“He’s always been high-strung,” Tim agrees a little too casually. “I didn’t think anything of it. I thought that he’d deck me or something and be done with it. Ivy, don’t worry. As long as he doesn’t do anything crazy, like go after Conrad, it’ll be okay.”
“He better not go after Conrad,” I warn, raising my voice, causing Shep to yelp.
“We’ll all keep an eye on him,” Tim reassures me. “But he had to know Ivy. You know I’m right. Things couldn’t go on the way they were.”
“So Conrad basically dropped Cassidy when he found out she was pregnant. Is that it?” I ask, indicating that I want him to finish the story.
“He freaked. Yeah, he liked screwing around with her, but he sure as hell didn’t want an illegitimate kid,” Tim relates, sitting back.
“So he was never serious about leaving his wife and marrying her?” I press him.
“Ivy, c’mon. What do you think?” Tim looks at me and sighs. “Cassidy fell for his line of bull. Just because she wanted to believe it didn’t make it so.”
“Did he want her to get rid of it?” I ask, fearing his response.
“Pretty much,” Tim mutters. “He didn’t leave her with very many options. His true colors came out when he felt like his back was against the wall. He got all demanding and shit, saying she better do it or else. By then, she was more than a little terrified of him.”
“Because she wanted to keep the baby,” I conclude.
“Bingo,” Tim groans, lowering his head. “Not to mention the fact that, no matter how much it pains me to say it, she still loved him. After all that he put her through, the baby was the last tangible sign of their love. She’d rather have died than give it up.”
“And she did,” I say glumly. “I’m sorry about what happened to her, but I’ll never forgive her for lying to Eric and trying to pass it off as his.”
“Yeah, that was a risky move,” Tim admits, rubbing his forehead. “She was so desperate to hold on to the baby she was willing to do anything. She knew, by claiming it was Eric’s, it’d give her the cover story she needed to carry on with the pregnancy.”
“Was Conrad really going to let her get away with that? I mean, if the baby was born, she could’ve always had a DNA test done and proved that it was his somewhere down the line,” I question Tim further. “The threat of exposure was always going to be there.”
“And we’re living with the consequences today,” Tim replies, lost in thought. “If Cassidy hadn’t gotten sick, it might’ve all been resolved sooner, but Conrad played the long game, and so far, he’s won. I’m one of the few people alive who knows the truth.”
“So that’s why they targeted you?” I ask as everything starts to fall into place.
“I was the one who took Cassidy to her initial doctor’s appointment. I was seen with her, and word got back to Conrad. He called me out of the blue one night after Cassidy went back to school and told me to keep my mouth shut or else.” Tim cringes at the memory. “I didn’t hear from him again until the trouble with Ryan started.”
“Wow. You know all of their dirty, little secrets, don’t you?” I tease him halfheartedly. “The playboy millionaire who knocked up the fresh-faced coed. The closeted gay son who gave in to his sexual impulses. Forget the screenplay—you could write the tell-all of all tell-alls knowing that kind of stuff.”
“Too bad the screenplay was designed to keep me in my place,” Tim remarks, opening my eyes to the truth. “Lauren came up with the idea in order to ensure my silence. Once my story was told on film, there’d be no way anyone would ever believe Conrad was the father. Everyone would always think it was me.”
“I’m just curious how Lauren ever found out about it. I don’t think that would be something Conrad would share willingly with her. I mean, talk about an awkward conversation. He impregnated a girl around her age. Lauren must have been outraged,” I ponder out loud.
“Cassidy said that, during the final weeks of her relationship with Conrad, before she came home on break, she thought she noticed that she was being followed,” Tim relates, cluing me in. “At first, she thought it might’ve been part of Conrad’s security detail, but when she asked him about it, he denied it.”
“You’re thinking it was Lauren?” I inquire, mulling it over in my head.
“You know how obsessed she became with Eric,” Tim concurs, turning to face me. “I wouldn’t put it past her, especially if she caught wind of something going on between her stepfather and the one girl she wanted out of Eric’s life. And what lends more credence to the theory is that Cassidy mentioned to me that she thought she saw Lauren at that seminar sitting with Conrad’s entourage—the lipstick, the pantyhose, the whole nine yards. Cassidy only put two and two together when she came home and saw Lauren’s picture and bio in the Gazette after she was named the new editor.”