“Damn it. Damnit, damnit, damnit.” I shove a hand into my hair and tug until it hurts. It’s all my fault. I should’ve known she might become a target. Haven’t I been harassed by some truly deranged “fans”? What would stop them from transferring some of their obsession from me to Paige?
I let my pride, my needs, trump common sense. I wanted to show Dad I wouldn’t make myself miserable to fulfill the conditions of getting Grandpa’s portrait of me. The revenge couldn’t just be me getting the painting, but showing the world, especially Dad, I’m having a grand fucking time doing it. I told Paige I wanted the wedding of the century, all the publicity and the kind of glitzy show that would leave people breathless as they watched our fairytale marriage unfold for a year.
Why the hell didn’t I stop to think how it would impact Paige?
No, not just Paige. The people she cares about, too.
If she’d known agreeing to marry me for a year would jeopardize her stepsister and her baby, she would never have done it.
“Oh, one other thing,” Benjamin says.
“What is it?”
“My man at the police department also said there was a nurse who tried to attack you at a hospital some days ago…?”
“Yeah. Typical wack-job fan. What about her?”
“She was bailed out. The woman threatened to take you away from your fiancée using whatever means available. At that time, the authorities just assumed she was ranting, but given the circumstances, they are trying to locate her. Just in case. It’s better to dot all your is and cross all your ts, especially when it concerns a member of a family that’s always been generous with the department.”
“They let her out? I told them she was a psycho, and that she was likely to come after me again. I specifically asked them to keep her in jail as long as they could until the trial…or at least notify me if she got out on bail or something.”
“Mm. About that… The DA has decided not to prosecute.”
This is starting to sound like something out of Kafka. “Why the hell not? The woman bit me, for god’s sake!”
“I agree it’s strange. And I can’t quite figure out what’s going on, because there are elements of the situation that don’t really add up. For example…”
Benjamin pauses, and my gut twists until I taste acid in the back of my mouth.
“…apparently, it was you who told them to drop the charges.”
Chapter Nineteen
Ryder
My hand tightens around my phone until my knuckles are white. “What the fuck?”
“I knew you would say something like that.”
“No, seriously. What the fuck?” I repeat. “Me? Let her out? There’s no way.”
“I’m inclined to agree, but my source told me it’s true, and he isn’t the type to make mistakes on things like this.”
I press my thumb against the spot between my eyebrows. There are two people in the world who can act as my representative. Mira and my lawyer.
But neither of them received any instructions about the nurse. There wasn’t any reason, since the DA was handling it.
“Did your buddy say anything else?” I ask.
“No. But I suggest you talk to your people.”
“Oh, you can count on that,” I say grimly.
I end the call and am about to dial my lawyer when Paige knocks on the door and sticks her head in. “Ryder, you ready to go?”
You go ahead, something came up is on the tip of my tongue, but I swallow the words. I promised to go with her to the hospital, and I do want to see how Bethany’s doing. It’s a hundred percent obvious now that her being hurt is my fault, and I need to make sure she and her baby are all right.
I ask Paige to drive since I can’t do that and text at the same time. I send a quick question to my accountant.
“Are you all right?” Paige asks. “If it’s something I can do, just let me know and I’ll deal with it.” She gives me a small sideways smile. “Probably be faster that way.”
Pain knots behind the spot where my forehead meets my eyebrows. This is one thing I can’t delegate to Paige. If she finds out, she’ll rip up our prenup and tell me to go to hell.
“Nah, it’s nothing,” I say, flashing her Reassuring Look Number Four. “Don’t worry about it.”
* * *
Paige
Now I know something is wrong. Ryder’s insouciantly confident glance is one I recognize from his movies, but have never seen him use in real life. It’s too practiced, too…perfect.
However, I also recognize the stubborn set of his jaw. He’s not going to tell me anything right now.