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Paisley looked pained to pit them against each other. “Please understand, Carmen, Doug’s family is hurting. They want answers. Realistically, I’m the only one who can provide that before this pain completely destroys them. I’m the reason they don’t have their son anymore, and they deserve to know who did this.”
“You could be killed in the process,” Carmen bit back impatiently. “You understand that, right?”
“I don’t think anyone understands better than I how deadly this can be. My best friend is about to buried. I know what I’m risking.”
Carmen hesitated. “I can send you someone. He’s recently finished at a location overseas. I was planning to give him some time off. It was rough over there. But Ben, your family will never forgive me if I don’t get you some kind of backup.”
“It has to be someone solid,” Ben replied cautiously. “You’re sure you can trust him?”
“He’s one of Gloria’s guys from back in the day. He’s old-school but solid. The only way your brothers don’t fly down there and pull you both out, is if you listen to Mick once he gets there. Everything he says goes. He’s the best there is at security and threat assessment. He’ll hate your plan, but he’ll do his best to keep you alive while you do it. I’ll get him there in twenty-four hours. Just lie low until then.”
“Can do.” Ben tried to be as compliant as possible, needing this to work. He knew she was right about his brothers. If they thought he was being reckless with his life, they would swoop in and try to convince him to come home. To follow the protocol. But there was no mistaking Paisley’s determination. She was going to risk it all to end it on her terms.
“Lie low means you can’t be ordering food. No going for a casual afternoon jog. And I’m sorry to say, you can’t go to the funeral, or even Doug’s house. Stay put.”
“I got us a bunch of food from a gas station,” Ben said through a smile, the frozen burritos suddenly laughable. “The only risk to us right now is going to be high cholesterol.”
“Ben,” Carmen said ominously, “I’m not keeping this from Brian. He and I have had a few too many instances of me trying to go around the rules for the sake of doing what I think needs to be done. They’re about to stage an intervention on me.” She let out a defeated little noise. “I can’t keep what you’re trying to do a secret. You understand that, right?”
“I get it. You’ve got an impossible job. It’s constantly juggling your gut instincts against a proven strategy. And there are lives hanging in the balance. I wouldn’t want it. Just tell my brothers to trust me.”
“They do. But they love you too. That’s the part that makes the brain go all fuzzy and weird. You can’t think straight when someone you love is in trouble. I can’t promise that I can keep them from racing there, but knowing Mick is joining you might be enough to put their minds at ease for now.”
“Just remind them how many shitty situations I got us all out of over the years. I’m the problem solver. If they don’t agree, ask what happened when we got caught on the roof of the high school. They’ll remember how smooth I am under pressure.”
CHAPTER17
PAISLEY
Paisley and Ben sat quietly on the couch in their hotel room, the soft glow of the television illuminating their tired faces. They munched on the packaged food from the gas station and stared silently at an old comedy that couldn’t illicit many laughs from them tonight.
Ben broke the silence, looking over and analyzing Paisley’s profile. "Were the rats the worst of it before last week?”
She shrugged, though she knew the answer. “It was the most disgusting part of it, but there were other things that were scary. Or really disruptive. Mostly the whole thing felt so violating. The idea that they could reach me at any time and in any place was awful. The house I rented in Texas during a movie shoot had been broken into. They took all my clothes. Literally every single item of clothing I had and burned it all in the backyard while I was on set.”
“Why the hell would they do that?” Ben’s face contorted with confusion. “None of it makes sense.”
"Doug thought it was symbolic. Like they wanted to strip me of everything I had, both physically and emotionally. They wanted me bare, with nothing to my name." She fidgeted with the string on the couch cushion and could practically smell the smoky scent that had greeted her that afternoon when she realized what had happened.
Ben's brow furrowed with concern. "These people are sick. I keep thinking we’ll be able to connect some dots. It’s just so random. Like there are no dots to connect.”
An all too familiar sense of helplessness washed over her. "Maybe it is some twisted jealously and they want power over me. Or maybe a bunch of crazies all got together and picked me out of a magazine as the person they wanted to destroy. Because this isn’t stalking anymore. It’s not obsession. This is mental warfare."
"They have so much access to your life. So much knowledge of where you will be and when. The police and Carmen's team are digging into your life, but is there anyone, like an ex-boyfriend or someone who might have a grudge against you, who would want to do this? That’s all I can think of. Did a relationship end badly?"
Paisley shook her head adamantly. "No, there's no one like that. My past relationships have been amicable. That was the thought the police kept going back to. There's no indication that any of them would do something like that. It wasn’t a long list and easy to investigate. Carmen didn’t find any ties back to them either."
Ben pressed on. She understood why. Vindication and drama were often the byproducts of ended relationships, especially in her line of work. Everything was public and up for debate. People watched you fall in love and read every sensational headline that went along with it.
“Who were you dating when it started or right before it started?” Ben paced around the room as desperate as she’d been feeling for months for some sort of obvious connection but there wasn’t any.
She’d assumed he already knew the answer to his question. Everyone did. She eyed him curiously. “Do you seriously not know?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’d have to live under a rock not to have heard of my relationship that summer. They called us Swayley. Sway Vallance. He’s one of the most beloved guys in Hollywood. We dated and it took the world by storm.” She rolled her eyes.
“Swayley? Sorry I really don’t follow that stuff. I know who he is, but I didn’t know you dated. Who was before that?”
