Chapter 79

* Ryder *

“What’s all this? Did you know about this stuff? Not that I find it hard to believe, but wow, that Mary really is a piece of work. I wonder what this all means about her and the kids. What do you think that was about?”

Too close! She was getting too close to the things I wanted to keep hidden from her. When we switched to our tablets as soon as we made it into the apartment to watch the drama unfold, I had no idea things would take this turn.

I was secretly enjoying the dumpster fire as my ex-wife struggled for her life in the comments. I wished I could add some of my own home truths, but I thought better of it. She was doing a better job all on her own than I ever could. I’m not sure why the nieces were using a different handle, but I was almost certain this Themis person was them or someone acquainted with them.

I was just as curious about some of the revelations as Elena was, though, since some of it was news to me. There was some of what I’d learned from Lyon and the Squad mentioned, and even some that I hadn’t heard of, which added to my fear of her learning something I didn’t want her to.

I didn’t want to lie to her outright, but I had no idea what else I could say to get her mind off of that particular subject. “Who knows? That woman is vile; I wouldn’t put anything past her.”

“But why would Janie know about that stuff? I mean, I know they were in bed together, but I never expected that she would be part of something like this. This is criminal.”

Don’t I know it? She was looking at me as if waiting for an answer, and I couldn’t come up with anything, so I just shook my head and looked back at the screen. I was anxious about how things were going with Lyon and the guys and nervous about my reason for being here. I kept expecting her to knock at the door any minute, and from the looks of things, she’d come unhinged.

She was ranting and raving about any and everything and somehow not seeing how she was wrong in this situation. It was rather eye-opening to see just how invested the fans were in Elena and my relationship. It was like coming out of the fog for the first time and realizing how my actions affect others, something I never paid much attention to in the past.

Their questions and responses were more enlightening than expected, and I kinda got the feeling of looking into a mirror at myself but through the eyes of strangers. It was humbling and revealing at once. I could’ve done without the ones who bemoaned the fact that my girl was giving me another chance, the ones who warned that I would only break her heart again, but even then, I could see their point.

I felt a chill run down my spine as I read some of their recollections of the things she’d endured over the past five years, things she hadn’t told me about, things that I had supposedly said to and about her that I knew had come from Janie or someone else using my name.

It was infuriating as hell, and before I could think better of it, I found myself answering them. I felt her eyes on me as I typed before she turned her attention to the screen to see what I had written.

After the furor died down, the questions came hard and fast. First, they wanted to know if it was really me, which I assured them it was, then I apologized to them for my behavior since most of them seemed to be her fans more than mine. It was as if I was asking their forgiveness, which in a way, I guess I was.

I put it all out there. There was no PR person with thousand-dollar words, just me, unscripted and shooting from the hip. It got easier as time went on, with the added bonus of having her by my side. She didn’t say a word to me, just kept reading as I answered the hard questions with as much honesty as my former manager would’ve hated.

I told as much truth as I could without stepping over the line into the forbidden. It was brutal, learning what some of them thought of me, and even more so when I was reminded of the hardships Elena had faced because of my ill-fated marriage.

And then Themis pulled out the big guns and asked the question that was on everyone else’s mind. “In your own words, tell us what happened, from beginning to end.”

Elena drew in her breath, and though she didn’t look directly at me, I felt the heat of her gaze and saw the way her fingers tensed on her own tablet.

Usually, I’d have ten spin doctors and word smiths on hand to handle the tough questions, but even I knew that I needed to do this. I thought for sure that when backed into a corner like this, I’d feel the need to jump back into my old habits, but the only drug I needed reached out and took my hand in hers.

That was all the support I needed, all I always ever needed, and I was immensely grateful that I hadn’t lost it, that this amazing woman next to me had a heart big enough to let me back in. My thoughts added fire to my fingers, and I started writing without a second thought.

“Five and a half years ago, Elena and I were talking about starting a family. We planned to take a break from the spotlight and buy a quaint little house somewhere which was always her dream. We were excited to start a family of our own and embark on a new chapter in life.”

I looked over at her to make sure she was okay before continuing on. “I made the mistake of sharing this information with people I thought were on my side, people I believed wanted only what was best for me. That’s my manager Scott and my spiritual advisor Matt. In my excitement, I missed the signs that they weren’t as excited about this news as I was.”

“I was so caught up in the idea of what the future, my future with Elena, would look like that I didn’t pay attention to what else was going on around me. So, unbeknownst to me, while we were making these plans for our lives, those same people joined hands with Mary Hudson to destroy them and us.”

“Mary Hudson joined hands with Janie Stevens, who was a member of her church, someone she knew had a sick fixation on me and my life and set about destroying it. Janie was someone I knew from the time she was a fan back in the day. I didn’t know then that it was all a setup, that her dad and Mary had conspired to get us together even then.”

“I never saw her as anything more than a devoted fan, and yes, during one of my and Elena’s breaks a long time ago, I did hook up with Janie, but that was all it was for me, a hookup. As all of you know, Elena and I used to break up and get back together a lot when we first started dating. That was mostly due to our differences and the fact that her family and friends wanted better for her.”

“I can accept now that I wasn’t always what was best for Elena, but there was never a time that she wasn’t my everything, even when we were on a break from each other. Anyway, I did hook up with Janie back then in one of my drunken, drugged-out phases, but she was never any different from any of the other females I hooked up with while Elena and I were on a break from each other.”

“But for her, it was more, I guess. Her dad and Mary knew this, and they used it when they saw an opening. Matt and Scott worked behind the scenes to get us together, both for monetary reasons, I guess. As for Mary, I still have no real idea what her part in it was, other than she never liked Elena ever since she turned down her offer of becoming her manager.”

Elena tensed up beside me, but I kept going. I might as well since I’d come this far. “To make this happen, they fabricated a story. First, Mary got her daughters to take Elena out of the country while Scott used the excuse of me needing to work to get me to stay back here.”

“While she was away, they convinced me that Elena was pregnant with my child and got rid of it while away; not only that, they claimed that she had an affair with someone they knew I was jealous of. To make me believe this, they used her friend and confidante Rachel to make it seem more plausible, and I fell for it.”

“I went on a drug binge, and during that time, they had Janie Stevens waiting in the wings to carry out the rest of their sick plan. Matt spent the days after revealing the news of my dead child pushing the idea of me marrying Janie and how much better she was for me, and in that state of pain and drug-induced rage, I went along with it. Why wouldn’t I, I trusted this guy with my soul, so I believed he had my best interest at heart.”

“So even though I didn’t love her or even like her that much, it seemed like a good idea. And the rest, you know. I had a rushed wedding and spent the next five years in a drug-induced haze filled with hate and anger toward Elena because I believed in that one lie. And no, none of it was true. There was no baby and no affair.”

“When did you realize that it was all a lie,” Themis asked the question, and I realized that no one else was speaking even though there were now hundreds of thousands of people in the comment section.

“I can’t pinpoint any one moment of clarity; I just know that I never stopped missing her, sometimes to the point of physical pain.”

“I wanted to die without her, even drugged. I knew that she was what I needed to breathe. But it was learning that she was ill the last time that made me say fuck it and just do what I’d been wanting to for the past five years. I left the tour, and yes, like some of you have been speculating, I went to her bedside and sat there watching over her while she slept.”

“They kept me drugged for all the years of my marriage; otherwise, it wouldn’t have lasted five days, let alone five years, but even then, I missed Elena. I always knew there was a part of me that was missing. I struggled to live, to breathe without her by my side, and at some point, I started questioning the truth about what I was told.”

“Elena’s not the type to do those things, and I should’ve known that, but once my mind started to clear, I knew I needed to get back to her.” I ran out of steam; that was a lot to offload, especially when I hadn’t been prepared. The frenzy started as soon as I stopped writing, but the final question from Themis made me smile.

Those little girls sure are smart as fuck. “Yes, every song I wrote in the last five years was for Elena.” Now she looked at me as if she, too, was surprised by my answer. “You didn’t know?” She shook her head no as the first tear fell. I reached over to wipe it with my thumb before pulling her in to seal her lips with mine.

***

* Lyon *

“Flannagan, you still in New York?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Have you seen the news?”

“Why would I do that?”

“You should have a look. That Hudson woman was just found pinned to her door by an arrow through her head.”

“Son of a bitch. That’s why they wanted us off the island.”

“Serves your ass right. You planning to come get your wife, or do you want me to go find her?”

“Is she still there?”

“It looks like it. I checked, and your plane is still grounded somewhere in L.A.”

“I’m on my way, fuck!”

He hung up, and I sat back and tried to catch my breath as I waited for whatever my kid had to drop into my lap next. No sooner had we returned stateside than the news of Mary Hudson’s death and the way she died broke. It was then that I realized I’d lost the plot.

There’s no going back from this; my fucking kid popped her damn leash, and no one knows what that means better than me.