Never Giving Up (Never #3)

Her words were cold and removed and my heart broke in half for her.

“He said he had been trying to take a picture, but it had been on video by mistake. Immediately, I panicked. I grabbed for his phone and tried to make him erase it and he backhanded me. In that moment I knew the first Bobby I met, the man who cared for me and was sweet and kind was never coming back. He said that the video wasn’t a big deal and that he already had pictures, so what was I so upset about?” She looked at me like I might have an answer for her, but I was in shock and couldn’t help but feel disgusted for her, terrified for her. “This went on for a few more weeks. He would make me have sex with him, lording the video over me, threatening to post it on the internet, email it to my parents, basically anything he could think of to hurt me, he used it against me.”

Brittany raised her eyes to mine and a new sadness had taken over, remorse and regret filled her to the brim and I ached for her. “I’ll never forget the first time Bobby walked into Poppy. I panicked because he’d never come into my work before and I was afraid he was there to out me, to show my employer these disgusting videos and photos I’d let him take of me. And you can imagine my horror when you walked right up to him, kissed him on the cheek, and called him Kyle.”

My brain started piecing things together, started connecting all the dots she’d so bravely laid out for me.

“What?” I whispered.

“Yeah,” she said, so nonchalantly, wiping tears from her eyes. “I had been sleeping with your boyfriend. Not just sleeping with him though, making sex videos with him. I was shattered. I was completely disgusted with myself.”

I looked to Porter whose jaw was tense and clenching and I knew that if Kyle wasn’t already dead, he’d be on a rampage right now looking for him.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I couldn’t! That day he came in to Poppy, he was taking you to lunch and when you went in the back to get your coat, he told me that if I said anything to anyone he would release everything.” She paused and took in a shuddering breath. “That’s also how he forced me to steal all that money from you.”

My heart stopped and my breath was stuck in my throat. In the corner of my eye I saw Porter place Mattie in her crib and start pacing the room, back and forth.

“I’m so sorry, Ella. I never meant to do any of this and if I could go back and change everything I would. I just didn’t know what to do. For so long, years, he had a thumb over me, taunting me with the videos, telling me he’d post them all over the internet and my future would be ruined. A few times I almost refused, almost let him follow through with his threats. There were other times I also thought about ending it all. I just wanted to be that carefree, fun, happy girl I use to be, ya know?”

“Oh my God, Brittany, I can’t believe he did that to you,” I whispered. Even after everything I’d been through with Kyle, learning the depths and lengths his evilness spanned was always still surprising. I wouldn’t put any of this past him, but still found it hard to believe that someone I’d wasted so much of my time on could even think of pulling something like this off.

“When I heard that you’d killed him, that you had shot him dead, that was the most wonderful moment of my life, and that alone made me so sad. The idea that the death of someone gave me some sort of freedom, well, that really messed with my mind. But I couldn’t get over the happiness. Finally, I thought, finally it’s over.” She sniffed again, wiping her nose on a kleenex.

“But then the private investigator came into the store and I knew I either had to tell someone, or I was going to be found out.” A new wave of panic moved over her and I watched as she simply fell apart.

“I’m so sorry, Ella. Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I would never have stolen from you—not in a million years. I know what you must think of me and . . .”

“Brittany, don’t say another word.” Porter’s voice was loud and firm from across the room. He walked over and knelt in front of her. “If this is the true story, if he really did this to you, and I don’t have one tiny sliver of doubt that he did, you need to talk to the police. Ella and I, of all people, understand that Kyle was by far the worst person that ever walked this earth, and I am so sorry that he did that to you. It wasn’t your fault and we could never place blame with you. But you have to tell this to a detective.”

She nodded, sniffling at the same time. “I know. I just wanted Ella to hear my side of the story before I turned myself in.”

“What do you mean turn yourself in?” I asked, finding my voice suddenly concerned with what she was planning to do.

Anie Michaels's books