They’ve had this conversation before, but his policeman brain clearly has trouble accepting Naomi’s far-fetched explanation. So she tells him again the story she and Faye concocted after the accident to protect “Harlow’s” secrets. How she showed up to Harlow’s house in Maine, demanding answers. How Harlow shockingly didn’t arrest her for trespassing, instead deciding to hear her out. How together, based on Naomi’s discoveries and Harlow’s own personal experiences, they sadly surmised that Colton was most likely involved in Faye’s death.
Leo reaches out to hold Naomi’s hand, giving her a sad smile at the mention of her sister. She hates lying to him, but she has no choice for now. Hopefully one day she can tell him the truth and he’ll understand why she lied. But for now, Harlow Hayes is just a good friend.
Naomi finishes the rest of the story, explaining how her car hydroplaned off the road into a tree after their encounter, but Harlow managed to see the accident and call for help. It’s flimsy, borderline unbelievable, but still a hell of a lot more believable than the truth.
“Well, glad that she wasn’t the evil monster you thought she was at one point,” Leo says. Naomi cringes at the unwelcome reminder, her rogue article that nearly lost her her job and credibility.
“But I was right about Colton…” Naomi adds. “Before anyone else…”
Leo stiffens. “Can’t believe what a scumbag he turned out to be,” he says, shaking his head in disbelief. “How all that was happening for years and he still had this good-boy reputation.”
Naomi nods. It’s something that has unsettled her too, made her question how many other men out there are hiding behind a powerful, charming façade. But at least there’s one fewer in the world with Colton gone, his name now tarnished forever thanks to Naomi’s recent exposé.
“You still think he overdosed, or do you think someone did it for revenge?”
If only you knew,Naomi thinks. She shrugs, face flushing. “I think someone tipped him off that women were talking, and it was getting to the point where he could no longer control it…”
“I know some of the detectives think maybe his uncle did it. Tried to kill him for sympathy votes but also before Colton could do something that they couldn’t keep quiet…”
Naomi chuckles at the new rumor. “Who knows.”
*
While she was recovering, Naomi thought tirelessly about how she could expose Colton without implicating Faye. She initially toyed with the idea of leaking the files, but omitting anything to do with Jade. That way, it wouldn’t be traced back to her or her sister, meaning they wouldn’t have to worry about Sam’s or the Scotts’ wrath. But Naomi worried the leak would get buried and simply forgotten about.
So instead she took it upon herself to finish Harlow’s investigation, in the hope she could give answers to other families out there, and an avenue for women who were silenced to safely speak up. She chased any leads Harlow had flagged and followed new ones she found along the way, eventually giving her more than enough material to work with—and more importantly, too much for the Scotts to “handle.”
Naomi still can’t believe Joel let her publish it, especially after he was so adamant about not going after Colton Scott when she mentioned it during the Harlow investigation. But he couldn’t ignore the evidence in front of him, especially after various women agreed to speak to Naomi on the record, including Meghan Rhodes.
As for “Harlow,” the exposé swayed public opinion back in her favor. She still receives some flak from the usual internet trolls, still convinced she’s an evil liar, but for the most part, people seem to feel bad for her being unjustly blamed and have let it go.Seems the singer was just caught in a very sad, very tragic web, Naomi wrote.
While she was satisfied with her story, there were two loose ends that bothered her, but neither she could do anything about. One was Jade, of course.
In order to protect Faye, she had to make sure that nothing came back to Harlow Hayes. So she couldn’t publish the witness statement or even risk telling Emily and Jade’s family that she knew anything concrete. She had to simply imply that Colton killed Jade in a sex act gone wrong, and then he killed himself over the guilt he felt years later.
The next loose end was Sam.
Faye told her they wouldn’t have to worry about him for much longer as she had a plan to get out of her agreement with him. She didn’t share any details, though, which worried Naomi, since the last time she was keeping secrets she faked her own death…
Joel was the only person to whom Naomi breathed a word about her run-in with Sam. It was awkward, trying to find a way to explain to Joel what happened without actually explaining what happened, but she managed to find a way to confront him. He made it clear that Sam Brixton wasn’t a friend, only a source. Apparently, Joel had some damning stuff on him, and they’d made a deal that Joel wouldn’t share what he knew so long as Sam gave him good tip-offs from time to time. It was how Joel knew before anyone else that Harlow was arrested in the first place. Joel claimed that after that initial tip, Sam went quiet, so he sent Naomi to New York to investigate, assuming it would be a pretty straightforward case. He never expected it to spiral like it did—for Naomi to spiral like she did.
Naomi isn’t naive; she knows that this sort of quid pro quo is part and parcel of the industry—influence, power, and secrets are all their own forms of currency. So she didn’t give Joel too hard of a time about it, instead using it to barter with him to let her run the Colton exposé. Once he agreed, though, he started to come around to the idea of C*Leb doing more serious, in-depth investigative pieces.
“I’ve been wanting to garner a bit more respect for C*Leb… maybe you can lead our new investigative branch,” he mused.
Naomi isn’t ready to take on another case quite yet, though, but maybe in the future…
After the story was published, Naomi was expecting to hear from Sam, threatening legal action, but she never heard a word. Sam didn’t care what they said about Colton, so long as it didn’t come back to him. And it hasn’t—something Naomi hates, knowing his reign of manipulation will continue. That people with as much power and influence as him seem to always find a way out, never held accountable.
She thinks of her sister then—how she also got away with murder—and a pit of uneasiness settles in her stomach.
To love someone unconditionally can be a dangerous thing. For yourself. And for others. The lengths you’d go to protect them, hide the things they’ve done. Naomi would do anything not to lose Faye again. Maybe she could bring her back out of the darkness. Get her help. Fix her. Her heart sinks when she remembers the lyrics penned by her sister.
We’d sing it’s us against the world. But you couldn’t fix me, you tried.
Goosebumps prickle Naomi’s arms as the lights dim. She scans the crowd, watching as the fans buzz with glee, their Bluetooth LED bracelets suddenly sparkling like thousands of white stars before abruptly switching to red.
A hushed silence falls across the arena and excitement courses through Naomi as she waits with everyone else for the star of the show to appear. She inhales, wondering if maybe she was too cynical before. That dreams can come true. That it can work out for some people. But a sinister voice counteracts the optimism, warning that only the ruthless survive this “deadly game.”
