Chapter Eleven
“After we finally crawled out of the shower, I tried again to get him to record his consent, but he just kept laughing at me—saying he was starting to dig my new awkward-freak seduction play— And you can stop laughing at me too!”
Courtney howled, not sparing me a second’s worth of sympathy.
The two of us were at the park, watching Taylor play with a couple of her friends from school.
It was a half day for the kindergarteners, so a few of the parents decided to enjoy lunch at the park with their kids.
And the strange, moaning weirdo who couldn’t stop complaining about having hot sex with the man of her dreams—according to Courtney.
“Seriously, babe, it’s not a big deal.” Courtney flittered around the picnic table, setting out her buffet of baked goodies. “It’s not like you did it with a married man. That contract breaks when the death does them part.”
I groaned, dropping my head in my hands. “Promise me you’ll say those exact words at my trial.”
She busted up. I was clearly not going to get any sympathy from this source.
“Anyway, what about Lily? I know first graders don’t have a half day today, but she should be out here with us all the same.
” She leaned back, breathing in the crisp, autumn air.
“She can finally meet Taylor while I ply her with cupcakes and cement my new title of favorite auntie.”
“Uhh, first off, that title goes to me,” I corrected.
“And second, the guys freaked out when I took her out of school with the principal’s permission and three heads-ups to all of them.
I don’t want to deal with the freakout when they find out I pulled her out for no other reason than just to hang out at the park.
Alex— No, they all think I’m trying to pull something and being nice to Lily is part of the con.
” I huffed out a breath. “I want them to trust me with her, so I’m not going to push it. ”
“Okay, okay. I understand.” She slid a maple bacon cupcake my way. “I guess that’s one of the many good things about solo parenting. I don’t have to ask a co-parent’s permission for something I want to do with Taylor. I just do it. Whereas you’ve got three co-parents clocking your every move.”
“Yeah,” I said softly, “except I’m not a co-parent. I’m not her parent at all. So my moves should be clocked.”
She paused her fussing to squeeze my hand. “No, you’re not Lily’s mother, but what you are is her family. And matter of fact, you’re Rhodes’s, Micah’s, and Alex’s family now too—and that word scares you. Family was never something safe for you. Something healthy.”
I stiffened, throat tightening.
“And that’s where all this fear, guilt, and hesitation is coming from now.
You think they’re right to protect Lily from you, because someone fucking should’ve protected you from your family.
You can’t let yourself accept that you and Micah were both adults who had a good time, because I stupidly said your keeping the truth from them makes you like Sue in their eyes, and the whole planet should’ve been protected from Sue.
“But you’re not your father, you’re not your mother, and you’re for damn sure not your sister, so ignore what I said before and listen to what I’m saying now.
” She leaned over the table, taking both of my hands as she whispered, “You’ve got your family back—a real one.
A better one. So don’t fall into the trap of thinking they’re better off without you, because that’s not coming from you.
“It’s coming from them.”
I looked away, eyes stinging. There were downsides to having a best friend who can see right through you. And that was her ability to make you cry at the worst times.
I roughly cleared my throat. “I’m not sure your advice applies to a family that’s already breaking up, but thanks for saying it anyway. It was nice to imagine, even for a second, that I’m already where I belong.”
“But you are—”
Sue’s purse buzzed, giving me an excuse to pull away from Courtney and go digging inside it.
Sue’s designer purse. Sue’s Chanel dress.
That I took from Sue’s room after waking up in Sue’s bed next to Sue’s family.
How am I ever supposed to feel like I belong here with this family when her ghost carved her initials into all of them?
I picked up Sue’s phone, dropped it, then fished around until I found the true source of the buzzing. Satan flashed on the screen.
“Ugh,” I groaned, flinging my head back. “He will not quit! He’s calling like five times a day now, and it’s bullshit. He doesn’t get to play the dutiful, loving boyfriend after torturing and blackmailing me for months.”
“Gimme that.”
“Wha— Wait! No! What are you—!”
Courtney put her finger to her lips, silencing me better than a shout. She answered the call without so much as a by your leave—leaving me internally screaming for her to hang up. “Hello, who am I speaking to?”
“Who the fuck do you think!” Yes, Dan shouted that so loud, I heard it loud and clear without her putting it on speaker.
“I’ve been calling for almost two weeks, so you better tell me who the fuck you are because I’m reporting you to whichever flea-ridden hick calls himself the sheriff of your town! ”
I rubbed my temples, irritation cracking my jaw. I still couldn’t believe I ever thought I was in love with this guy.
“I’m sorry you feel that way, sir,” Courtney replied, putting on a deep, serious voice for reasons unknown.
“Our priority these last couple weeks has been to find, notify, and release Ms. Kim’s body to her immediate family, so that she may be given the peaceful goodbye she deserves.
I’m sure you understand that we could not release any information to any other party before those priorities were taken care of. ”
Daniel quieted enough that I didn’t hear his response.
“You’re Ms. Kim’s fiancé?” Courtney glanced at me and got bug-eyed shock in return. “Then, I apologize. Her mother did not inform us of a fiancé. And what might your name be?
“Daniel Mills,” she repeated, voice changing. “Would that be the same Daniel Mills found to be the subject of a number of recordings recovered from Ms. Kim’s cellphone?” Grinning at me, she shot around the table—sitting down and pressing the phone to my ear so I could hear too.
“—that’s not—those recordings aren’t what you think,” Dan sputtered. “They—”
“Is that so? Because what I believe they are is evidence that Ms. Kim tried multiple times to convey to you that your romantic relationship was over, and to prevent this, you threatened and blackmailed her with the release of her private videos.”
“Hold on, I—”
“Mr. Mills, are you aware that soliciting sex under threat or coercion meets the legal standard of rape?”
“Rape?!” he screeched. “What the fuck are you talking about rape!? I didn’t rape Sarah! She was my girlfriend!”
“She was not your girlfriend,” Courtney said—voice hard. “She made that very clear to you in language I, and a jury, can understand. And that same jury will have serious doubts that you couldn’t.”
“Jury?! No, wait, stop.” The man was hyperventilating into the speakers. “You have this all wrong. Those recordings were just a joke between Sarah and I. A kinky—kink-play—thing!” he burst out. “It wasn’t serious, and I never forced her.”
“Hmm. I’m afraid it’s not up to me to decide if you’re telling the truth. I’m going to have to refer this case to your local law enforcement authority and let them handle it,” she said over his frantic blathering. “Please, confirm your address and the full spelling of your name—”
“No, please, it’s not—!”
“And by no means, under any circumstances, are you to delete the sexual video content you’re keeping of Ms. Kim. It is now key evidence in a rape investigation and—”
Click.
Daniel hung up.
Courtney beamed at my slack-jawed expression. “Done,” she chirped, slapping the phone on my palm. “Not only are you never going to hear from that asshole again, but as we speak, he’s deleting all traces that he ever knew you from his phone, his laptop, and his life.
“You are finally free of Daniel Satan Mills.”
“Oh... my... gosh,” I whispered. “It’s you. You’re my guardian angel sent from heaven. The whole time, it was you.” I cupped her cheeks. “What is your true name, sweet angel?”
Courtney tickled my sides, sending me squealing and squirming away. She hopped up laughing. “Angel sounds right, but I would’ve done that if I was your guardian demon. That fucker’ll be lucky if I don’t track him down and throw him off a cliff.”
I bit my lip, seriously so happy and relieved I really was going to cry. Courtney was right. This is what I’ve been missing for so long—
Family.
“Thank you, Court. Just... thank you.”
She winked, but then her smile turned down—fading away.
“What’s wrong?”
“Huh? Oh, no, it’s...” She sighed. “All this talk of evil brutes and the things they do to women just reminded me of the news this morning,” Court said. “Do you remember that lady who came to the shop, asking us if we’d seen her missing daughter?”
I nodded.
“Well, tragically, she’s not missing anymore. The cops found the body of Tracy Williams on Bonsai Beach this morning,” she explained over my gasp. “She was murdered.”
“Oh no, that’s terrible. That poor woman. Not to mention her mom.” I clutched my chest, my heart breaking in two. “Who would do something like this?”
Courtney resumed setting out the food, her lips pressed tight. “I don’t know, but if I was a supernatural creature, I’d swoop down on the evil shitstain that killed some poor, sweet girl from the post office and left her in the sand like driftwood—and I’d split his skull open.”