Chapter 99

* Elena *

I’m completely tapped out. Too much sex, I think. Good sex, amazing sex for sure, but I’m having so much fun I’m beginning to scare myself. I have this tendency to believe that whenever things are going too well in my life, there’s always a dark cloud just hanging around the corner, waiting to unleash a heavy storm of toxic waste on my head.

The last time that happened, I lost him for five years and went down a dark, deserted road to the armpits of hell. So, even though I try to convince myself that nothing will go wrong, I can’t help but think that the message from Janie was just a precursor of things to come.

I have no doubt she intended to cause discord between us, and even though that didn’t happen, there’s still the fact that there were young girls who had gone missing from his concerts, and that was concerning.

I wasn’t too sure about the concert before, not wanting to put too much stock in public opinion after seeing how fragile it could be, but now there is a new meaning, and I can’t wait to get started.

I’ll have to change some things around, but it can be done and will be no matter what. Now, as I lay here, the only question on my mind is just what kind of person this Janie person is. It’s amazing to realize that I knew next to nothing about this person who’d had such an impact on my life.

I’ve read the stories since Ryder came back, but those were all conjectures and Internet drama; I want to know the real story behind why she did what she did. Her obsession had caused a great deal of harm, not just to us but to herself. I’d really like to ask her if it was worth it.

I’m beginning to lose whatever compassion I felt for her after seeing her in the warehouse. I like to find excuses for people’s behavior; it makes life more pleasant and much easier to deal with when you can find rhyme and reason behind your fellow man’s actions. But her latest stunt has left me at a loss with this girl.

As hard as the last five years have been for me, I can’t imagine that she’s doing too much better these days. To have gone to the lengths she did only to end up here must be daunting. Her dad is in prison facing murder charges, her husband divorced her, leaving her with nothing, and her friends are nowhere to be seen.

All in all, I think I made out much better in the end because even when Ryder was taken from me, I still had a life to look forward to. Now, she has lost everything, and without a miracle, I don’t see her coming back from this.

Her fans had already turned on her with each new revelation, and after Ryder’s press conference, things had only gotten worse for her. She’d done her best to drive me crazy and ended up putting herself in that predicament by her own hands.

As to Rachel, like Sydney had said the last time we spoke, the trash had taken itself out. Knowing what she did, I no longer feel any loss from having her out of my life. My plan now is to set up some kind of automatic account to take care of her mom, who had no part in any of this and shouldn’t be made to suffer because of her daughter’s actions.

I considered going to see her once I learned where she was being held, but in the end, I thought it best to let her rot without satisfying her. “What are you thinking about so hard over there?”

I looked from the window seat over to the bed where I’d left him fast asleep. “I was thinking about the concert and what more we can do to help.”

“Oh no, you don’t. You’re not to get anywhere near this. I’ll take care of it.”

I rolled my eyes and looked back out the window. “I see everything hasn’t changed. You’re still as bossy as ever.” I got a sweet flush from teasing him and hid the grin, which turned into a squeal of surprise when I found myself snatched up in his arms and tossed playfully onto the bed.

“Not again, what are you insatiable?” I grinned and wrapped my legs around him, laughing up at him as he hung suspended between my legs. “That, and this is the only way I know how to get you to behave.” I started to object, but then he slid into me with one deep thrust that not only took my breath away but emptied my mind of all thought except the feel of him moving inside me.

***

* Janie *

What the hell is she thanking me for, and why the hell does that Jessica person always seem to be lurking around corners? How did she know I’d sent out that text? It’s not like I posted it online. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear she had my phone bugged or something, but it hasn’t been out of my sight since she got here, so that can’t be right.

Still, what was that cryptic message all about? Whatever! My head was too tired to think about it now, and besides, I had more pressing matters on my mind, like how to get my phone back from that idiot and, better yet, how to get her the hell out of my house.

My life has become some kind of cheesy B-movie; how else would you explain me being stuck here like this with her? And more, in what universe would she have the upper hand out of us two?

My heart hurt, and I had to rub the pain away. There was too much misfortune of late. None of the things I’d been promised had come true. Well, they had for a time, but not long enough. Had I known that things would turn out this way, I would’ve prepared better. But how was I to know that the rug would be pulled out from under me so suddenly?

If I think too hard about where I am now compared to where I was just a few short weeks ago, I’d make myself crazy, but there was nothing left for me to do without my phone to distract me but think.

I shied away from any thoughts of my own wrongdoing. Everything I did was for self-preservation, something that we all do, and I refuse to feel any guilt over it. I’m not the first, and I won’t be the last, and all those people who are burning me at the proverbial stake could kiss my ass; as if they’d have done any different given the chance.

They’re probably just mad that my life was so much better than theirs. That thought helped me from tumbling down the rabbit hole of despair, but it didn’t last long, not as it used to in the past when I looked down on the people around me, all those mewling young girls who wished they could get close to Ryder.

The feeling left just as quickly as it came once reality set in. The whole world now knows the truth, or they soon will. I thought I’d get some pleasure out of sending Elena that message, but that hadn’t lasted long either.

I was still here, still feeling like hell, and now without my phone. I yelled out to her to bring me my shit back because I didn’t have the energy to hunt her down. The need for a little pick me up was hitting me hard. I remember the days when I could get high on demand, and for some reason, that was the thing that brought me to tears.

I didn’t know before now that I had an addiction. Drugs were always just available anytime I wanted, so I’ve never felt this pain. I just need something, anything, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make this feeling go away.

With Ryder gone, my dad would be the one to help me. He’s the one who got me into them in the first place, but he was locked up somewhere in L.A. another failure. I’m alone; I’m all alone, staring at the old, dingy walls of my childhood. How did I get back here?

A stupid voice whispered the word karma in my ear, but I brushed it away. What karma, for what? I didn’t do anything when you think about it. Everything was done by others; I was just the one who stood to benefit. But it’s not like I went out and did anything.

I didn’t force Ryder to believe my lies about her. If he was so in love as they thought they were, he wouldn’t have believed me in the first place. He wanted it just as much as I did.

So why did he never touch me? Why did he look at me with such disgust and loathing from the very first day after we said our vows? Why did I never get one day with him where she wasn’t a specter in our lives?

How is it fair that they’re back together after all this time? All that damage had been done for nothing. I’d wasted the last five years of my life putting on an act for the world while living in misery. I felt hot tears roll down my cheek as I finally accepted the truth.

It doesn’t matter if my message causes a rift between them; he’s never going to look at me the way he looks at her. Not once has he ever stood up for me or defended me. And yet, he’d gone before the whole world and apologized to her, proclaimed his undying love for her while denying that he ever had any feelings for me. How the hell am I supposed to live with that?

I rolled over in bed and tried to stand on my feet to go after my phone; I had things to say, dammit, but the room spun wildly just before I passed out and hit the floor.

***

* Jessica *

Ugh, what is she doing in there now? I got up and went to see about her and wasn’t surprised to find her passed out on the floor again. I lifted her much lighter form and placed her back on the bed before heading into the bathroom to grab a wet washcloth to clean her up; she’d thrown up all over herself.

I can’t believe I’m doing this. After the way she’d tormented me for years, I should be enjoying her demise, but instead, I can’t help but feel a lot of pity for her and what she’d become. There was nothing left of the vaguely attractive young girl I knew all those years ago.

In her place was this wretched, almost hag-like creature that didn’t seem to understand the reality of what and where she was. With her makeup long gone, it was easy to see the result of her drug abuse. It was written all over her face.

There were pockmarks and scabs from where she’d dug at her flesh, and an ugly scar on either cheek was beginning to form. “What the hell have you done to yourself?”

I knew the story, like everyone else, had seen the train wreck unfold over time but had no real interest in her beyond bemoaning the fact that people like her always seemed to land on their feet, something I deplored more than I can put into words.

I had no time for her beyond a passing thought anyway since I had my own issues to deal with, but never in a million years would I have thought our paths would cross again in this lifetime.

I’ve always believed in fate and the laws of attraction, but not even then would I have thought that our lives would collide in this way. I’d lied to her, of course, about my reasons for being here, well, partly anyway.

Had my life been going well, I would’ve still jumped at the chance to watch her disintegrate, but there was something more important at stake than my petty revenge for her childhood slights.

When I was first contacted, I thought it was a sick joke. I never would’ve imagined in a million years that things would take such a turn. To me, she and her husband were no different from any other Hollywood couple who I barely paid attention to every once in a while, when one of them did something dumb enough to make the headlines, so I had no real interest in having any dealings with her.

But they knew exactly how to catch my interest. I guess she was too far gone in her drug withdrawal haze to question why someone who had come as far as I had would waste their time coming here just to see someone from their past suffering, and I guess I can be thankful for that, the fewer questions she asked, the better.

I don’t know how I would explain the real, unbelievable reason why I was here. When she was tormenting me on the playground all those years ago, neither of us could have imagined that our lives would intersect in such a way down the road.

How could either of us have known that my little sister would disappear from one of her ex-husband’s concerts, never to be seen again?

I’d long given up hope of seeing her again after years and thousands of dollars spent searching for her. It was easier to convince myself that she was dead than to spend my days imagining the hell her life must have become at the hands of whoever had taken her.

There was hardly any mention of it in the news, and at the time, I didn’t put the two together, believing all along that she’d been taken somewhere between the stadium and home. No one had seen or heard anything, not even the friends who had lost track of her while enjoying the show.

So, imagine my disbelief when some stranger contacted me out of the blue with the news that they might know where she was. The story was so fantastical that I almost blew them off at first, wishing them to hell for dredging up all that I had gone through before.

I’d finally gotten to a place where it didn’t hurt to breathe, where the guilt of living on while the sister I had helped raise was gone, and besides, they weren’t the first to lie about having news just to get paid. Add to that the fact that they weren’t very forthcoming with information, and I was ready to write them off. Now, today, I’m eternally grateful that I followed my instincts in the end and listened one last time.

I answered the phone when it rang. “We found her.”

“You, you’re not lying to me, are you?”

“Of course not. We don’t have her as yet. It should be any day now.”

“Did she really just give Elena that information?”

“Yes, but she has no idea that Shelly is your sister. She’s just one of the many that had been taken this way, and surprisingly, the only one we couldn’t locate when we found the others.”

“Where is she? Who took her?”

“I can’t tell you that. There would be no point. Just know that we’re doing everything to bring her home. Wait for my call.”

“Wait, what do you want me to do with her?” I know you say she didn’t know, but she knew something, enough to try to use it against her ex. How did you know she was going to do that, by the way?” I hadn’t thought to ask before, but this kid, and she sounds like a kid, has some very strange ways.

“It was just a hunch.” Somehow, I didn’t believe that, but she’d already hung up, so it didn’t matter. And she didn’t tell me what to do with the half-dead woman in the next room.