Page 74 of The Restaurant on Plum Island
Carlyfelt better about telling Parker about Daphne and calling Uncle Sam.Besides, Uncle Sam wouldn’t have let Parker speak to Daphne if he’d felt she was in danger.
As Parker ended his call, Carly approached him, placing a fresh cup of coffee before him. “Everything okay?” she asked, her voice laced with concern.
Parker looked up, his eyes reflecting a storm of emotions. “Yes and no,” he sighed. “Thank you for getting your uncle to help them. He’s taking Daphne and Lilly to a safer location.” He hesitated, the weight of his next words hanging in the air.
“But?” Carly prompted, her curiosity piqued.
“Now it’s you I’m worried about, Carly,” Parker admitted, his gaze intense. “It’s not just Daphne her brother is going after…” His eyes filled with fear and anxiety, and he ran a shaky hand through his hair. “Daphne and I uncovered things about him that chilled us to the bone.” He cupped the now cold cup of coffee he’d left on the table to take the call.
Carly felt a shiver run down her spine. The gravity of Parker’s words hit her hard. She was tired of living in a tangled web of lies and manipulation. While her stomach churned with fear, her heart and mind joined in a resolve to get to the bottom of this one way or theother. Enough was enough. How dare someone think they can control someone else’s life!
“What kind of dangerous things?” she asked, trying to maintain her composure.
Parker shook his head, his lips pressed into a thin line. “I can’t say much right now, not until I hear from Daphne. But what I can tell you is that her brother wasn’t only manipulating us or you…” His words trailed off. “The reason he’s after Daphne is that she’s taken all the evidence we need to prove that he’s been blackmailing other celebrities for years.” He looked at the mug in his hands. “We misled him, and while he was away, I moved all his equipment into my grandfather’s World War One bunker.”
“Parker!” Carly breathed in dismay. “That was irresponsible of you. What evidence did Daphne take?”
“She had a thumb drive of all the people he’s blackmailed over the years,” Parker told her, something flashing in his eyes that looked like guilt.
“What aren’t you telling me, Parker?” Carly asked him, her brow tightening.
“Daphne and I …” He swallowed and looked uncomfortable. “We thought you were helping him with his enterprise.”
Carly’s heart jolted with surprise, and her eyes widened in disbelief as she gaped at Parker in the wake of his accusation. As the shock dissipated, alarm bells started to go off in her head. If Parker and Daphne thought Carly was working with Daphne’s brother it meant Carly knew him… And well enough for Parker and Daphne to think she was involved in the man’s blackmailing ring.
“I—“ Carly found she was at a loss for words as her mind tried to process this latest revelation.
“We know you’re not!” Parker said, holding up his hands. “We’ve known for a while that you weren’t. Well, we did, and we didn’t.”
“What the heck does that mean?” Carly found her voice and spewed out in angry disbelief. “How could you think that of me when you’ve known me for so long?” Hurt and betrayed by one of her oldest actor friends, her heart squeezed. “We went to college together. We worked our way through stage productions, and when I landed a lead role onAll My Heart, I was the one who got you your first lead role.”
“I know, Carly,” Parker tried to appease her. “In our business, you’ve always had my back and were the only one I trusted…” His voice trailed off, and he dropped his head, but not before Carly saw the guilt, remorse, and shame shining in his eyes.
“I’m appalled and so disappointed,” Carly’s voice shook with emotion. “I’ve always, always, had your back. How could you even think that of me for a minute?”
Parker lifted his head, squeezing his eyes shut for a few seconds. When he opened them again and met hers, Carly was shocked to see they had become dark pools of remorse.
“Because it helped to appease my guilt over what I did to you,” Parker’s voice dropped, as did his eyes again.
Carly swallowed as her heart started to hammer at his words, and the alarm bells ringing in her head became loud, resounding gongs.
“What did you do?” Carly’s voice was hoarse and filled with raw betrayal as her eyes narrowed on a man she thought she could trust.
Uncle Sam’s words jumped into her mind:You can’t for one second think you know anyone, Carly. People you most trust will push you over a cliff if it means saving themselves or someone they love more.How true those words were because Carly had been pushed over a cliff by one of her oldest movie star friends.
“Three years ago, I acquired Fledgling Productions from the Blackwells,” Parker rubbed his eyes. “As you know, I’ve always wanted to be a singer as well as an actor. Daphne has the most beautiful voice.” He smiled, thinking about her. “She takes after her mother.” His eyes metCarly’s, and ignoring her icy stare, he continued. “Her mother was a country and western singer.”
Something nagged at the back of Carly’s mind at Parker’s words.
“I didn’t know that,” Carly told him as the tingles of realization prickled through her system. “Parker.” She held up her hands to stop his story. “Was it you that sent that bogus article about me to Alex Blackwell?”
“What article?” Parker’s brows furrowed. “No. I did something much worse.”
Before he could say anything else, his phone bleeped, and he looked down. His face paling.
“What’s wrong?” Carly asked him.
“Nothing.” Parker shook his head. “It’s Trinity Woodrow. She wanted me to do an interview with her about you today, but the segment has been canceled, and she still wants me to do an interview with her.”
