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Piper and her sister Frankie were here, along with her husband, Wilder. Bristol’s friend Cheyenne, who was now Paris’s as well, and her husband Sutton were running late because their daughter Lucy had a recital this morning. Beck was talking to Beau and Brody, and their wives Georgia and Molly, who was Wilder’s sister, were out back with the kids on the play set.
A full house means a full heart.
My eyes caught on the canvas on the wall, and I smiled, not realizing how true that was until this very moment. I continued scanning my home but stopped when I found Paris looking at me. “I love you,” she mouthed.
Because saying I love you didn’t touch the surface of what I felt, I blew her a kiss. She pulled her head back in shock and then caught it.
The past few months had been a whirlwind and an emotional roller coaster for both of us, but now that we were settled, it felt like things were finally slowing down.
We moved into our new house about six weeks ago, and even though she had it decorated in about fourteen days, she refused to have a housewarming party because she said she was waiting for one thing to complete our home. It turned out she was waiting for my Harry Potter collection that I didn’t even know my mom had in storage. They were now displayed on the only shelf Paris hadn’t filled in the living room.
She was incredible. She was happy. She’d gotten a client and was slowly getting back into wedding planning, thanks to Sal. He had the local paper print a front-page article about what Arthur did, including the names of the women he paid to spread the rumors. The FBI investigated Arthur’s company, and when decades of shady political donations, bribes, and corruption was released, the stock plummeted, and Donovan Corp declared bankruptcy and shut down.
Paris was humiliated at first, but it didn’t take long for brides to start calling and women who used to glare at her to smile instead. Realizing the shadow following her had been drowned out by her shining light, the real Paris blossomed… and it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever borne witness to.
“Free for a minute?” Sal asked, nudging me with his elbow and pulling me from my thoughts.
“Yup.”
He angled his head, and I followed, dreading why we needed privacy. We went to my office, and he closed the door behind us. “I’ll preface this by saying whatever you choose to do with this information is entirely up to you.”
“What is it, Sal?”
He walked over to my computer, plugged a flash drive in, and motioned for me to sit. Fuck. I put my password in and opened the file, my stomach roiling instantly. “Even without sound, it’s hard to watch, but I think it’ll explain everything you didn’t realize you needed to know.”
I pressed play and saw the hallway at the top of the stairs in Paris’s childhood home. A young version of her came running down the hall, and the nanny, who we now know as Belinda, chasing her. Skidded to a stop in front of a bedroom. She crossed her arms like she was on guard, but Belinda grabbed her hair roughly and yanked her away.
Paris was thrown to the ground, and Belinda went for the door, but Paris crawled over and grabbed her leg and tugged.
Belinda then pulled her belt off her jeans and began hitting Paris. Over and over again. Her face was pinched in pain, but she didn’t appear to be crying out loud. “What the fuck, Sal? You told me you didn’t find it.”
“I know. I was waiting for you to be ready to see it.”
“I’ll never be ready to see that shit. I can’t watch the woman I love get beat as a child.”
He nodded. “You don’t have to.”
“How much worse does it get?”
“Austin peeked through the crack of the door, and Belinda saw it, then tried to get to him again, but Paris grabbed her and slammed the door shut, then lunged at Belinda, trying to get the belt. They fought that fight and moved to the top of the stairs, and yeah… it was a total accident, but Belinda tumbled down and lay motionless at the bottom. But Arthur was there the whole time?”
“What?”
He huffed in disgust. “He was around the corner, but he could see what was happening and didn’t step in to protect his daughter. I don’t know if Paris really thinks he just got home, or if she knew he was there and didn’t do shit to stop it.”
I shook my head and scrubbed my hands down my face, then got to my feet and stood at the window, looking out into the yard that would hopefully one day be filled with our kids. “You’re right, I didn’t realize I needed to know, but it explains a lot, including why she didn’t want Gordon to be hurt. She knew Belinda probably did the same thing to him, if not worse.”
“At least we know the bitch suffered before she died.”
That was the truth. We discovered a ton of returned emails and letters. Gordon really had been trying to contact Arthur to get help from him for his mother. The only response he ever got was a handwritten note that told him if he didn’t leave Arthur alone, he’d kill Belinda before she got the chance to die on her own. That explained why he became desperate.
If I’d have fucking dug deeper, the ending to this mess would have been completely different. “I need a minute.”
He left without a word, and when the door closed, I put my hands on my knees and tried to take a full breath, but it was like my lungs were in a cage.
“You okay, honey?” Paris’s voice cracked me like a whip, and I jerked up and watched her approach. That innocent little girl from the tape grew up to be the love of my life, and I wanted to scream that I couldn’t go back in time and stop that shit from happening to her.
What I could do, what I was going to do, was spend every last breath making sure she knew how special she was and protecting her from anything or anyone that even threatened her peace.
