Page 92 of Living Hell

I grabbed his middle finger and pulled it back. When he let go of me, I smacked him over the head with his phone. Finally, I kneed him in his groin. The guy fell, and I heard a snap of his finger.

I hadn’t meant to break his finger, but I needed to get out of this situation any way possible. I made a mental note to send Olivia a fruit basket for the finger trick—it worked better than I had thought.

Dashing around him, I pushed open the door and gulped the cool, crisp October air. Tyler and the sheriff were walking toward the shack when they saw me, and both picked up speed.

I ran into Tyler’s arms, mumbling that the mayor was in the shed. The sheriff ran into the shack and Tyler refused to let me go.

“It’s okay, I’m here now.”

“That man is a psycho.”

He pulled me back and gazed over my body. “Are you hurt?”

“No. Maybe some cuts on my back but nothing serious.”

His nose flared as he cleared his throat. “And the baby?”

“Fine.” I took a breath and watched as men with guns ran past us toward the shed. Looking down, I realized I still had Keaghan’s phone in my hand. I clung to it, knowing the sheriff would need it for evidence.

I could hear Keaghan yelling in the background. Blaming me for trapping him in the shed. The guy seriously believed he could say anything he wanted and everyone would believe him. Even when it was recorded and there was evidence disproving him. He’d find out soon enough, the world didn’t revolve around him.

“Let’s get you out of here.” Tyler put his arm around me and guided me toward the parade. I was surprised to see the area empty.

“What happened to everyone?”

“The sheriff closed down the parade. It’s going to be rescheduled. Did you know the FBI was involved?”

“Yes. I was involved, too.” I lowered my sweater so he could see the tiny microphone taped to my chest.

“I had to hear that from the sheriff that you were wearing a wire. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“He asked me to not tell anyone. Besides, I didn’t want you getting involved. When the sheriff asked me questions about Keaghan and explained that he was planning to blackmail me about the death of my mother. Which, out of everything he told me, wasn’t the worst thing the mayor was doing. I felt it was important to stop Keaghan.”

Thinking back at being alone in that tiny room with him made me light-headed and nauseous all at the same time.

He sat me on a bench and put his coat around my shoulders. “But you had nothing to do with the death of your mother.”

“Yes, I did.”

Tyler didn’t know everything, though he thought he did. Everyone thought they did, but no one knew my mom better than I did.

“She died of alcohol poisoning, not because of the car accident.”

He put his finger to my chin and lifted it so I would look at him. “Hey, that had nothing to do with you.”

“She always drank. Why do you think she was passed out when we would fool around in my bedroom when we were teenagers? Because she was drunk, not tired. It only got worse when I became successful. She thought she earned it. We would have fights, and I would beg her not to drink but nothing I said worked. Maybe if I hadn’t started my video channel or moved out West, she’d still be alive. It’s all my fault.”

He pulled me into his arms as I began to shake.

“You can’t control what others do to their bodies, Iona. I should know.”

We sat there for a moment letting the painful moments of our past that weighed us down for so long, slowly sink away. I knew the hurt I felt from how my mother treated herself would never fully go away, but it was nice to have strong, loving arms to hold me when the heartache grew to be too much.

“This day did not go as planned,” he said and sighed.

“You got that right.”

“I had plans to surprise you with news of the web series and you ended up in this mess.”

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