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Damn Cole to hell for talking shit about me. And damn theEnquirerfor printing his shit. I’ve always managed to keep myself under the radar. Now I look like a pitiful joke.
I switch off my laptop, removing the repulsively happy couple from my sight. It’s hard enough to fight your inner demons, but what about the real life ones who try to take you down?
Charlotte and Cole both know I’m lucky to be alive. I could have died in the same car accident that killed Jennifer, my mentor and lifelong friend.
That accident happened only ten months ago. What followed were months of depression and grief that saw me getting hooked on painkillers. That’s what Cole is talking about in reference tomedication and drugs.
After another near brush with death I worked hard to fix myself and get back on track. I haven’t even touched a painkiller for close to seven months.
Trying to face my grief and bereavement without the gloss of medication is probably the thing that threw me off course again weeks ago, when I had a serious panic attack at work after being trapped in the elevator.
My doctor diagnosed me with post-traumatic stress disorder and signed me off work. Now I’ve been forced to take a six-month sabbatical.
Cole knowsallof that, but he’s the kind of prick who believes it’s okay to kick someone when they already have one foot in the grave and they’re trying to climb out. The worse thing is he’s not the only one to blame.
Dad is too. And he knows it. That’s why he didn’t call me.
My father has given Cole wayyy too much power.
As Cole has worked for my father since he was in his teens, Dad treated him like a son. Cole even made the move to New York and got even more power when Dad appointed him CFO of the company. That’s when Cole and Charlotte got together.
Dad didn’t call me today and instead tried to fix the shit because he knew the article makes him look just as bad and wrong as Cole.
Knowing my father, he didn’t want anything to taint the perfect image of the dictator and controller he’s become over me since the accident.
It hurts my soul when I think of seeing either of them later.
My gaze drifts to the TV where people are cheering while they jump up and down.
Some game show is on, and one of the contestants just won a trip to Vegas. I had the TV on mute while I was talking to Zoe.
The footage switches to the multicolor lights of The Strip, and the anger pulsing through me snaps my usual level-headedness. It ignites something wicked.
Something wicked and rebellious that pushes a crazy idea into my mind.
Trainwreck waiting to happen.
Yeah, maybe…
Maybe Cole’s words cut me deeper than any blade could because he might be right. The objective word beingmight.
I don’t have to give him that power over me.
Not him or my father.
At least, not today.
My flight leaves at ten. But I’m not going to Canada, and I’m not seeing my family later.
I’m going to Vegas.
Chapter 2
Luc
My phone rings for the gazillionth time, buzzing on the table as if it’s about to get up and hit me with a one-two punch.
The sound blends in with the soft club music surrounding Hunter and me in the VIP area of the Blue Moon Club in Vegas.
