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“I can’t risk it. I’ve come so far with this, Selina, you don’t understand. Every month that I spent at the clinic, pretending I was getting better, that I was healing and getting cleaned up... all that other New Age bullshit these life coaches try to sell you. I worked hard to build this new version of myself and you almost ruined it. So if you won’t take money, you’ll take this, for sure,” she says, raising the blade between us.
“Wait!” I almost scream at her as I glance behind her, praying for someone to walk by and see what was about to unfold, an insane woman currently wielding a knife. “If you and Matthew were meant to be together, why weren’t you just honest from the beginning? Do you really think deceit will get him back?”
“I tried the honesty part,” she sighs, shoulders dropping in faint disappointment. “Before I started the diary, before I knew I’d be pushed out and would need to find another way in, I spoke to Matthew about us being a couple, and he said he couldn’t, he wouldn’t, leave Sully and Jason out. He droned on and on about how their friendship and camaraderie are more important, about how it’s crucial for them to be able to share a woman, body and soul. I think it’s a complete load of crap, really. And I believe you feel the same.”
“Not really. I mean, it worked for us,” I mutter.
“Yeah, because you’re a starving mutt who’ll spread her legs for an entire platoon if that’s what’ll get you out of the gutter,” Cynthia replies. “I’m a high-class woman, and a member of high society. A queen, not a whore!”
“And you’re also really full of yourself,” I shoot back, downright irritated by the venom dripping from her every word. “Yet you also spread your legs for the three of them, didn’t you?”
“Means to an end,” she says, as she takes a step toward me.
“Cynthia, stop!” Matthew’s voice booms in the doorway, rendering me speechless. He’s not alone, either. Sully and Jason are with him and I’ve never been more relieved to see them. Dusted by the snow, cheeks red from the cold, they immediately assess the situation. “Dammit, Cynthia, this has gone too far!” I hear Sully say.
I exhale sharply, the adrenalin coursing through my veins while I struggle to keep my senses in check. She could still jump me, still cause critical damage. Instinctively, I cradle my belly and move farther back while Matthew and Sully come around with great caution as they measure Cynthia from head to toe.
“What are you doing?” Matthew demands. “Did you really think this would work out in the long run?”
“Christ, Cynthia, what the hell?” Sully snaps and slaps the knife from her hand. She yelps as the blade hits the floor with a dull clang. “This isn’t what I wanted!” she screams, slipping into a hysterical fit. “I never wanted this! You were supposed to take me back, not fill your bed with this whore!”
“It’s over, Cynthia,” Matthew says firmly. “Back off, now. Go home. It’s over. I don’t ever want to see you again. We’re never getting back together, and if you don’t stay away from the three of us as well as Selina, I will seek a restraining order. Do you understand?”
“We’re not done! We belong together! Baby don’t let this—” she tries to hug him but he pushes her away. The move shocks her. I see it clearly on her pretty painted face. The dismay, the disbelief, the horror of rejection as it sets in.
“Your father cut you off, didn’t he?” Jason asks.
Cynthia sneers at him. “Why do you think I wasted eight months of my life in rehab?”
“Good. Waste another eight and forget we exist,” Matthew says. “We’re done.”
She storms out of the hotel room, and as soon as she’s gone I feel like I can breathe again. As the fear begins to subside and the adrenaline simmers down, my whole body starts to shake with the ghastliness of what could have happened, had they not intervened when they did.
Jason steps into the hall, glancing out the big window that overlooks the parking lot. A few moments later, we hear the sound of an engine roaring to life, of tires screeching and splashing, slipping on the snow-covered pavement, and then the heavenly sound of silence that follows. Every second that has passed in Cynthia’s absence feels like a gentle hug for my heart. I don’t know if this is what peace is supposed to feel like, but the relief smacks into me like a tidal wave, washing over my frayed senses and pulling me back into the present.
I turn to look at the guys, my heroes. Matthew with his salt-and-pepper hair and deeply concerned expression, a charcoal-gray winter coat draped over his broad shoulders. Jason with his sandy-colored mess framing his tanned face, a mixture of fear and longing swirling in his blue eyes. And Sully, my darling Sully with his almost-black eyes and a camouflage-style jacket making him seem bigger and bulkier as he walks toward me.
“Are you okay, baby?” Sully asks.
All I can do is nod, my lips quivering as he takes me in his arms. I melt in his embrace, much like a snowflake against a heated windshield, tears streaming down my cheeks as I find comfort and safety in his firm but loving hold. He cups my face and beckons me to look up at him.
“How did you find me?” I ask between sobs.
“We had intel on Cynthia’s whereabouts which led us to you. We knew we needed to find her quickly before she could harm you,” Matthew says, coming closer.
Jason moves in to flank my side, one arm slipping around my waist. “We had no idea what we were walking into. Selina, what happened here?”
“I don’t really know,” I reply, leaning into him. “She came knocking, offering me money to leave Matthew alone, and when I told her off, she took out… oh, God, she took out that dreadful a knife. I can’t believe she did that.”
I’m suddenly shattered, now that the realization of what just happened sets in. I’m bawling my eyes out as Matthew closes the distance between us and plants sweet kisses on my temple. They hold me close and tight, unwilling to let me go. I feel their hearts beating with mine, echoing through the vast halls of my being and reminding me of how good they are, of how kind they are, of what a fool I was to buy into that diary and the lies that filled its pages.
“You’re okay,” Matthew says, his lips brushing my ear. “You’re going to be okay, Selina. I promise you.”
“I am so sorry, Matthew,” I tell him. “I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you about the diary, I should’ve told you. She left it behind in my bedroom, back at the cabin. I believed what she wrote in there, that’s why I left the way I did. I didn’t give any of you a chance to prove her wrong, I didn’t give you the support you needed. I shouldn’t have believed anything she wrote.”
Sully frowns, but his eyes never leave mine. “We know about the diary. We found it last night, and once we got word that Cynthia was back in Providence, we immediately headed here. We had a hunch she was coming after you.”
“Selina, for the love of everything, please, do not apologize. We’re the ones who weren’t exactly forthcoming about her. I underestimated her, terribly. I had no idea she was that frickin’ unstable and off her rocker. Had I known, I would’ve told you everything earlier.”
