Chapter 47
FORTY-SEVEN
It was a smear campaign against the Kanes.
“Why would you do this?” I managed to choke out despite the pain.
All I could think of was telling Ty that I had something special planned for this weekend for him. My article on their business was supposed to come out. All the love I had for their family shone through every sentence.
Ronnie sat up straighter, and a humorless laugh left his lips.
“Oh, please, no one cares about your little boyfriend’s shop.” This time, he did let out a laugh that had the hairs on my arms rising. “I’d say what was written was more along the lines of what the people wanted.”
Up until now, I kept thinking I should play it safe and try to reason with him so I could get out of this unscathed, but all I could think about was Ty. He knew that the anonymous segment was mine.
Did he think I wrote that?
I was going to be sick.
It was like prom night all over again. One huge misunderstanding that could cost us everything.
“Get out of my room!” I snapped, pointing to the door with one hand while I reached for my phone with the other.
My legs were starting to hurt from the uncomfortable position I was in. I was ready to run at a moment’s notice. Ronnie still hadn’t made a move to get off the couch. The only bad thing was that the passageway to the hall was blocked.
“You were meant to be mine!” Ronnie screeched. “I did everything for you. Gave you chances, made your life easier, and what did you do? Go back to a man who didn’t value you.”
Ronnie’s face was red, his anger seeping out of him. I shouldn’t be surprised he knew about my past—he was a reporter, after all—but the ick I felt from that had the bile in my throat rising.
“Blowing off work to hang out with him, walking to him late at night, spending nights at his house…all for what? You’re just waiting for him to drop you again?”
I was going to throw up. It was one thing for him to look at me, but the stuff he was saying meant he had been watching me.
My eyes blurred once more, and I had to blink furiously to try and get my shit together.
“You’re going to break up with him,” he declared more calmly.
I choked a sob.
“Or else in the next issue I’ll reveal that you are the anonymous writer.”
If I had it in me to laugh, I would. Not only had the damage already been done, but Ronnie wanted to do to me exactly the same thing that had been done in my senior year.
I could recover from one scandal, but two? I wasn’t so sure.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Astrid,” he told me as he began to stand up.
Not thinking twice, I sprinted to the bathroom. My heart raced even faster as I did. I could hear his footsteps right behind me. I blocked out the way he yelled my name and focused on my goal.
“Astrid!” he yelled, and I screamed, causing me to drop my phone as soon as I walked in.
I let all of my weight push back against the door, so he couldn’t open it, and quickly locked it. The only reason I was able to manage it was the adrenaline coursing through me and the fact that the distance to the bathroom was working in my favor.
“Open the door, Astrid!” he yelled as he tried to push the door open.
With my weight on the door, I reached around the wall, trying to locate the light switch. When I found it, I felt a tad bit better. I could see my reflection in the mirror, and it looked like something out of a horror film.
I could see my body move every time Ronnie attempted to push the door.
My saving grace was that Ronnie wasn’t a gym guy, or else I would have been even more fucked.
Ignoring all that, I looked down to see where my phone had landed. Good, not too far. I could reach for it with my foot while I kept my weight on the door.
“Astrid, open the door!”
I flinched.
I closed my eyes as if that would make it better. I kept dragging the phone until it was right underneath me.
Slowly, I lowered myself while I kept the pressure against the door. My thighs burned from the physical excursion. If I lived through this, I would become a gym girly—definitely a hot-girl-walk girly if the gym thing didn’t pan out.
Please, God, let me live.
Aha, the phone was in my hand!
“You leave me no choice, Astrid. I’m doing this for your own good!” Ronnie screamed.
I had my phone in my hand, but I didn’t start my call, instead I pushed my ear to the door and tried to see what the fuck Ronnie was up to.
The other side of the door was quiet, and that made me nervous.
Before I made my call, I turned on my phone’s flashlight and turned off the lights so I could hear better without the constant buzzing of the ventilator.
Nothing came from the other side.
I didn’t let myself think of how gross the floor was when I dropped down and tried to see if I could hear better from the small crevice at the bottom of the door.
The lack of shadow for where Ronnie’s foot should be was concerning. I winced as I pressed my cheek to the cold dirty floor so I could better press my ear to the door.
“…Yes, I’m concerned about her well-being. She’s been struggling for a while. I just want someone to come and open her door. I’m scared she might do something drastic…” I stopped listening to the bullshit Ronnie was telling the front desk.
I sat up against the door.
In my state, I wasn’t thinking clearly, and I called the one person whom I knew I could feel safe with.
The phone rang, and rang, and with each time it went unanswered, my heart cracked a little bit, making me hate Ronnie all the more. Ty’s voicemail greeted me.
“Ty…” I said his name in a shaky exhale. “I-I-I’m really scared.” I took a deep breath, getting myself together. “My boss broke into my room. I just want you to know that the paper…that wasn’t me. I would never…”
I stopped speaking when a man’s voice shouted from the other side of the door.
“Ma’am, are you okay in there?”
“I’ve got to go,” I told Ty and hung up the phone.
“I’m fine! I yelled back. Please remove the man from my room.”
I pressed my ear to the door to see what Ronnie and whom I assumed the manager talked about.
“I didn’t think it would come to this,” Ronnie told the man. “That’s why I wanted to talk to you when I made the reservations. She’s a bright girl, but she has so much darkness that plagues her. I just wanted her to come here and see that she has many opportunities.”
Motherfucker.
He had planned this since the very beginning. He wanted me caged so the only option would be to go along with what he wanted.
Think, Astrid, think!
It was obvious Ronnie had a plan, and how far along that plan went, I didn’t know. What I did know was that there were now two men in my room. If I called the cops, it would either work in my favor or make it worse.
It was needless to say I didn’t feel safe. If the manager had been a woman, I would take a chance on her, but in my experience, men tended to have other men’s backs.
The chances of Ori answering were slim, but I really needed her or her pull. She was the only person I had mentioned Ronnie being a creep to, and that could help me in my current predicament.
I could call my parents, but that would freak them out.
Banking on the fact that Rachel was with Prescott, she was my next call.
“Do you realize what time it is?” Prescott answered Rach’s phone on the second ring.
I felt relief wash over me, and I broke down.
“My boss broke into my room. He is telling the staff I’m suicidal.
It’s all my fault because I knew I got an ick from him, but I thought it was in my head.
And now he’s started a smear campaign in my name, and I’m scared no one will believe me.
He printed vile things about the Kanes, and I’m scared Ty might hate me,” I rushed out between hiccups from the sobs that couldn’t fully come out.
“I did the first thing I could think of and locked myself in the bathroom.”
“Wait, Astrid…slow down,” Prescott demanded in a strong, controlled tone.
“I’m really scared,” I cried.
He let out a string of curses while he told Rachel to get him his phone.
“It’s going to be okay, Astrid. Don’t open the door until I call back to tell you it’s safe.”
I nodded as if he could see me.
“Do you understand, Astrid?” Prescott repeated.
“Yes,” I let him know.
“Do you want to stay on the phone with Rachel in the meantime?”
“I don’t have that much battery,” I choked out.
He stayed quiet for a moment.
“It’s going to be okay, I promise.”
Tears welled in my eyes. It was something to hold on to while help came my way.