Page 114 of Starcrossed Colorado

“She told him your identity?”

“Yep. Once he knew, he told Lori to ask me for money. Supposedly so they could start a new life together.”

“Did she?”

Ayla shook her head. “No, but Lori told me about it. She was so upset. She said L got angry when she refused. I even said I’d give her the money, or a loan if she preferred, but she thought she’d made a mistake by trusting him. She actually said she was scared.” Ayla leaned forward, her green eyes going hard. “That was just a few days before she died.”

“Scared of what? Of L? Did she think he’d hurt her?”

“She didn’t say exactly. Believe me, I tried to get it out of her, but she said she’d figure it out on her own. When I heard about her death, I freaked out. Hired a private investigator to come to Silver Ridge. I refused to believe it was an accident. I had two suspects. This L person, and you.”

“Me? Why?”

“Because you were her husband. Everyone says it’s the boyfriend or husband who usually does the woman in. So it was L or you. I thought you could have found out about her secret affair, and you’d gotten angry that she wanted to leave you, and maybe that was why she was scared.”

“She never told me. Never.”

“I believe you. My investigator figured out you had an alibi. And he searched all over Hart County for someone who could be L, but couldn’t say for certain who the guy was.”

“The driver who hit Lori saw someone else on the highway that night. Said this other person could’ve pushed her.”

“I’ve read the police report. But my investigator came to the same conclusion the police did. Not enough evidence to suggest it was anything other than an accident. I had to accept that I would never know exactly how or why Lori died.”

“I still haven’t accepted it.” My mind worked, trying to untangle the mystery. “When did you plan on telling me all of this?”

“Would it have mattered if I did? It took a long time before I was convinced you had nothing to do with it. And by then, when I tried to get in touch with you, you wouldn’t answer. You had no interest in anything I had to say. Every number I called you from, you blocked it.”

Yeah, that was true.

What a damn mess.

I got up and went to lean against the counter. “How did those reporters find out about your connection to me and Maisie?They’ve been poking around here in Silver Ridge since the beginning of the summer.”

“I don’t know that either. But I had an assistant early this year who was stealing money from me. I told you I have trouble finding people I can trust. She sold at least one story about me to the tabloids. It was about me crying in my dressing room before a show.”

“Geez.”

Ayla gestured at her tear-streaked face, the corner of her mouth quirking in a rueful smile. “Not so hard to believe, is it?”

“What about this L guy, whoever he is? Could he have told the reporters, since he knows you’re Lori’s sister?”

“Maybe. But that would be dangerous. Because if he really had something to do with Lori’s death, why would he invite more attention? It’s far more likely that someone on my team gave some reporters a tip about my secret family members, and they did the rest. I wish you and your girlfriend never got dragged into this.”

My heart twinged painfully at the mention of Emma. “She’s not really my girlfriend yet. I’d like her to be, but that article publicized some really personal things about her, and I have no idea if she’ll want to keep seeing me.”

“I truly am sorry. I left messages with my publicist and my lawyers, asking them to do whatever they can to shut this story down. Especially if it could put Maisie in danger. I don’t care how much it costs. Whatever I have to do to protect her, I will. And I’ll help Emma too. However I can. But my team doesn’t know where I am at the moment, and I’d like it to stay that way. At least until I’ve had some time to rest. So I can think about what I want for my future, because how things are now isn’t working.”

My head ached. Two days’ worth of exhaustion had just crashed into me. After the revelations about Lori, this entirelynew perspective on Ayla, and her offer to help… I’d had just about all my brain could process.

And I still missed Emma so badly.

“You can stay here a few days,” I said. “My brother and sister are already upstairs, so I guess you should take Emma’s room.”

“You sure?”

“Not really, but there’s no other beds. So unless you want to sleep down here on a training mat, it’s Emma’s room or nothing.”

“And Maisie? Can I finally meet her in the morning?”

---