Epilogue
TYLER
I wasn’t always on my own. The day I met Pierce Drake was the day my life changed, and in the worst fucking way.
I may have told a white lie to Shiloh by saying my parents kicked me out.
My mother is the reason for my demise. My dad died when I was seventeen from a heart attack that came out of fucking nowhere, and that’s when my mother started to spiral.
She met Leon one night in a bar, and let's just say she cooked up some plan for me to marry his son without my knowledge.
She needed the leverage because she was in some shady shit that Leon knew about.
Did I mention my mom was also a drug dealer that works at a strip club?
Yeah, well she is, and she needed leverage to keep her name clean.
She knew he could keep her safe from anything legally, and me being involved with his son would keep us all quiet and, in her mind, keep us wealthy.
Leon is loaded. He’s a millionaire. Not only is he one of Wyoming's most sought out defense attorneys, everyone in this town is under his model—citizen spell.
Everyone in this town except the Hillards.
I didn’t lie to Shiloh when I told her I was young and he was handsome.
Pierce was charming, in fact, to begin with.
Little did I know our parents formulated a plan for us to meet at a rodeo.
He was sweet…for a little while. He wooed me.
Showered me with love and gifts and treated me like I was the only thing that mattered to him.
Shortly after we met, we were married. And for about a year, I was happy. Until he lost his temper.
One night we were on the way home. Pierce was out of his mind drunk and refused to let me drive.
I begged him to let me drive, and he backhanded me and threw me in the car, telling me to shut the fuck up.
On the way home, he swerved into the other lane, running a car off the road, and tumbling down to the valley below.
“Pierce! Turn around, we can't leave them,” I screamed.
“SHUT UP,” he yelled and hit me so hard my head hit the window, knocking me out. I don’t know who we hit, but it still haunts me to this day. I still pray they lived, but I wasn't allowed to know who or even watch the news.
I woke up the next day alone in the car.
That was the first time he hit me. I grabbed my head and opened the car door, ready to confront him.
I walked in the house, and before I could ask, he pinned me up against the door and said if I ever uttered a word about that night, he would kill me.
He then started to spiral even more. He was out of control.
After three years, I had enough. I told him I was leaving him, and he laughed a wicked laugh before he said, “Oh baby, you really think it’s that easy to just leave me? ”
I told him I’d go to the police and report him for domestic abuse, and he again laughed in my face, saying, “Try it. My dad has this town wrapped around his fucking finger, Tyler. Who’s going to believe you?”
My blood ran cold because, fuck, he was right.
He hit me so hard that night I fell back onto the countertop and busted my head open. He kneeled down beside me, brushing my hair out of my face, and said, “My dad got away with murder, baby. Do you really think he would let you get away with tarnishing our name?”
I didn’t cry. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction, but I wanted to, because he was right and I was trapped. Or so I thought.
“The only way you get out of this is if we have leverage, do you understand?” He said.
I immediately lifted my head, looking at him, desperate for an out. I’d do anything to escape this fucking miserable life.
“The Hillards are the only people who know that my dad was hurting my mom. My mom was friends with Liz. We need to know how much they know.”
“What does that have to do with me?” I asked.
He chuckled, and it sent ice through my veins.
“That’s where you come in.”
I pinch my brow, confused, wiping my head with the back of my hand, bringing blood with it.
Fuck.
“If you divorce me, I need you to get in with the Hillards and find out what they know, and how they know. That’s your only out, baby. Loose lips sink ships.”
“How am I going to do that?” I ask, still not really comprehend where I play into this.
“You play the lonely girl with the abusive ex-husband card. You tell them you have no one, fuck your way to the top, I don’t care what you do but you get in with them and you get close, do you hear me?
” He says, raising his hand, and I flinch, bracing myself for the blow, and I nod, accepting defeat.
I ask, “How do you know they will even take me in or want anything to do with me?”
Another evil laugh before he yanks me to my feet, a condescending smile growing across his face as he gets in mine.
“Because Cross won't be able to ignore that ass of yours, baby. And I know the Hillards, they are always taking in strays,” he seethed and threw me to the ground.
“Figure out your strategy. And don’t go catching feelings, I know you and that guilty conscience of yours. If I find out or even see you falling for him, I will end him without an ounce of remorse,” he says, grabbing papers from a file off the counter and throwing them down at me.
He already filed. This was his plan all along.
I looked at the papers with shaky hands and decided.
Fuck it. I don’t have anything else to lose either, and I’m tired of getting the shit beat out of me for no reason.
My mother was still around, but she was still under Leon’s protection, considering she paid Leon a percentage of her earnings to keep her under the radar.
I didn’t want to hurt anyone, I just wanted to get out and quit getting hurt myself. I was, and still am, desperate to get out from under Leon..
When I got with Cross, I had never felt more safe in my life.
I never knew a man could take such good care of me.
Be kind and gentle. I started to feel things I didn’t know were possible, and my deception was taking a toll on me no matter how hard I tried to hide it, and Pierce knew.
I tried like hell to hide it. To not feel anything and play my part.
Then I thought, these people seem as if they can protect me.
Maybe we can take them down together. The night he killed Cross, he had stalked me all weekend.
As much as I hate to admit it, he knows me, and he knew that I was falling for Cross and that it would break me down in a way he couldn’t let happen, and that’s why he killed him.
He knew if he could get me alone for a few minutes and threaten me, Cross would come to save me.
That night, I didn’t even consider the thought of going off alone, although all the men around me repeatedly told me not to.
My friend was sad, and Cross was trying to console her, and I just felt as if they needed a moment alone.
I figured I could make it to my trailer, at the very least, and lock the door, no big deal, but I was wrong.
He followed me and pinned me up against the trailer with a knife to my throat, saying, “What did I tell you about catching feelings..”
“Pierce. Stop. Please stop,” I screamed, and that’s when Cross came and threw him off of me. He came back to me, putting his warm hands on my face, looking me in the eyes, and asked, “You okay?”
I nodded. I could feel the slight cut on my neck bleeding, but I couldn’t voice the words.
I was so scared like I had been whenever I was with Pierce.
I felt like I was right back to where I started.
When Cross turned around to finish Pierce off, Pierce stabbed him.
The world around me slowed down and stopped.
I was never getting out, never going to be free of this deception I had taken part in.
And the man I loved, although it happened so quickly, died right in front of my eyes in his best friend's lap.
A month later, when Pierce died from a bull ride, relief washed over me, and for a month or two I thought I was finally free to live my life. At least that’s how Leon made it seem. He made me blissfully unaware of his plans until a month after the NFR when I received a text.
8764980326: It’s Leon. I know you don’t think just because my son is gone this is over. It's far from it.