“Not a problem,” Davis had said when Sutton called earlier. “I don’t think Michelle even knows YouTube exists.”

“Oh, stop it. Your sister is not clueless to the social media world.”

“No. She’s not. She just prefers to do other things. But I appreciate the heads up, Sutton.”

“Is she okay?”

“She’s pretty shell-shocked. Her mentor called and told her the workshop she was leading was axed. More clients cancelled. The backlash is pretty bad. They did a number on her with that story. It was like a match that started a whole fire.”

Sutton gave a sympathetic sigh. “I’m so sorry. It’s awful. Give her my love.”

“I will,” he said, then returned to his sister, who told him about Jack’s plan.

She wanted to know if it could do more damage.

“It’s so hard to say,” he answered. “But I honestly don’t know how it could do more damage. Maybe it could deflect the attention to him, where it should be.”

“It’s fine,” she said, her monotone voice an echo of his sister. She was vibrant and sharp, like a high-definition TV. Now, she was playing in black and white as she listlessly opened her fridge, grabbed her water pitcher and poured a small glass.

“It’s not fine. This should never have happened. It pisses me off that this happened,” he said, treading dangerously close to what he wanted to say. How can I not blame this guy you love?

She drank the water, then set the glass on her counter. “It’s not his fault, Davis. I know that’s what you’re thinking.”

He held up his hands, knowing he’d been caught. “Michelle, you’ve worked so hard for your career, and I hate that this guy’s support of a political campaign is killing you.”

She scoffed. “I know. But I don’t even care anymore.”

“That’s not true. You do care. You care about everything.”

She shot him a rueful smile. “And look where it got me. Everything I’ve worked for is going down the drain.”

“You’ll reinvent yourself,” he said, grasping her hand, changing tactics. He had to. His annoyance with Jack wasn’t helping. He’d have to let it go. “And I’ll be here every step of the way.”

“I know. I just want to go away. Maybe I should take the job in Paris,” she said in an offhand voice.

Davis straightened his spine. “You were offered a job in Paris?”

“Sort of. Well, almost. After my keynote, Julien introduced me to one of his colleagues, Denis. I talked to Denis for a while. He was impressed with my findings, and he emailed me yesterday to say he wants to talk more to see if I’d be interested in working with him. It was one of the many emails I received when I landed. I haven’t had a chance to respond yet. I had a lot going on,” she said sarcastically, and the fact that she’d recovered even a modicum of humor gave him a sliver of hope that she’d be okay.