“Okay, sweetheart. I’ll get your phone.” I get up to retrieve the phone that’s been stashed in her purse all week. On the way back to the bedroom, I turn it on for her. The phone goes crazy beeping with text messages and voice mails. “It’s probably safe to say they already know.” I hand it over to her.
She begins to return the text messages from her sisters.
“What’re they saying?”
“They’re in shock and hiding from reporters.”
“I’ll set up some security for them.” I use my phone to send a message to Gordon Yates, our director of security in LA, asking him to work with Addie to arrange for immediate security for Natalie’s sisters.
I’m already on it, Gordon replies right away. I share that news with Natalie.
“Thank you. I hate to think of them being pursued by reporters and their lives upended again because of this.”
“What about your life, sweetheart?”
“My life is just fine, and it will continue to be fine. This has nothing to do with me.”
“Nat…”
“What? It doesn’t.”
“Is it possible your dad did this because he wants to make things right with you and he saw killing Rogers as a way to do that?”
She shakes her head, and I can see the disbelief has been replaced by anger. “It’s not about me. He did it because Rogers resurrected all the shit about Oren. In his mind, he was protecting Oren by killing Rogers. It’s always about Oren with him, even now.”
“You don’t know that for sure.”
“Yes, I do. And the only thing that matters to me is that the FBI is no longer looking at you for his murder.”
“Emmett said the press is driving Liza crazy wanting a statement from us about the arrest.”
“You could have her say that Natalie hasn’t seen or spoken to her father in more than eight years. His actions have no reflection on her or her sisters, who are also not in contact with Martin Genovese, and we ask that you respect her privacy and that of her family.”
“You’re sure that’s what you want?”
“Absolutely.”
I’m awake all night thinking about things I’d much rather forget. My father killed David. With hindsight, it makes a sick sort of sense. He must’ve been enraged to have the sordid tale resurrected after David went public with my story. Seeing Oren’s name once again dragged through the mud and every sick detail of what he’d done to me rebroadcast to a whole new audience probably sent my father into a rage. The audience was much larger this time around thanks to my relationship with Flynn and the insatiable appetite of the Hollywood media machine.
Despite my horror over what my father did, I’m sick with relief to know the spotlight is off Flynn.
“I can feel you spinning, sweetheart,” he mutters.
I thought he was asleep.
“Talk to me.”
“Nothing much to say.”
“What’re you thinking about?”
“That the only thing that matters is that the FBI no longer considers you a suspect.”
“That’s not the only thing that matters. You matter, too.”
“This can’t touch me if I don’t let it, Flynn. What does it matter to me if my father lost his mind and killed David? He hasn’t been my father in any way except biologically since the night he dragged my mother out of the ER after his friend savagely attacked me. When he left me there, he drew a line in the sand that can never again be crossed.”
“I was going to ask if you wanted me to see about getting him a lawyer.”
“No. He’s on his own. He’s made his choices, and now he can live with them. I don’t want anything to do with him or what he did.”
“Whatever you want, sweetheart. I’m following your lead. What about your mom?”
“What about her?”
“I wondered if you might want to see her now that you’re back in touch with your sisters.”
“I’ve thought about that, about her, and I have to admit that it hurt me all over again to hear she’d finally left my dad when she couldn’t bring herself to do that when I needed her most. Since I’m back in touch with the girls and I intend to be fully present in their lives, I suppose I’ll run into her at some point, but I can’t imagine ever having a close relationship with her.”
“I can totally see where you’re coming from. She had her chance to step up for you and she didn’t.”
“No, she didn’t, and there’s no way she can ever truly fix that as far as I’m concerned.” I link my fingers with his. “I want you to know… If something like this, my dad killing David, had happened before this, before us, it would’ve set me back again to day one, but I’m stronger now than I’ve ever been, and it’s because of you.”
“No, baby, it’s because of you. You’re the strongest person I’ve ever known.”
“Our love has made me stronger than I was alone. And it’s made me happier than I ever could’ve imagined being.”
“Me, too.”
“Thank you for chasing after me the day Fluff bit you.”
“Thanks for turning around, for giving me a chance.”
I smile at him, madly in love and free from the past. “As if I ever had a choice.”
“The choice has always been yours, sweetheart.”
“I choose you. I choose us.”
He wraps his arms around me and kisses me. “I’ll always choose you, too.”
Safe and secure in his arms, I feel like I can take on the world and win every time.
Epilogue