Chapter 34
THIRTY-FOUR
THE END
ADRIENNE
I’m not going to lie, even when I finally took the threats seriously, after Gabe blurted out how awful they really were, I never thought I’d wake up with a pounding headache, taped to a chair in a house in the suburbs of Henderson, Nevada.
Apparently, this is the end. Fin. No more. The end of the road.
I think the bump on the head Bobby gave me shook some screws loose. Or maybe I just don’t care anymore, because this has been the worst day of my life. Who knows though? It’s kind of freeing.
I knew the day of the explosion that something was wrong.
I should have trusted my gut, I just didn’t.
I wouldn’t know how much I’d regret that until today when he coldcocked me with a gun.
Let’s all add that one to What are Things I Don’t Ever Want to Do Again for a thousand? My internal Jeopardy voice is killer.
I was out cold until someone slapped my face.
I figured it was Bobby, and it was—sort of.
I mean, he’s here too, standing in the background.
What I did not expect was my stepmom, Candy, to be the mastermind behind all of this.
Quite frankly, I didn’t think she was smart enough.
She only ever gave off gold digger vibes, so this is honestly quite surprising.
It would appear today is also my day to learn not to underestimate anyone.
What’s the old saying about judging a book by its giant, fake booby cover?
“Time to talk to your friend,” she says as she slides her finger across my phone to answer it.
“Adrienne?” Eli says through the phone. “Are you there?”
“Yeah, Eli,” I reply as I blink against the sudden tears.
“We’re on our way, honey,” he tells me, but in my heart of hearts, I know it’s too late.
He’s not going to find me, and if Candy and Bobby make good on their threats, I don’t want him or anyone to see me like that when it’s all said and done.
They don’t need to carry that on their souls like God knows what else.
“It’s going to be too late.”
“It won’t,” Eli says. “We’ll find you. We’ll get there in time.”
“You won’t,” I tell him sadly. How I wish it weren’t true, but they will never find me out here.
“Listen. I was wrong to tell you that it was a mistake to fall in love. I’ll never regret falling for Gabe, no matter how little time I have left.
I love him, and I’m glad he knows, even if he doesn’t love me back. ”
“He loves you, Addie.”
I figure Gabe and Manny are in the car listening too, even though it’s eerily silent. I need to say some things. They all need to know the truth. That I’m okay with how things ended and they should be too. That I absolve them of this—of all of it, really.
“I don’t think so, but that’s okay. Find August,” I push. I can’t die knowing that Eli gave up on the only girl he’s ever loved. “Promise me, Eli, that you’ll find her and you’ll make things right.”
“We’ll talk about this when I get there,” he says but I need to hear him say it before I die.
“Promise me.”
“I prom—”
Candy ends the call. I guess it’s time to die.
“You just couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you?” Candy asks.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I tell her. “I’m not sure what I ever did to you.”
“You’re stealing Dark Horse from me,” she screams.
“The company?” I ask, surprised. “I didn’t think you even liked racing.”
“I don’t, you stupid bitch,” she spits. “I like the fucking money it brings in.”
“But you’re married to my dad,” I reply. “He’s loaded. Way richer than I am.”
“I know, but if you get the company, you get the bigger payout, and he gets a legacy payment like you do now from his father,” she explains. “I tried to get him to hold off this stupid competition for the baby. I was right. It’s a boy, you know.”
“Congratulations?” My head is still foggy from the hit, so I’m not really following her trip down memory lane.
“But he wants you to have the company,” she says making my head spin.
“I thought he wanted Bobby to have it,” I reply.
The competition makes no sense if I was always going to inherit DHR. I’m so fucking confused.
“No, that was just a red herring to throw us all off track, because he found out I’m having an affair with Bobby,” she says. “Can you blame me? He’s young and hot.”
“But you’re married.”
“To an old man.”
“Fifty is hardly old.”
“You try fucking an old man,” she snaps.
“I’m good,” I reply. She is talking about my dad after all.
“Because you’re fucking the hot bodyguard. Nice job, by the way.” She smirks and I think I throw up a little in my mouth.
“Thank you?” I’m still not keeping up. “So what about the baby?”
“What about it?” she asks. “It’s not your dad’s, and he knows it. He never told me that he had a vasectomy after your mom left him. He only wanted to father her kids, and when she left him, he cut everyone else off.”
Well, that explains why my only sibling is a golden retriever with a hankering for party food.
“Can you believe I got pregnant for no reason?” she shouts.
“So who is the daddy?” I ask as she waves around a large gun I just noticed is in her hand.
“Bobby, of course,” she says with a smile. “When you’re gone and Daddy has to keep his promise to retire and give Bobby the company, he’s going to go to sleep one night and never wake up.”
“No!”
“Yes!” She laughs. Candy is clearly enjoying my pain. “And then, after a respectable amount of time, Bobby and I will find solace in each other and get married. We will be the new face of DHR.”
“Classy,” I mutter. “I thought we were friends, Bobby.”
“You never gave up the goods.” She laughs. “I did. Poor Bobby was in love with Adrienne, and she never noticed him. Boohoo.”
“Were you always this mean?” I ask, no longer caring if she shoots me or not.
“Pretty much.”
“Yikes.”
Then the room explodes.
Manny comes in through a side door and shoots Bobby, who falls to the ground. Candy turns and points her gun at Manny.
And I scream. “No!”
Eli stands behind her with his gun raised. But I can’t let him kill her, can I?
“She’s pregnant.”
Candy spins to see what’s behind her, but Eli is faster. He raises his gun high overhead, and brings it down on her temple. She crumples to the ground.
“I told you we’d make it in time,” Eli says with a smile.
Someone starts cutting the tape away that’s binding me to the chair, and I know without seeing him or hearing his voice that it’s Gabe.
“I love you too,” he whispers in my ear, but it’s too much, and everything goes black.