CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Cara
I woke up to the sound of someone knocking at my door.
I sat up, confused. Why was I on the couch? I rubbed my face. I felt… awful. Like I had a horrible hangover, but I didn’t remember drinking anything.
My eyes rested on a black-and-white photograph on the floor, and everything rushed back to me, vicious like a sucker punch.
Edward cheated on me with Sara MacAllister.
Again.
I curled in on myself, the pain too much to process.
The knocking started up again, and I remembered why I’d woken up. I stumbled over to the door and whipped it open, sure it would be Edward since he’d said he was coming to Charleston. I was ready to confront him about what he’d done and then get him out of my life for good.
But it wasn’t him.
“Monty?” I squinted at him in the bright morning sun. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought you could use a friend,” he said sympathetically. He tried to push past me and get inside my townhouse.
That’s when the fog in my brain cleared. Monty had been watching me in my dressing room and tracking my every movement for two years. There was no way I was letting him inside my home. “What the hell are you doing?” I practically snarled and stood my ground, arms on both sides of the doorway.
He looked shocked. “You’re not going to let me in?”
“Why are you here?”
“Nora told me.” He leaned in and tried to hug me, but I jerked away from him. I put my hands firmly on his chest and pushed him back, hard.
He stumbled back a bit, mouth falling open at my aggression.
What was he talking about? “Nora… told you what, exactly?”
“About the pictures.”
I stared at him blankly.
He was starting to look concerned. “Of Edward? And his girlfriend?”
I hadn’t told anyone in Charleston about the pictures.
I heard Monty’s phone start buzzing in his pocket, but he ignored it.
He held up a bag, and I realized it was from my favorite omelet place. He probably knew that, though. Since he’d been tracking me. “I brought breakfast.”
I put a hand to my abdomen. The thought of food made me sick. The thought of Edward and… but wait. “Nora told you about the pictures?”
“Yes. Now can I come in?”
“I don’t think so, Monty.”
He looked taken aback, like I’d hit him. His phone went off again.
I crossed my arms over my chest. There was only one way Nora and Monty would know about the pictures. “I think you’d better check that.” I had an idea who it was.
Edward was right, of course. The Harts were behind the pictures. Someone had to be, and it made perfect sense that it was them. Edward sure as hell wouldn’t hire someone to take pictures of him cheating on me.
The Harts had done it. If I hadn’t been so blinded by hurt and anger, I would have seen that immediately. But that didn’t change what was in the pictures. Edward was still in some sort of relationship with Sara MacAllister. He’d lied to me. Cheated on me. Made me feel like a damn fool.
And here Monty was to ‘comfort’ me. Their plan was so obvious.
Nora had planned for me to tell her at the performance last night.
Why the hell hadn’t she updated Monty? I wondered if she had been too busy with Eric or some other guy.
Or if she’d been fuming because Kelisha seemed to be leaning towards Mitzi Simmins as the Moonlight’s next principal dancer instead of her.
He read the name on his screen and frowned. “I have to take this,” he said, a fake smile on his face. He turned away from me.
“Hey,” he said into the phone. “What’s going on? I’m with Cara. Why are you…”
Monty slowly turned and looked at me, his face going pale. “Is that so?”
He listened a while longer before hanging up and dropping his phone in his pocket.
“Let me guess—that was Nora, right?”
He narrowed his eyes at me, then nodded.
“Was she telling you I didn’t go to work last night so she didn’t have the chance to ‘learn’ about the pictures I got in the mail?” I used finger quotes.
Monty set his jaw. “This doesn’t mean anything. Just because we hired the private investigator to take the pictures doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Edward’s cheating on you. Already. And you’ve only been dating a couple of months.”
“Then I suppose I should thank you for letting me know what a scum bucket he is then, huh?”
“Well, yes, actually.”
“I don’t. Thank you, I mean. This is just too weird. Don’t ever come to my house again, Monty. I’m sick of you and your family.” Edward might be a cheater, but he’d been right about one thing. The Harts were fucking nuts, and I needed to get away from them as fast as possible.
“But… you can’t mean that. Edward’s cheating on you! Can’t you see that?”
“Yes, I can see that! But that doesn’t mean I want to be with you,” I yelled. My rejections of Monty had been nice up to this point. I hadn’t wanted to hurt his feelings. But I wasn’t going to spare his feelings now. He certainly didn’t care about mine, and my patience was gone.
I started to confront him over the hole in my dressing room wall, but I stopped myself when I saw a change coming over him.
An ugly look came over Monty’s face. It was one I’d never seen before. His eyes, usually so pale, looked dark, and his face was a mask of what it once was. I’d never been interested in him, but I had at least thought he was handsome. Now? He wasn’t handsome at all. He looked scary. Monstrous.
He looked dangerous. Like he could actually hurt me.
“You should go, Monty. Right now.” I backed up and slammed the door, throwing the bolt right before he tried to get inside.
Shocked, I stared as I watched the handle turn back and forth. What the hell was he doing? Trying to break in?
Finally, the handle stopped jiggling, and I heard him stomp down the stairs.
A few seconds later I jumped and let out a small shriek when something hit my door and made a loud sound.
Then, there was silence.
Shaking, I leaned against the wall and stared at the door. I was breathing heavily and too scared to go out and see what he’d thrown at it.
I had to get out of here. As soon as possible.