41. Bird Set Free
BIRD SET FREE
PRESENT
“What the hell?”
It’s the only statement anybody mutters for the next minute as everyone’s eyes bounce between Blythe, Jase, and me.
While Jase looks fit to bury my stepmother in a shallow grave, I offer her nothing but my biggest, sweetest smile.
“Funny, isn’t it? Ever since you had me enrolled in Colton for middle school and separated me from my friends, I couldn’t make any new ones to save my life.
Sure, there were people I initially connected with.
We’d call and text each other and hang out at school, but all the while, you just kept harping on about how socially awkward I was.
So, of course, I’d tell you and Dad when I thought I had made a new friend, but not long after, they’d ghost me.
When this happened again and again and again, who could blame me for thinking you were right?
I couldn’t keep anyone around for more than a week or two.
Not Beth, not Diane, not Sidney, not Angela, not Kelly.
” I consult the list on my phone that Jase forwarded to me earlier.
“It’s the damnedest thing, though, because every last one of their phone numbers just so happened to be blocked via the account holder’s request. Not only that, but there’s also a handful of numbers here associated with businesses where I had been trying to get jobs over the years.
If that wasn’t odd enough, you wouldn’t believe what several of these girls’ mothers told me when I contacted them earlier today. ”
Blythe doesn’t dare to move. Hell, I’m not even sure if she’s breathing. All she’s capable of is letting the blood drain from her face until she’s paler than the marble tiles under her feet.
“Turns out you took the liberty of reaching out to them years ago to quote-unquote ‘warn’ them about me,” I say, pulling up the other document.
“According to you, I was far too ‘mentally unfit to be trusted alone’ with their daughters, that I had ‘crippling anxiety’ which could make me ‘lash out’ if I weren’t treated in a very specific way.
” I wiggle the device in my hand. “I made sure to save the audio recordings of my conversations with them as well, in case you need your memory jogged.”
“But why?” My dad’s voice comes out weak, the question not directed at anyone in particular, and Jase isn’t in the mood to deal with his shit.
“You’re joking, right? Anyone with a functioning eyeball and a lick of common sense can see how much your wife despises Ali.
” He turns his attention to Blythe, the muscles in his jaw ticking.
“I can assume Sienna came crying to you four years ago with a sob story about how Ali was trying to sabotage her relationship with me or some bullshit, but Sienna didn’t even need to do that, did she?
All she needed to tell you was that Ali was happy for you to intervene. ”
Dad doesn’t move away from my stepmom, but he also won’t look at her. He won’t look at anybody, his gaze falling to a nondescript section of the floor. His balance wavers, and for a second, I’m afraid he might pass out.
And all Blythe can offer is, “Anybody these days can fake audio recordings of your voice, and Diane Demarco’s mother is still furious that I beat her in the election for the Van Allen Society Board president. God only knows what other kinds of vendettas these mothers have against me.”
The woman refuses to go down without a fight. I’ll give her that much.
Sadly for her, she took things one step too far, and no excuse can spare her. Not this time.
I saunter over to my stepmom, and I can see her battle armor slipping on in front of me.
Blythe crosses her arms over her chest, straightens her spine to within an inch of its life, and does everything she can to leer down at me.
The look could reduce a lesser person to a heap on the floor, as if being in her mere presence is an honor you haven’t yet earned.
But it’s bullshit.
All of it.
She’s nothing more than a paper tiger, and if she doesn’t know it, she’s about to.
“When you forced me to accept Mr. Easton’s hush payment, I told you I’d never touch so much as a penny of it, and I meant it.
I saw it as nothing more than blood money.
But then yesterday, I got to thinking,” I say, gesturing between her and my dad.
“Seeing as how I don’t want anything from either of you two assholes ever again, that would put me in a bit of a financial pickle.
I mean, a girl’s gotta pay for college somehow, right?
And come to think of it, between all of the shit Trent and Sienna put me through and then having my own so-called parents turn their backs on me, I’d say I earned every single cent that was paid to me.
“Now, granted, I hadn’t looked at the account since it was first set up with Easton’s deposit, but the available balance in there just didn’t look right when I logged in yesterday.
Even after factoring in things like taxes, the account was still a little lighter than it should have been.
And given that no one’s touched it since last year’s tax season, I was a bit surprised to see other activity on the account, particularly the two checks I had apparently written. ”
With every sentence, Blythe’s jaw clenches tighter and tighter, and I’m pretty sure she’s cracked half her veneers with that last one.
I hold up my phone to show her and my dad the screen grab from the banking app.
“It’s the damnedest thing. It says here that I paid for my first and second semesters of college, from this very account.
And I do say ‘apparently’ because although they look pretty damn close to my actual signature, the ones forged on each of the checks still aren’t perfect.
Even funnier, the only two other people who ever had access to the account at some point are you two. ”
My dad finally turns to look at Blythe, demanding to know what the hell I’m talking about, but she doesn’t move. She doesn’t say or do anything other than sear her eyes into mine, like she’s hoping they can laser a hole through my head.
“I spent a good hour yesterday trying to figure out the why behind all of this,” I say, slipping my cell back into my clutch.
“Pure hatred? Could you really loathe me so much that you just couldn’t stomach the thought of wasting that kind of money on me?
Or maybe you were short on dramatic irony and found some twisted pleasure in knowing that the Eastons were the ones funding my education.
Or maybe you’re just so overconfident that you didn’t believe I’d ever find out, that I’d spend how many more years coming back here, kowtowing to your every whim.
And the whole time, I’d be clueless that all of it was unnecessary because I was already paying for everything anyway.
” I shrug. “And then I realized…I don’t care.
I don’t care why you did any of it. All that matters is that you did. ”
“And what are you going to do? Report that someone used your identity to pay for you to go to college?” Blythe dares to scoff. “Good luck with that. All you’ll be doing is wasting your time and money on legal fees.”
“Oh, she won’t have to waste anything,” Jase happily interjects. “I’m a petty motherfucker, and I’ve got all the time in the world.”
He begins circling around her and my dad, and I swear I can see the hair on Blythe’s arms stand on end.
“In my experience, someone like you doesn’t just jump from A to Z,” he says. “It takes time for them to build up to that level of arrogance. And I bet you dollars to donuts that if someone were to look into you, they’d find more than a few skeletons lingering in your closet.”
Blythe scoffs again, looking between us. “And who’s going to be doing ‘the looking’? The penniless son of a disgraced politician?”
Jase clicks his tongue. “Wrong on the first part, misguided on the second. But neither of those conditions is relevant. Not here. It’s about who you know, and trust me when I say I know all the best people in the lowest of places.
If you’ve so much as jaywalked, they’ll find out.
And if you don’t believe me, just give it about, oh, ten minutes or so. ”
Nobody seems to appreciate the countdown or the ominous tone he’s set, because the whole room falls into an uneasy silence, only making Jase grin even more broadly.
He gets right up into Blythe’s face, and I’m not sure if it’s the close proximity or the look he’s giving her, but she finally has the common sense to back away. Or, in her case, stumble.
“As you’re about to see, I don’t take kindly to people going after my girl.
If you so much as sneeze in Ali’s general direction, I’ll fuck up your life so thoroughly that you’ll only wish I had ended you.
” His grin could rival the Cheshire Cat as he wraps his arm around my waist, steering us towards the door.
“Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have a double feature to watch in the banquet hall, and it’ll be a show to remember. ”
Despite their collective confusion, Derek, Vanessa, and Luke all follow after us. The fact that no one bothers to even look at my parents tells me enough. Jase could have offered to take them to a sewage plant and it would still be more enticing than having to stay in that room.
Returning to the party, Jase finds a table to his liking near the man of the hour and settles into a seat, disregarding the place cards.
Thankfully, everybody’s too busy mixing and mingling to notice or care.
Besides, we won’t be staying long. The rest of us follow suit, accepting champagne from a passing server.