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“If you don’t answer it, and he goes into hiding, all of this will go to waste.”
Fuck Scarlett and her voice of reason. But it was what I needed to hear, and she even made things easy for me by picking up the phone and handing it to me.
I hated the way my hands always shook just before I answered these calls. And the way three deep breaths did fuck all to steady my nerves. Pressing the answer button, I tried to make my voice sound as normal, as calm, as possible. “Hello.”
There was a moment of silence before Ethan’s voice came through the line, sounding strained and distant.
“Stef, I need to talk to you.”
“Well, here I am. All ears.”
“I can’t stay here anymore. They’re closing in on me. I have to move on.”
“Okay, where are you going? And when?”
“I don’t know yet. I’m still figuring it out. But I need you to come with me. I can’t…I can’t be without you, Stef.”
Gag.“Okay, I’ll come with you. Just tell me when and where.”
“I’ll have something delivered to you this afternoon. It will tell you where to meet me.”
I nodded, even though he couldn’t see me. “Okay, I’ll be ready.”
There was a pause on the other end of the line, and then Ethan spoke again. “And don’t worry about Grayson. I took care of him for you.”
There was that sick dread again as my hand clutched the phone. “What do you mean? What did you do to Grayson?”
Daniel must have heard the terror in my voice, because he was already reaching for his phone before Ethan started talking again.
“I sent him the sound recording of your confession. Just so he knows you were only ever in it for the money. That way, he won’t come after you.”
Oh, god, oh god, oh god, oh god.
A fucking panic tsunami rolled over me and it was all I could do to keep my feet.
“Sit tight. I’ll be in touch.”
He ended the call without waiting for a reply. Lucky, because I couldn’t speak. Could barely form a coherent thought. I was standing there, holding the phone, feeling like my world was crashing down around me.
Without thinking, I screamed and threw the phone against the wall. It didn’t even break. It just fell to the carpet with a deeply unsatisfactory thud.
“Tell me what’s going on.” Daniel’s voice cut through the haze of panic that was clouding my mind.
I relayed the conversation, my voice shaking as I spoke. As soon as I finished, I started looking for the burner phone Grayson had given me. I needed to talk to him. I needed to tell him it wasn’t true. There it was, down the side of the cushion. Before I could even begin pressing the contact for Grayson, Daniel wrenched it from my hand. “You can’t call him,” he said firmly.
I was distraught, freaking out. “But I have to talk to him. I have to explain.”
Daniel shook his head. “It’s not safe. Besides, do you think he would believe it? After everything you guys have been through?”
“Daniel, it’s a literal sound recording of my confession. What’s not to believe?”
I felt like I was going to explode. I couldn’t just sit here and do nothing. Ihadto talk to Grayson. Had to make him understand. But Daniel was right. It wasn’t safe. I was trapped, unable to do anything but wait and hope that Grayson would somehow know the truth.
I needed a moment to myself. “I’m going to my room.” As soon as I closed the door behind me, I collapsed onto the bed, hugging a pillow to my chest as I let out all the emotions I’d been holding in. I cried until there were no tears left, my body shaking with the force of my sobs.
Once I’d calmed down, Scarlett came in with a glass of water. She sat on the edge of the bed and smiled at me sympathetically. “This sucks, so hard.”
I nodded, taking a sip of water. “I can’t see a good ending for me here, Scarlett. That fuckhead has gone and ruined the best thing that ever happened to me. There’s no way Grayson will believe me after everything that’s happened. And,” I swallowed back a sob. “He’ll be so hurt. After everything he’s done for me, for him to think I was just using him, it breaks me.”