Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 25039 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 125(@200wpm)___ 100(@250wpm)___ 83(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25039 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 125(@200wpm)___ 100(@250wpm)___ 83(@300wpm)
What the hell is happening to me?
What the fuck did I just do?
And where the fuck do I go after this?
"Hale? What the fuck, man? Are you alright?"
Was he?
When one had just let go of the most important thing in his life, could he still say he was "alright" because he hadn't yet stopped breathing?
Rush could feel something was seriously off with his friend, and when Hale only stared back at him, he finally realized that the other man was in shock.
"What the hell happened, Hale? Why do you look like someone just died on you?"
His private jet had just landed when they received Hale's text about getting married. They had come here, thinking they could surprise their friend by attending his wedding, but instead...
Fuck.
"Did Mikey do something?" Rush asked grimly. Hale's soft spot for Mikey had always made him unwittingly blind to their friend's faults. Mikey had known this, too, and it was precisely the reason why she had kept her secret from Hale all these years.
The other man shook his head, but Rush wasn't buying it.
"If she didn't do something, then..."
Fuck.
"You found out about what happened—-"
Hale's head jerked up at this. "You know about it, too?"
"I'm sorry I never said a word all of these years," Rush gritted out. "But promising her my silence was the only way I could get her to seek professional care—-"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Hale finally realized they were talking at cross purposes.
"You told me you knew—-"
"I was talking about Heaven," Hale gritted out.
"About Mikey being an alcoholic," Rush finished at the same time.
What the fuck?
Rush saw the disbelief on his friend's face, and it was his turn to arrive at the same conclusion Hale had earlier.
The other man clearly had no idea about Mikey's drinking problem. Instead, he had assumed Rush was talking about...heaven?
Hale started feeling something was fucking wrong. "Tell me everything about Mikey being an alcoholic."
"It started a couple of years ago," Rush said wearily. "She lost her first endorsement because she was considered too old, and she couldn't take it."
Hale had a hard time breathing now. A few years ago...could be around the same time Mikey and Heaven were still both with Grace.
"She would have kept it from both of us if she could. But I've always had people keeping tabs on her. That's how I found out. But when I confronted her about it, she begged me not to tell you. She was terrified you'd hate her if you knew she had a drinking problem..."
Just like your parents' killer.
Rush didn't say the words, but he heard it all the same, and the realization opened a floodgate of memories.
He remembered Mikey's decision to retire from dancing because of an "injury"...but not being able to make himself care enough to ask how she was.
Was this his penance, for not giving a shit about others?
"I know it's no excuse," Rush said quietly, "but you know how she is."
Yes, he did know, Hale thought dully, so why the fuck had he believed Mikey without question?
Even as a child, Mikey had always struggled with the compulsion to lie, having seen her own parents build a fortune (and lose it) by scamming people out of their money.
Mikey never knew when to stop lying.
Never knew when to stop hurting others and herself until it was too late.
Mikey would do anything to save her ass.
And that was why—-
"I think I fucked up, Rush," Hale said hoarsely. "Badly. I let Mikey get to me." He felt like the biggest idiot in the world, with how Mikey had easily exploited his guilt over his parents' death and convinced him to turn his back on...
Heaven.
Hale remembered too late that Mikey still had his phone, and...
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Even though he had no idea what Mikey had planned against Heaven, he knew her well enough to know that time was of the essence.
"I need a favor," Hale said urgently. "But Mikey can't know we've talked..."
Full Circle
PLEASE, GOD.
Please tell me.
Please.
Heaven could feel everyone staring at her, but unlike before, what they thought of her no longer mattered.
All I care about is doing what You ask of me.
"I know you're all worried about your boss," she heard Micah coo, "but everything's under control now."
Even when they obviously enjoyed seeing her being shamed—-
So please, God.
"I've come just in time to protect your boss from the gold digger, and needless to say, there will be no wedding."
Help me.
People actually started clapping after Micah's words, but what stunned Heaven was the flash of guilt in the other woman's eyes, and that was when she realized two things.
One: Micah's cruelty in the past had stemmed from her own pain, which her drinking problem had magnified.
Two: without alcohol to numb her senses, Micah could no longer escape her conscience, and so...
By hurting Heaven, Micah was also hurting herself, and as soon as Heaven realized this, she knew such thoughts could only come from one source.