“Maybe not then, but you had a hundred other chances to tell me the truth, Birdie.”
“I told you, Tristan. Some secrets should stay buried. I was never going to tell you or anyone else because I’ve never thought in a million years that Blake would lose it to the point that he’d risk serious jail time just to bring me down with him.”
“He wouldn’t. An ex-cop junkie in prison… He wouldn’t survive a day without being someone’s bitch. He’s bluffing.”
“Is he?”
The doubt in her voice stirs mine. We need facts, not speculations. “Birdie, you have to be very honest with me. Does Blake have any proof that you asked him to frame Shane or that you gave false testimony?”
Years of paranoia flash across her face. “No. Not that I know of. But eight years ago, I was young and vulnerable and naive. I trusted Blake so much back then. Now that I know the kind of monster he is, how can I be so sure he didn’t record our agreement or anything like that?”
I mentally catalog what we know about Blake, about his methods. “I don’t think he did. A person so ready to expose you would have shown your lawyer a hint of the receipts he kept, if he had any. But he only mentioned the prison visit to rattle you because that’s all he has.”
She shakes her head, unconvinced. “Perhaps, but I’m not taking any chances, Tristan.”
“You’re not. If he says anything, it’ll be your word against his. You have proof he’s a drug addict. You have proof of his violence. He has nothing. His lies will crumble down on him, not on you.”
The look she gives me is pure acid. “What an optimistic scenario with a glorious happy ending! Do you live in the same world I do? Because I don’t remember seeing unicorns farting rainbows in mine.” Her voice takes a harsh turn. “Have you forgotten about Aaron?”
Aaron. The skeleton in her closet that could bring everything crashing down. “No, but everyone related to him is dead. Blake has no proof for it either.”
“It’s a sexual assault scandal, Tristan. It doesn’t need proof. Guilty or innocent, one word out and I’m done. No coming back from that.”
The blood in my veins turns to ice. How did I not think of that? How did I not see things from her perspective?
“Now imagine a man who is spending the rest of his life in prison and another who is penniless, who suspects his days are numbered. Imagine these two coming together with this knowledge, with this power…” She paces between the trees, twigs breaking under her feet. She’s terrified. And now I understand why.
“Blake and Shane are two men who, in their sick minds, think you ruined their lives. They’re angry, and they want revenge. But above all, they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.”
“Exactly. Shane would say anything, do anything, to get out of prison. Blake would do the same to save his life and take my money. What if Blake promised to get Shane out of prison if he lied for him?”
“Lied about what?”
She whirls to face me, eyes blazing with a desperation I’ve never seen before. “Everything. Aaron, the beating, the testimony. There’s a story in everything, Tristan, and it can be told in so many ways, where heroes and villains are one and the same.”
My pulse hammers against my throat. How far can those two scumbags twist the truth to destroy Birdie?
She moves again, faster now. “Here’s one where I’m the unredeemable villain. Aaron is innocent, and I’m the predator. Shane, my loving husband, finds out. He loses his mind and beats the crap out of me. It’s the worst thing he’s ever done, and he can’t be sorry enough, but put yourself in his position. The woman he loves so much not only does she cheat on him, but with her student whom she rapes.”
Jesus Christ. My stomach turns as she wields their twisted version of events.
“But my monstrosities don’t stop there. Afraid Shane will tell on me or kill me, I report him for domestic violence. The one cop that empathizes with my case and tries to help me, I seduce. Then I ask him to abuse his power to put Shane away for life because I’m too afraid.”
I want to stop her, to shelter her in my arms and tell her none of this will happen, tell her that everything is gonna be okay. But I can’t. Because she’s right. This is exactly the kind of story they’d tell.
“Blake thinks he’s doing the right thing helping me get rid of the monster. But then, he realizes it’s a mistake. His guilt is unbearable. It leads him to substance abuse. He visits the man he’s wronged to apologize. There, Shane tells him about Aaron, the parts Blake doesn’t know. Blake is devastated. He wishes he knew the truth about the woman he’s lost everything for. Now, it’s too late. All he can do is come clean and free an innocent man.”
“Holy fuck.”
Her feet halt, and the bitterness on her face spreads to mine. “Do you still think I’m safe from Blake, Tristan?”
CHAPTER 18
Birdie
The silence that follows is a noose tightening around both our necks.
Since I saw Butterfly Man’s first sick note on my pillow, I’ve wanted to prove something to the deranged man who thought he owned me. I wanted to show him he didn’t.
