Chapter 21

Delusions

" C ary?" I eked out in shock.

Too many things were happening at once. Cary was spitting out curses of rage and punching me, and then she was gone. Chancing a glance up, I witnessed Tammy and firefighter Jeri wrestling back my attacker. Everyone in the hall was on their feet, most straining to see what was happening.

"Call security!" Catherine yelled.

Despite the restraining hold Tammy and Jeri had on Cary, I watched, stunned, as Winter marched up, cocked a fist, and punched her in the jaw. The next moment, she knelt at my side, smoothing the hair out of my face. "Aspen, are you hurt?" Her heat-burned skin was pale with anxiety as she cradled my head and stroked my jawline.

"I don't think so," I answered, ignoring the shooting pain in my hip and scattered aches where Cary's fists landed.

Valery marched up to Cary on stiletto heels, her face a mask of fury, and demanded, "What is the meaning of this?"

"Our Selina was supposed to win that first place, not this nobody," she spat out in spite. Tammy and Jeri held her arms as tight as pipes in a vise while she squirmed uncomfortably.

"We don't decide that, Cary," Valery responded in confusion. "You can't just attack authors when they beat ours out for an award. It happens. I don't understand your behavior, but it's certainly embarrassed me."

"Embarrassed?" Cary's face twisted in a snarl. "I did it for you!"

Valery's brows shot up, and her mouth dropped. "What do you mean ‘for me?' Cary, you must have been under too much stress leading up to this conference. I'm going to make an appointment for you with Dr. Lorraine as soon as we get home. Now apologize to everyone and pray Aspen, Catherine, and Windsor Court don't press charges."

Cary stared at Valery with wild eyes and tried again to pull free of her captors. "I act out of my devotion to you, and you want to have me hauled off by the men in white coats? There's nothing wrong with me—it's them! Aspen Wolfe! You know that isn't her real name. Nobody gets born with a name that cool. And besides, you rejected her, remember? She wasn't good enough to publish with Femlove; why should she be stealing what's ours? I mean, all these little upstart self-published writer-wannabes with no oversight and no credibility are challenging our established prestige. Someone must fight to preserve your legacy."

A bewildered expression hung on Valery's face, the weight of which made her look her age for once. "When did Aspen send us a book proposal? I don't recall reading it."

"Five years ago," Cary snapped. "You threw it in the reject basket where it belonged."

"You know I don't read all those," Valery said. "I didn't reject Aspen's query letter because I thought her book idea was bad or her writing sample poor. We get too many, and I was probably swamped at the time. We can't maintain our excellent reputation with you going around punching the competition. Cary, whatever is going on with you?"

"What's going on with me?" She tossed the question back at Valery with a look of anguish rather than rage.

I guess my head was clearing because I heard myself say in astonishment, "You're SapphicLover69!" Winter's arms supported me as I sat up on the floor, gaping at her in disbelief. "I never considered the ‘69 was the year she was born, but it fits you. So do the tumultuous fits of rage. And you're like that delusional Hinckley fellow who shot President Reagan to impress Jodie Foster—as if it would have done him any good. You'd blow up an entire country to impress Valery, you're so obsessed with her."

If Valery could look any more stunned, she did in that instant. "Cary?" Her hand moved instinctively to cover her heart. "But we work together."

"Yes, we do!" Cary wailed. "Every fucking day for the past ten years. Only I work harder than everybody else to make sure things flow smoothly, all deadlines are met, and your every whim is satisfied. Do you know how it stabs me in the gut whenever you leave the office to go out with another woman? How much it drives me crazy to work beside you every day and never be the one who gets to hold you at night?"

"Those were business dinners," Valery stammered. "After Dru passed, I—"

"And who was there to help you pick up the pieces? Who helped make all the arrangements, took charge of the wake, and wrote the thank-you notes when you were curled up in depression? Who's by your side defending you, protecting your interests every single day, yet you don't see me?"

"Cary, I, I …" Valery stuttered. Catherine took her elbow to steady her, and I wouldn't have been surprised if she'd fainted then and there.

I glanced at Winter and whispered, "Help me up?"

"Besides," Cary continued as Winter gave me a hand staggering to my feet. "I couldn't let her get away with being so disrespectful to you on Friday at the book fair. She had to be punished!"

Valery's shoulders drooped, and she hugged her arms around herself. "It was only a difference of opinion, not a declaration of war. You went too far."

I smoothed down my fabulous dress, knowing there was no hope for my hair, and took a step toward Cary. "So, you were mad about that, but why fixate on me to begin with? I don't get it."

"Well, I couldn't exactly try to seduce Valery with my online persona, could I?" she answered in sarcastic scorn, as if I was the stupidest human on earth.

"You really are SapphicLover69," Valery uttered as if realizing it for the first time. "So, that's why she was always praising our authors, posting five-star reviews, and making flattering comments about Femlove. I thought she was a real person."

"I am a real person!" Cary roared. "A real woman who's devoted her blood, sweat, and tears to you, Valery. You're the only thing that matters to me, and you never thought of me the same. I knew it, and, still, I ached for you."

"And then you just twisted it all up into a bundle of bitter wrath to unleash on me?" I concluded in disgust. I shook my head and rubbed a hand on the back of my neck in hopes of relieving some tension.

"Maybe if you'd given me the time of day, you wouldn't have made me lose control!" Cary retorted, turning the blame on me. "But no—even a friendly admirer was beneath your attention. You blew me off like last year's leaves."

"I was offline for a week, and you turned into a raving monster," I rebuffed with heat in my voice. But Cary was too pitiful to harbor hatred toward. "So, you harassed me, spread fake rumors about me slapping my name on AI-propagated books, and did everything in your power to destroy me because your boss didn't love you back?"

Cary glowered at me, no longer straining against Tammy's and Jeri's grasp. "It doesn't sound right when you say it," she grumbled.

From across the room, Elaine's voice boomed with fortitude over the murmuring in the hall. "You sent Aspen the black roses and trashed her room! You tried to burn us to death in a locked corridor! How was any of that going to make Valery want you?"

"Hey, you and the little one weren't supposed to be there," Cary called back in her defense. "Can I help it if you followed her?"

My face darkened as I took a step closer. "Except when you came back to lock the glass door to the hallway, you could see they were in there with me. You could have aborted your devious plan when you realized I wasn't alone, but you didn't. You just didn't give a damn about my friends' lives," I snarled, ready to punch her in her beady eye.

"All that was you?" Catherine's voice dripped with more venom than mine had. If looks could kill, Cary's psychotic breakdown, along with her days on Earth, would have ended on the spot.

"You need help," Valery declared, then glanced pitifully around the room. "I didn't know. I didn't know about any of this!"

"Hey, I believe ya," Tammy replied. Others in the hall muttered back and forth, shaking their heads, and trying to wipe the shock off their faces.

Security arrived along with Detective Campbell and a couple of uniformed officers. "Is there a Ms. Cary Marino present?" he called out in a voice brimming with authority.

"Yeah, over here," replied Jeri.

He halted as he arrived on the scene and looked us all over. "I see I'm a little late. My officers can take it from here." Tammy and Jeri released her into the custody of two sturdy police officers and rallied around me and Winter.

"She's SapphicLover69," I stated the obvious. "But how'd you know?"

"We studied hotel security footage and noticed some suspiciously timed movements of hers on Friday evening, getting off and back on the elevator on your floor when her room is on the eighteenth. Then again, last night, she was spotted leaving the hall to the service room less than a minute before the fire started. I was going to take her in for questioning, but it appears something happened here."

"Detective," Catherine addressed with polished professionalism despite her apparent desire to fillet Cary for disrupting her event. "We are almost finished here. If I could just give Aspen her award first," she beseeched. "Then you can talk to her for the rest of the night if you want to. Five minutes, please."

Propping his hands on his belt, he granted her a nod. "Very well. Five minutes."

Everyone settled back in their seats, Erin presented me with my Laurel Award and a beautiful check, and everyone, who wasn't too wrapped up in shocked verbal exchanges, clapped.

Selina sought me out before I could leave with Detective Campbell. "Aspen, I just had to tell you," she declared in dismay, grabbing hold of my hands. "I had nothing to do with Cary and her outrageous display of insanity. Sure, I wanted to win but not by bumping you off. To be honest, all my bravado has been because I read your book and was insecure about my chances. The judges made the right call, and I hope there are no hard feelings. Please? I publish with them, but I didn't know Cary was a homicidal lunatic."

"It's OK, Selina," I answered with a gracious smile. "None of it was your fault. And to show my goodwill, I challenge you to write a better romantic thriller than me this year."

An expression of glee wiped away the trepidation, and she winked at me. "You're on!"