Page 96 of Not Another Rockstar
She just hoped Isaiah would hurry. The burning pain of her scalp distracted her as Anita shoved her down beside the piano.
“How did you get in? Did you hurt Olivier?” Axel’s voice helped Phoebe focus, but he sounded groggy. She looked up to see a thin trickle of blood dripping down his neck.
“Don’t fret,” Anita said, resting her hand on Axel’s shoulder and taking a seat on his lap. Axel tried to pull away, but she tightened the cords when he tried to speak. “Olivier is out with Nick and August, I’ve got no reason to hurt him. Maybe I should have considered punishing him. He never changed the gate code, or the security camera app password. He is supposed to be keeping you safe.” Anita kissed Axel’s cheek, and Phoebe couldsee the hate in his eyes. “I don’t want to hurt you. I only wanted to help you see the truth.”
“What truth is that?” Axel asked, remaining calm.
“That Phoebe doesn’t love you. She only cares about herself. She got Cillian killed. He started to drink, stopped writing because of her.” She turned to Phoebe. “You made him reliant on you, so he could never leave you!”
“If this is about Cillian…” Phoebe swallowed as the gun shook in Anita’s hand. “…why don’t we let Axel go? He didn’t do anything to you. It’s me you hate. I saw the messages you sent to him. You cared about him, wanted to protect him. You loved him…” She just wanted Axel out of the room. The cords were like razors against his throat, and she feared one aggressive tug would take him from her.
“I don’t love Cillian,” Anita snapped, and gave a tortured laugh. “Cillian was in the way. He ruined everything with his pathetic little love triangle. Because of that stupid make-up artist, you were going to break up with Cillian, and I wasn’t going to let you get your claws into Axel—I had to get rid of you!”
“Get my claws into Axel? What are you talking about? There was nothing going on between Axel and me back then. Are you starting to believe your own lies that we were having an affair?” she asked, reminded of what Anita had wanted Helen to confess during her interview.
“Do you think I’m stupid?” Anita’s nostrils flared. “I heard Axel buying your paintings; he even sent one as a gift to his family. I couldn’t stomach how devoted he was to you when you didn’t even care about him! So I thought while we were in Munich, I’d teach you a lesson in appreciation, and have Sheen destroy your studio. I had to get rid of you, because if you were single, I knew Axel wouldn’t be able to contain his feelings for you—and I was right! You both moved on before Cillian’s body was even cold.”
“Get rid of us? You really wanted us both dead? Did you hate us that much?” Phoebe asked, not buying into her game. She wasn’t going to explain herself to Anita. “You knew Cillian was with Helen in the dressing room that night—you even directed me to the damn room! Did you plan the crash to get rid of us?”
“Not exactly. I didn’t expect Cillian to die, that was just a bonus. I thought a drink-driving charge would ruin Cillian’s image. Add in his cheating, and his failure to produce the songs he had promised, and he would’ve had to leave the band to save their image.”
“You’ve lost your fucking mind. How could you do such a thing? Cillian thought of you as a friend,” Axel rasped, trying to get her off his lap. Phoebe used the distraction to move closer, but stilled when Anita slapped him.
“He was my friend, but he refused to get his act together! I had no choice.”
“No choice?” Phoebe said. “You had nothing but choices.”
“Shut it.” Anita planted a heeled boot into Phoebe’s ribs. “You also had a choice, and you chose to get into that car with him! So what if I told Cillian you were staying with Axel in the tour bus? You should have seen what a wreck he was that morning. Riddled with guilt, and remorse, but he refused to come clean about the pregnancy and I knew what I had to do. I gave him something to take the edge off.”
“You drugged him?” Phoebe asked, holding her ribs.
“There was so much in his system, I doubt a few Xanax even made a difference. I didn’t make him drive. When I told him Nick wanted him to drive you home so you could clear the air, he decided to get behind the wheel because he was so desperate to believe Nick wasn’t angry with him. That he was being given a chance to make things right. Again, why would you let Cillian drive? He smelt like he’d taken a bath in vodka. Maybe you’re the one who wanted him dead.”
“I don’t believe you; the coroner would’ve known if you drugged him,” Phoebe countered.
“I identified the body. He was a famous rockstar with a reputation for partying. All I had to do was tell the coroner about his Xanax problem and that we would appreciate it if he left it off the report. Drugs in his system wasn’t a surprise. I didn’t even have to plan the accident; it was just a happy coincidence. Two birds with one stone—too bad I only got one, but I still managed to clip your wing.”
“Is that why you sent the razor blades? Because you wanted to hurt my hands even more?” Phoebe asked, wondering if Anita had been behind everything or if Sheen had helped. She needed to keep Anita talking so that Isaiah would have time to get her message.
“I only did that because you cut Axel at the studio. Again, he was trying to help you, and you cut him!” Anita snarled. “If you were really worried about them then you would’ve left the house.”
“I get it—you wanted to hurt me, you want to protect the others. But why set the gallery fire? Lena has nothing to do with this, and she could’ve been killed!”
Anita moved away from Axel. “You were supposed to be there! It’s your fault she got hurt. In Italy, when I saw you together at the beach and I saw that tattoo… Matching tattoos! You really made me sick with that one. I knew you were worming your way into Axel’s heart, but that was overkill. You weren’t going to give up. You even had Axel defend you—he threw me out of the villa like I was nothing. After the reports about the break-in, another attack on a gallery wouldn’t be a surprise, and all that paint went up so fast. Sheen was the perfect cover, but he ruined everything when he busted open the door. And then he had the nerve to turn up here! When I saw him on the cameras,I knew he couldn’t be trusted, and I couldn’t let him meet with Isaiah and Nick.”
“You killed Sheen for trying to help us.” Phoebe’s heart raced as she realised Anita’s delusional love had turned her into a murderer.
Anita tapped the gun against her thigh. “You shouldn’t be worried about him, he was a threat. He was so eager to get close to all of us; he opened the door for me once I told him Nick sent me to talk with him. Then I saw the state of his apartment, and yikes, obsession would be an understatement. There are some real crazies out there—you can’t blame me for wanting to protect the band. In fact, you should be thanking me, but you couldn’t think of anyone but yourself. Your wants, your needs, your reputation.”
“You’re right, the police told us that Sheen was obsessed,” Phoebe said. “You only wanted to protect them. I’m sorry I didn’t see that.”
“You’re lying—you don’t care about anyone but yourself.” Anita kicked her again, knocking the breath out of her. She recoiled to the piano, trying to protect herself, as Anita turned to Axel and stroked his cheek. “No matter what I did, Axel never looked at me the way he looked at you. The first time I saw him on stage, I knew he was the one. He was a nobody with more talent than anyone knew. I got him into the band, I made them into stars, I gave them everything they could’ve wanted, but it was never enough. You did nothing but add misery to his life with your drama, and yet he couldn’t stay away. I won’t let him destroy himself.”
Axel’s cheeks reddened as she tightened the cord around his neck. It hurt Phoebe more than anything Anita could do to her.
There was no way they were going to get out of this alive without playing along with her delusions.
“You’re right, I don’t love Axel,” she rasped, clutching her chest. “I was only using him to get back at Cillian’s memory. To get even. And I drove a wedge between you to get what I wanted.”
