Page 30

12

WINTER

How did everything fall apart all at once?

If I had a dollar for every time I’d asked myself that question in the four days since Liam got sick and I spilled my guts to his father, I would be an extremely wealthy woman who could tell Diana Bennett to fuck herself. I could throw all of her threats in her face.

What a nice idea, one that held me together during the most fearful moments as Liam started to get better. He would be fine in the end, but that didn’t stop me from spending almost every minute with him as he recovered. We watched movies, read books, but mostly, he’d slept while I hovered over him. When he started getting his appetite back on the third day, I knew everything would be all right. I could breathe a little easier, even when sleep was almost impossible.

What a shame because I had to get back to work. No amount of reassurance that everything was under control made me feel any better, but it wasn’t the show I was worried about so much as it was the producer. Jackson had been suspiciously quiet about anything that wasn’t directly involved with the show, only communicating via text or hitting Reply All to emails sent out from the production team to keep us in the loop as our opening date rapidly approached. It was bearing down on me like a freight train, unstoppable, that wouldn’t normally have worried me. I would have welcomed it since I’d always thrived on a deadline. Stress sharpened me, made me stronger, more determined.

At least, when I wasn’t gripped by the constant fear of Diana showing up out of nowhere with a wrecking ball she would send tearing through my life.

Every hour that passed without the wrecking ball swinging brought me a little more comfort, but a sense of dread still hung over me by the time I drove to the theater. Like at any moment, the other shoe would drop, and I would be thrust into a battle which I had done everything in my power to avoid.

There was no avoiding it anymore.

It wasn’t easy to shake off the fear that threatened to glue me to my seat rather than letting me leave the car and go inside after I parked—one step at a time. Everything would be okay. No matter what happened, it would be fine in the end. I held onto that dim belief as tightly as I could, entering the theater directly through the side door rather than crossing through the lobby.

Here goes nothing.

“There she is!” Michael was the first one to notice me, and he wasted no time opening his arms for a hug as I approached the group, chatting as they warmed up. “How is everything?”

No one knew why I had missed a few days. I let them think it was a personal issue, which it was, but I hadn’t given any specifics. None of them knew about Liam. He had always been something I kept private, something just for me, and moving to the States hadn’t changed that. I had always believed in keeping my personal life to myself.

Looking back now, I had to ask myself if I wasn’t overly paranoid about word somehow getting back here. Stupid? Of course it was. I could thank Diana for it, along with so many other things. She had turned me into a paranoid basket case.

But then again, I had let her. And now, as I tried to offer Michael and the rest of the cast a reassuring smile as I told them everything was fine, my gaze darted around in search of the only other person involved with this production who knew the full truth.

After a few minutes of catching up with everyone, I couldn’t handle the suspense any longer. “Where’s the big guy? I thought for sure he’d be lurking around.”

Sophie passed us, looking much healthier than she did the last time I saw her several days ago. “Oh, I’m glad you mentioned that. He asked if you could come up around nine.”

Checking the time, I found it was a few minutes to nine. My stomach lurched, but I did everything I could to conceal the panic now gripping me. I had texted everyone earlier to let them know I would come in today.

Why didn’t he ask me himself to come up to his suite?

And do I have the guts to do it?

The answer to that one was obvious. I didn’t have a choice. I had to go up there, see what he wanted, and face the music. No matter how it twisted my guts in knots.

I could do this.

He wasn’t a monster.

He would most likely grill me for information on Liam, and I would gladly give it if he’d agree to keep this between us. If only he promised, the money I used to support Mom wouldn’t be diverted to legal fees and settlements. Please, God, don’t let him make me regret breaking down and telling him. With my heart in my throat, I knocked at his suite door, then wiped my sweaty palms on my leggings.

He opened the door but barely acknowledged me before going to the desk at the opposite end of the sitting area. I followed slowly, dread settling in my stomach and spreading a sickening chill through my limbs, and that was before he stepped aside to reveal his mother waiting at the window.

I stopped short, touching a hand to the wall at my side for support when my knees went watery.

He called her.

He told her.

It was all over.

Her cold, murderous gaze bored holes through me while Jackson rounded the desk and came to a stop behind it. “I’m glad you managed to make it up here in time for this.” He was speaking to me but still glaring at his mother, who stood in front of him in her usual haughty, insolent manner. How did she manage to look so cool and collected in her ice-blue dress? It was obvious she was under fire, judging by the look of pure rage that was blazing in his eyes.