Total pages in book: 196
Estimated words: 180438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 902(@200wpm)___ 722(@250wpm)___ 601(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 180438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 902(@200wpm)___ 722(@250wpm)___ 601(@300wpm)
“I can’t pinpoint any one moment of clarity; I just know that I never stopped missing her, sometimes to the point of physical pain.”
“I wanted to die without her, even drugged. I knew that she was what I needed to breathe. But it was learning that she was ill the last time that made me say fuck it and just do what I’d been wanting to for the past five years. I left the tour, and yes, like some of you have been speculating, I went to her bedside and sat there watching over her while she slept.”
“They kept me drugged for all the years of my marriage; otherwise, it wouldn’t have lasted five days, let alone five years, but even then, I missed Elena. I always knew there was a part of me that was missing. I struggled to live, to breathe without her by my side, and at some point, I started questioning the truth about what I was told.”
“Elena’s not the type to do those things, and I should’ve known that, but once my mind started to clear, I knew I needed to get back to her.” I ran out of steam; that was a lot to offload, especially when I hadn’t been prepared. The frenzy started as soon as I stopped writing, but the final question from Themis made me smile.
Those little girls sure are smart as fuck. “Yes, every song I wrote in the last five years was for Elena.” Now she looked at me as if she, too, was surprised by my answer. “You didn’t know?” She shook her head no as the first tear fell. I reached over to wipe it with my thumb before pulling her in to seal her lips with mine.
***
*Lyon*
“Flannagan, you still in New York?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Have you seen the news?”
“Why would I do that?”
“You should have a look. That Hudson woman was just found pinned to her door by an arrow through her head.”
“Son of a bitch. That’s why they wanted us off the island.”
“Serves your ass right. You planning to come get your wife, or do you want me to go find her?”
“Is she still there?”
“It looks like it. I checked, and your plane is still grounded somewhere in L.A.”
“I’m on my way, fuck!”
He hung up, and I sat back and tried to catch my breath as I waited for whatever my kid had to drop into my lap next. No sooner had we returned stateside than the news of Mary Hudson’s death and the way she died broke. It was then that I realized I’d lost the plot.
There’s no going back from this; my fucking kid popped her damn leash, and no one knows what that means better than me.
Chapter 80
*Elena*
Reading some of that stuff was like reliving it again, and it hit me hard. It was like being back there again, only now he was here with me, watching my reaction, seeing the pain that I was trying so hard to hide. “I’m sorry I did this to you.” The pain in his voice made my heart ache. I was past wanting him to hurt, I just wanted to put it all behind me, but there was so much to deal with that sometimes it seemed like it would take a lifetime for the wound to heal.
To make matters worse, Janie didn’t seem to have any remorse if the things she’d said tonight were any indication, and for some reason, that really got under my skin. I don’t know what I expected, and I guess it’s a testament to the kind of person I am, but shouldn’t she feel some sort of guilt?
She seemed to paint me as the villain when I was anything but in this farce that they’d made of my life. I only now realized that I’d been biting back my anger at her, always focusing it on him since he was the one I’d been in a relationship with. But after tonight, after the way she dug her heels in tonight, I can’t excuse her.
I never quite knew her place in this whole situation. Was she the seductress who stole my man away from me? Was she an innocent who just got caught up in the middle of everything? Or even worse, some young girl who had been used by her own father to make a name for himself? That last one had been the front-runner until tonight.
Now I know that she was just as duplicitous as all the others involved and maybe even the worst one yet. From what I garnered tonight, her obsession had played a huge part in her being the candidate for Mary’s schemes. Sure, they might have found someone else had she not been there waiting in the wings, but she made it that much easier for them to carry out their disgusting plans.