“Jinx told me that if I walk away, that’s it. There won’t be a second chance.”
“What do you want me to say to that, Laikyn? That he’s right?”
My chest felt tight. I was upset and hurt that they’d lied, but the thought of Rule cutting me out of his life completely simply because I needed time to process … what if one day I did need to put some space between us? Would that be the end of it, then, too? Would I always be manipulated into ensuring I didn’t push him too far? God knows I wasn’t perfect. Never would be.
But how was I supposed to live like that? Loving a man who was always waiting for the other shoe to drop?
* * *
Rule
When Laikyn didn’t say anything, I knewI had to tell her the truth.
It was the reason I came back.
I’d been hell-bent on getting out of here and never looking back, but I made it as far as the office when I realized I couldn’t do that. Not this time. I had to own up to this. Once I told her everything, she could decide what to do with that information. But I wasn’t going to be the one to leave. I refused to do that to anyone.
“I first met your mother about ten years ago,” I told her. “She’d been referred to me by a lawyer because she found herself in a predicament he couldn’t help her with. Not even the best lawyer would’ve been able to help her with the damning evidence that had come to light. So when she showed up at my door and asked me to make the situation go away, I didn’t bat an eye. She was Monica Quinn. She had money and fame, and I was building my business, so I figured helping her would go a long way to establishing my credibility.”
“What did she need you to do?”
I took a deep breath, resigned to answering all her questions. “Your mother was having an affair with a sixteen-year-old boy. The son of one of the production assistants on the film she was working on. The boy recorded them having sex. He claimed it was personal, just between them. Unfortunately for Monica, he lived with his parents, and they suspected something was going on. They found the video and were threatening to have her arrested.
“She claimed the kid came on to her first, but I didn’t care. Honestly, I didn’t want to know. The only thing I cared about was finding enough dirt to use against that kid’s parents to keep them from filing charges of statutory rape. They were ready to.”
“Who could blame them?” Laikyn shuddered. “I know she came onto Rory. He was seventeen at the time. She had to pay him off, but I didn’t know there’d been anyone before him.”
According to the information I dredged up about Monica, she had a penchant for much,muchyounger men. At least now, she did. At one point, it had been the exact opposite.
“Anyway, I took care of that for her. She paid me, and I figured that was the last I would hear from her.”
“Until she called you to find me.”
This was going to be the ugly part. Thankfully, she hadn’t turned to look at me yet, so it made it easier to tell her.
“Your mother never called me to find you.”
This time, Laikyn did turn around. “But I thought—”
I forced myself to look her in the eye. “Monica called me and asked me to stage your kidnapping so she could get the K and R money from her insurance company.”
Laikyn took a step back, her eyes wide with shock.
I grabbed her arm, stopping her retreat. “I turned her down flat, Laikyn. I don’t do shit like that, and I don’t associate with anyone who does. I even told her the K and R insurance didn’t work that way. She didn’t believe me.”
Her fingers curled around my wrist, and she held on. “When was this?”
“You were fourteen.”
She shook her head. “Oh my God. I can’t believe—” She pulled away from me, taking several steps around to the side of the pool. “It wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment idea for her. She…” She continued to shake her head even as she looked at me. “She planned it for two years? What? Did it take her that long to find some miscreant who would do it?”
I didn’t know the answer to that, so I continued. “Rhyan had just started working for me then. I told her what Monica said. She was appalled.”
“Can you blame her?” She ran one hand through her hair and covered her stomach with the other. “God.”
“She was also worried,” I explained. “About you. So I tasked her with keeping an eye on you to ensure you were safe.”
Her eyes glittered with fury. “How’d that work out for you?”
