AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I take a seat across from her. "We did."
"So, you still think you made the right choice taking a break from music to become a family man?" She eyes me with curiosity.
"Without a doubt. Amelia and the kids are my life now, and I couldn't be happier."
"Good, I'm glad to hear it," she cuts me off, like I'm taking too long to answer her question.
"I'm sorry to hear about Elara," I offer her. I'm not sure how close they were but close enough that she helped her break into my place on at least one occasion to get close to me, so I can only assume her death would have rattled Della.
"It was very sad; she was never quite the same after you rejected her. I know I fucked up any trust we had in that little scandal, and I'm sorry for that. I had good intentions, you have to believe at least that." She says the words quickly, like she is trying to get them out before she changes her mind. I don't think I have ever heard her apologize for anything before, so maybe that's why it's difficult for her. "We had a lot of good years together, didn't we?"
"We did," I agree, thinking back over the past ten years. She made my band what it was; we would have been nothing if she didn't find us and introduce the world to what we were creating.
She smiles, and it's the most genuine smile I think I have ever seen on her face, but it's short-lived before her eyes turn cloudy and she drops her head. "I'm so sorry, Heath. I wish things were different, I wish you listened to all my warnings. I wasn't trying to stop you from finding love, I was trying to..."
"It's okay. What happened, happened, we can both move on from it now," I interrupt her.
"No, I'm sorry for what's about to happen to you. I'm not who you think I am, well, not really anyway. Ten years ago, I was hired by Mr. Harper. I was a new manager and just started at my company. At the time I had no idea what I was agreeing to, but I had big dreams, and this felt like the easiest way to get where I wanted. You know what it's like, we both had the shiny lights of LA blinding us."
I glare back at her, trying to process what she's telling me. She works for Amelia's dad?
"I know it's too late for regrets. I am who I am now, and I have already done unspeakable things to cover up the web of secrets and lies that followed you getting signed with me. But after today, I get to walk away from all of this. I just wish things could have been different for you." She actually looks sad.
I stand in a rush, knowing I need to get the fuck out of here. But I'm already too late. I see William Harper appear in my line of sight, from a door to the back of the room. I had assumed it was the bathroom, but it must be an adjoining room. He was waiting for me the whole time. The hairs rise on the back of my neck. I know what this means for me. I'm fucked. The unspeakable things Della did were for him. He has one hand lifted to his lips, gesturing for me to be quiet, and the other lifts his shirt, showing me the gun tucked into his waistband. My blood runs cold, and my eyes flick back to Della. The bitch set me up.
"I'm sorry," she says again, like she really means it but her hands are tied. She stands, backing away.
"What happened to Elara, it was you, wasn't it?"
"I told you, Heath. I'm not a good person," she says sadly.
"I hope the guilt of what you have done eats away at you for the rest of your life," I spit back at her, knowing my time is running out. Her head drops, and she leaves via the back door William just came through.
"Think we need to have a little chat, son, don't you?"
"No, but looks like I don't have a choice."
"You're smarter than I gave you credit for. I guess that's how you got my Amelia to take off to another country and marry you so quickly. Your one mistake was forgetting to ask permission from her father." He laughs like this whole thing is some kind of joke. Maybe the power has gone to his head and he's become delusional, because this man standing in front of me isn't the man I remember as Amelia's dad. Stress lines are etched into his skin, and his waistline has blown out from the fit man he used to be. His tailored suit is stretched over his belly, like the buttons might pop if he moves too quickly.
"Her father was trying to marry her off to some other guy and move her to Paris against her will," I seethe. I know my chances of getting out of here alive are slim, but I'm not going to leave my family behind without a fucking fight. And since I have no weapon and no way of alerting Kobe to what's going on without being shot, words are all I have.
"She should have taken me up on the offer. Would have saved your life and her business."
"You know Amelia will never forgive you for killing another husband of hers. We all know what you did to Declan."
His face stays emotionless, but I see the twitch of his eye. He's doesn't like that his girls know what kind of a monster their dear daddy is. "I didn't do anything that piece of shit didn't deserve," he snaps, and I know I'm on to something; his girls are his downfall. "She won't miss you. I can read the headlines now. Rock star overdoses on same drug as journalist girlfriend after wife kicks him out for having an affair." He laughs like the sick delusional fucker he is.
I feel the trickle of sweat run down my back at the thought. That was his plan all along, get Della to make sure Elara has an overdose, then he's going to kill me and make it look like I did this to myself. All so he can make my beautiful girl believe it was all over some affair. My heart breaks for her. She has been through enough. She deserves so much better and so do the kids. "You're crazy. You would really hurt your own daughter that much to make sure she's not with me? She loves me. Those kids do too. I have made a promise to them all that I will be here to take care of them because that is what she wants."
"I would do whatever I feel necessary to protect what's mine." He reaches into his pocket and throws down a plastic bag with a handful of pills in it. “We can do this the easy way, where you just take the pills and go off to sleep quietly, or I can hold you down and force them down your throat.”
He has to be kidding me. He doesn’t know me as well as he thinks he does if he thinks I will just lie down and take whatever he has in that fucking bag, leaving Amelia and the kids. "At what cost? Your girls already know what kind of monster you are and everything you have done in the past to protect what is yours. Or should I saycontrolwhat is yours. Including who you've killed. And where did that get you? Rose left you; your daughters all despise you. You might be the boss, dishing out your orders and manipulating people's lives to suit whatever sick needs you have, but you have no one left to fight for. You have lost it all."
He straightens his shoulders and puffs out his chest. "If they know what I have done for them, then they know I love them and would do it all over again in a heartbeat to make sure they stay safe from this world they know nothing about."
"They know a lot more than you think. Your girls are smart and resourceful, and they have created lives for themselves you should be proud of, where they are happy. They don't need you to protect them; they have worked out how to take care of themselves in this nightmare of a world you brought them into.” My hands tremble with the rage burning inside of me. No father can justify the things he has done and try to pass them off as taking care of his family. He is the worst kind of human.
He studies my face, like he is waiting for me to make the next move.
