or elsewhere. He had enough people with legitimate businesses knocking on his door.
    Soon, the conversation at dinner veered to her job at the Sentinel. Both Ben and Tim were fascinated by her position as Ms. Rumor-Has-It, which they viewed as glamorous.
    It made her want to laugh. She earned a fraction of what they made—and what they could make in the future. She wondered how glamorous they’d think her life was if they saw the small apartment she lived in and the car she’d been driving since her high-school days.
    Noah, she noticed, didn’t say anything. Not even a peep about being a favorite target for her column. That was, until Tim asked how she chose her stories. “Yes, Kayla,” Noah interjected in a bland voice, “how do you choose your stories?”
    She ignored him, keeping her attention instead onTim and Ben, who seemed unaware that Noah was one of her favorite targets. “I try to write stories that people want to read.” She shrugged. “But I suppose personal taste comes into play in deciding whether the focus is going to be on politicians, celebrities or other figures.”
    â€œSo what do you focus on?” Ben asked.
    â€œI look for stories that are humorous—it’s always amusing to poke fun at egos and pretensions.”
    Next to her, Noah guffawed and shifted in his chair, his leg brushing hers.
    She tensed but forced herself to keep looking at Tim and Ben. “Of course, sometimes I don’t have to look. The stories come to me.”
    â€œPeople want to appear in your column?” Tim asked curiously.
    â€œYou’d be surprised. There’s a love-hate relationship between journalists and celebrities’ publicists or press agents. Sometimes handlers want publicity in order to keep their celebrity in the public eye. But if a celebrity gets caught in a scandal-worthy situation, his publicist will be on the phone faster than you can say ‘libel suit’ to try to get you not to print the story. That is, if they don’t have a hope of convincingly denying the truth of the story outright.”
    Tim laughed, and Ben said, “Marvelous!”
    â€œHow do you get the dirt on your victims to begin with?” Noah asked.
    She turned to look at him fully. Mild annoyance was stamped on his face. “Now that would be telling, wouldn’t it?”
    â€œI thought telling was what you did for a living,” he retorted.
    She could come up with an appropriate rejoinder to that, but, she reminded herself, she had to do a passable job of getting along with Noah. At least until she got this story. Then all bets were off.
    She smiled brightly at the younger guys facing her. “Just about anyone can be a source. Doormen, bouncers, waiters. Sometimes rivals or so-called friends call in tips, and then, of course, there are the anonymous tipsters.”
    â€œHave you gotten any good tips from anonymous sources?” Ben asked.
    â€œYup.” She took a sip from her glass of sake. “I’ve broken a few stories because of them, too.”
    Ben raised his eyebrows, and Tim said, “Wow.”
    â€œThe last story I broke was