Chapter 35

CHAPTER

THIRTY-FIVE

Ella didn't know why she had come back to this cabin near Fairytale. She'd just known she couldn't stay in Oak Creek. She loved her hometown, but sometimes having everyone know everything wasn't beneficial to her mental health.

She'd needed to be alone. Hadn't wanted to talk to friends or family. Although she knew they loved her, this was something she needed to work out for herself. The relationship between her and Colton only had to do with her and Colton.

She'd already decided that she wasn't going to tell anybody what he'd accused her of. Not because he had any justification in doing so, but because she needed to fight her own battles. Not just let her protective friends fight them for her.

She could only imagine what Lilah would say—and do—if she found out. Probably beat Colton to a pulp. So, Ella would keep it to herself.

Some would probably argue that she was protecting him and she shouldn't do that. Yet she wasn't. But she also didn't want Lilah to fight her battles for her.

It was time for her to stand up for herself when it came to Colton Harrison.

She let herself inside the cabin using the hidden switch to unlock the door that he'd shown her. She was immediately surrounded by the memories that permeated this place. She could almost feel his lips on her skin and couldn't even glance over at the hot spring without blushing after what they'd done there.

She loved him. She'd loved him most of her adult life. That was true, and nearly everyone knew it.

But she'd also faced a hard truth coming up here.

If Colton Harrison couldn't appreciate her, then he didn't get the privilege of being with her.

Because she was enough for any man—even Colton—just as she was. Yeah, she was a few pounds overweight and was probably on the plain side. She didn't wear makeup, didn't care about fashion, had better things to do with her time than spend an hour doing her hair each day. But she was smart, industrious, hardworking, and kind.

And she wasn't going to be a doormat, not for anyone.

Just because she'd loved Colton first didn't mean she was less worthy of his love. And if he couldn't give her that, and the respect and consideration that went along with it, then they had no future at all.

The relief she felt at having finalized this in her mind was immense. She could live without Colton Harrison. She didn't want to, especially not after seeing how good they were for each other, but she could do it.

And while loving him had been an important part of her life for a long time, loving herself was always going to be the most important thing.

So yeah, she and Colton were going to have a showdown. He owed her an apology, and she owed him an explanation about that damn scrapbook.

But she wasn't just going to give up on their relationship and run away crying. She was going to stand her ground. And see if Colton was willing to fight for their relationship too. If he wasn't, she would walk away with her head held high.

She slipped off her shoes and dipped her feet in the hot spring, pulling out her phone as she did so. There were a number of messages from Colton, but she didn't want to look at those yet. She had another set of demons she needed to face first.

The people who had posted all those mean things about her on social media. Because like it or not, even if Colton decided he was changing directions in his career, he would still be in the public eye.

And there would always be petty people who posted petty things.

The comments were just as ugly as when she'd glanced at them with Lilah, and Ella couldn't help but shed a couple of tears.

But those were the last. She wouldn't be shedding any more tears based on strangers' comments about her.

People were jerks sometimes; you just had to accept that and move on. She wasn't going to live her life based on their opinions. She deleted the app from her phone. That wouldn't stop them from saying their ugly things, but she didn't have to subject herself to it.

Then she moved to Colton's messages. She had to admit, it did quite a bit for both her heart and self-esteem to see so many. Probably fifty texts and at least two dozen missed phone calls.

Apologies. Requests for forgiveness. Self-flagellation.

If she had any doubt that he wanted her back, these communications put it to rest. She listened to the first few messages, then deleted the rest.

She would go back, they would fight it out, but she wouldn't continue to drag out his pain. That wasn't in her nature. Yes, they were going to restart their relationship on more equal footing, but she wasn't going to make him suffer needlessly.

"You know, you've made my life so much easier by being out here and leaving the door ajar."

Ella let out a little shriek at the sound of a voice behind her. She spun, hand at her heart. She relaxed a little when she saw who it was.

"Tony. What are you doing here? Is Colton okay?"

"He will be. After today. "

She didn't understand. "Did something happen? Another accident?"

Tony shook his head slowly. "No, no accident. At least, not involving Colton."

Something wasn't right here. How had Tony found her in the first place?

"I don't understand."

"I know you don't. I know you have questions. How could you not have questions?" He walked farther inside the cabin, and she froze when she saw the gun in his hand.

"What's going on, Tony? How did you know I was here?"

"The same way I knew you went to that sporting goods store and leaked the information online—I put a tracking device on your car."

" You leaked the information about Colton at that store?"

He stretched his neck as if it was sore. "Yeah. I was hoping it would scare you off, but it didn't. Then I had the brilliant idea of blaming you for it, hoping that would scare Colton straight out of Oak Creek, but that didn't work either."

"I don't understand."

"Trust me, I tried to get Colton back into the headspace he needs to be in by reasoning with him. I spent weeks doing that, but it didn't seem to have any effect."

"What headspace?"

"The one where he's most productive. Where he's the best version of himself. And when talking it out with him didn't work and reasoning with him didn't work and giving him time didn't work, I had to resort to more drastic measures."

"Like what?"

"Like pretending to be a fucking stalker."

Ella felt sick. "You're the stalker?"

"It didn't start that way. There was a real stalker, but she'd already been phasing herself out. Hell, I even know who she is. She was never going to hurt Colton or even make contact with him. She just got a little overzealous after the accident and sent him a few letters. Normally, I would consider that to be a pain in the ass, but it actually helped Colton focus. Got him to forget about his little panic attacks."

"You know about those?"

Tony began pacing back and forth. "I know everything about Colton. I researched him for over a year before I ever started working for him. That little scrapbook of yours is nothing compared to the information I collected about him."

Sweat broke out on Ella's forehead. This went way beyond merely being a good employee. Tony was obsessed with Colton.

"I don't understand what you want."

She flinched as Tony waved the gun around. "I want him to focus. What I said at that store was true. He could be so much more famous than he is now. Like, household-name famous. If he would just focus ."

He stopped waving the gun around, but it was so much worse because he came and crouched right next to where she sat at the heated pool.

"You unfocus him." His voice was calm, friendly even. But his eyes were cold and hard.

"I don't mean to unfocus him." She couldn't stop the tremor in her voice.

She flinched as he stroked the back of her hair. "I know. That's the hardest thing. I believe you legitimately care about him. But you're still too much of a distraction."

He stood back up. "I recognized you as a problem a long time ago. I tried to keep him from you, even after the avalanche, by making it so you couldn't get in at the hospital." He began pacing, lost in his words, almost not even paying attention to her. "The last thing he needed was a little Florence Nightingale helping him heal. That sort of coddling doesn't encourage growth."

Ella's phone buzzed underneath her hand where it rested next to her on the rock ledge. She glanced over and saw another text from Colton.

I know you're at the cabin in Fairytale. I'm coming to you, Butterscotch. I'm almost there. You have every right to be mad, but I hope you'll at least hear me out.

Oh no. Colton was coming here. He had no idea about Tony—and especially not about Tony's gun. She had to find some way to warn him.

"But then he ended up in Oak Creek anyway," Tony continued. "When I couldn't keep him away from you, I tried to make you irrelevant. An enemy, even."

She had to think of something. She pulled her legs out of the water so that she could move quickly if an opportunity presented itself. While Tony was turned partially away in his pacing, she pressed the text message on her phone so she could respond.

No

It was all she could get out without Tony noticing. Colton would probably think she was mad, but as long as it kept him from walking in on this nightmare, she would take it.

"I couldn't keep him away from you and I couldn't make you irrelevant, so now I'm having to resort to much uglier measures. I have to get rid of you. Rick too, unfortunately. He's collateral damage. It's a shame because he sees the bigger picture. Sees what Colton could truly be."

"What do you mean, get rid of ?"

He stopped his pacing and nodded solemnly. "I think you know exactly what I mean by that, Ella."

"Tony, this is insane. You're talking about killing two people." She didn't know how Rick fit into this, but she didn't want him to die either. "There's no need to do any of this. Let's just sit down and talk to Colton about your plans. I can help make him understand."

Her phone buzzed again under her hand, but she didn't dare look at it. If Tony got a hold of it, he would know Colton was coming.

"Talking is a waste of time. What I'm going to do is make Colton one of the greatest athletes ever. I will create an empire for him. Something people will talk about for generations."

Tony was crazy. She had no idea how he'd fooled them all, but he was completely obsessed and unstable.

"Colton will be sad when you die, of course. And all those social media assholes will change their tune and say how much they loved you and how they regret that they were so mean. They'll be sad that they drove you to suicide. I was thinking I would do it with the gun, but now, I'm thinking drowning in that hot spring will work even better. Maybe an accident, maybe suicide—adds to the mystery."

She scooted back from the water. "You don't have to do this, Tony."

"His ratings will go through the roof. The avalanche proved that—people love a tragedy." He was so lost in his own thoughts, she wasn't even sure he was registering what she was saying at all.

But one thing was clear: Tony felt completely righteous in whatever he was about to do here. That did not bode well for Ella. She had no idea what to do.

The phone rang in her hand. That shocked Tony back to reality, and he lifted his gun and pointed it right at her.

"Don't answer."

"It's Colton. If I don't answer, he's going to know something's wrong."

If Tony would just let her answer, she could yell that he was here.

"Fine. But if you warn him or mention my name, the next place I'm going is to visit your pregnant sister." She let out a gasp as he continued. "That's right, I did my homework about you too. You say anything to Colton now, and that baby will never be born."

She held back a sob. "Okay. "

"Put it on speaker." He pressed the muzzle of the gun against the back of her head as she answered the phone.

"H-hello."

"I know you're mad, but I have to talk to you."

"Colton, you need to leave me alone."

"Don't say that, Butterscotch. I'm almost?—"

"I have one thing I want to say to you." She cut him off before he could finish the sentence and reveal to Tony how close by he was. "I want you to listen for once."

She knew she was coming across as harsh, but there was no way around it.

"Okay. Say what you need to say."

This was so tricky. She didn't want to be so sharp that he turned around and went home. Then all she would've done was sign her own death warrant. But she was also convinced that Tony was completely unstable.

He was talking like he would do anything for Colton, but the truth was, he was after his own glory. If Colton came in here and spoiled his plan, then he wouldn't hesitate to take Colton out also. He might monologue about it for a long time, but he'd eventually kill Colton along with Ella.

"Just leave me alone. I need time. I am out here in nature trying to figure out what I want."

"I know that, but?—"

A painting of a field of flowers on the wall gave her an idea. "I just want to be out here with the larkspurs, Colton. We talked about that. How they are my favorite flowers and they bring me peace. I picked some, and having them nearby is helping me think through some stuff. Right now, I just need time with these beautiful flowers and nothing else."

She was rambling, not making much sense. She could only hope Colton would pick up what she was throwing down.

There was silence for a few seconds. "You want a chance to be with your larkspurs alone. That's understandable. I can respect that. But I hope we can talk when you're ready. "

She had no idea if he understood or not based on that response. But there was nothing else she could do.

"Goodbye, Colton." She disconnected the call.

"Very nicely done. I honestly expected you to start yelling your head off. It wouldn't have saved you, but it definitely would've made my life harder."

"Don't do this, Tony. We can find another way. Sit Colton down and explain your plan to him. He may want it too. We can?—"

"No. The time for talking has passed. It's time to say goodbye, Ella."