Page 91 of Living Hell

“I never had an abortion. I had a miscarriage.”

He chuckled. The evil bastard laughed at my pain. “I know. I’m the one who spread the rumor that you had an abortion and wrote the letter to Tyler. Oh and making Tyler the animal killer was genius.”

I didn’t know if he was speaking to me or just going insane. “You spread those lies to the reporter?”

This would get him fired as mayor for sure. Once the people of this town heard the lies he was spreading just to mess with people he didn’t like, they’d be outraged.

Keaghan leaned in with a snarl, his coffee breath hot on my cheeks and said, “I am the reporter, Iona.”

That wasn’t right. I’d researched that reporter. His articles had gone back almost a decade.

“But you’re not a writer.”

“Nowadays, with companies paying good money for click-bait, as long as the story is salacious, it’s going to get bought. I admit it wasn’t as easy to sell the stories over five years ago, but I’d find out what part you were up for and anonymously reach out to the casting director or producer or whoever I could get a hold of to ruin your chances of getting the part.”

“You’re the reason it took me so long to get good parts?”

“Yeah, but your stupid agent wouldn’t give up on you. I tried to sell her stories a few times, but it never worked.”

Of course not. Babette knew a lie when she heard one. I had no idea the crap she protected me from and was thankful to have her in my life.

As disturbingly captivating as that information was, there was a reason I went to this shack in the first place.

“Did you get those guys to steal Tyler’s furniture, too?”

He nodded, but I needed him to tell me the story.

“That was easy. Those guys were easily swayed by money and drugs. Little did they know the drugs were tainted.”

I gasped, “You tried to kill them?”

“Kill’s a bad word.” He swayed his head side to side. “I like to think that I tried to silence them, permanently. Hopefully, they’re six feet under now and can’t say a word to anyone.”

“You’ve got problems.”

“Don’t I know it.” He sneered. “First it was not getting to dip my dick into your tight, virgin snatch. I only prefer virgins. There’s something about the fear and tears in their eyes when I first sink in that I love.”

He was disgusting. I spit in his face. He wiped it away and laughed. “It wasn’t just you I was after. It was your idiotic Prince Charming as well. Tyler was a dick, always has been, always will be. I knew he was looking for a house, and I’d seen the way he looked at that place on Dante Street. It was easy to bribe people when there’s a lot of money involved. Thankfully, when my parents died, they left me everything. I paid off the owner of the house and the realtor to make sure he bought that house. When he put in the offer, I knew I had to set my plan into action.”

“What plan? To sell it to Babette, too?”

“No. While that would make me a lot of money, it would defeat the purpose of everything. Your agent never bought that house—she lied to you. You live in Hollywood and you don’t realize they all lie? You’re stupider than I thought,” he said with a chuckle. “I just made sure your agent had you come back to town. Which worked out better than I had thought with her making you live with Tyler. Paying her masseuse to convince her was easy but getting her to make you come back East was hard. But she was gullible with the words that came from a half-naked man.”

I shook my head. None of this made sense. “How would making Tyler buy a home and me come back here help you?”

“Promise you won’t run?” he asked with his attempt at puppy dog eyes.

“Yes,” I lied. He let one hand go and pulled out his phone.

I was ready to punch him but when he held up his screen I stopped. Flashing in front of me was Tyler and me, having sex.

“That’s our bedroom . . . How did you film us?”

“So easy. Why would I go to all this trouble if I couldn’t destroy your career, his career as the vet killer, and sell sex videos of you for lots of money? It’s a total win-win-win . . . for me. Oh, and now I get to have sex with you. You aren’t a virgin anymore, but I can’t have everything I want, now can I?”

I screamed but my voice was soon muffled by his hand. Which was a stupid move on his part because that meant one of my hands was free and was still holding his phone. Also, he was slow trying to knee my legs apart and considering I was wearing pants; he was going to have a hard time doing anything to me.

As much work as he had put into destroying our lives, he wasn’t very smart when it came to the brutal parts.

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