Chapter 35
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Irina glared at Dale as he tightened the duct tape around her waist, securing her to the chair. Her hands were bound again, behind her this time, and her ankles were duct taped to each leg of the chair.
“There.” He stood and threw a look over his shoulder at Aster, who sat on the couch, one leg crossed over the other, watching them impassively. “I’ll be back in a couple minutes.”
He disappeared out the front door, and Irina willed Aster to look at her. Finally, Aster did. Irina cursed behind the tape covering her mouth, and Aster let out a cold laugh. “Poor Irina. Can’t sweet talk your way out of this, can you?”
What are you talking about? Why are you doing this? Irina screamed the words from behind her gag, but Aster just glared at her, her foot bouncing impatiently in the air.
“Is that supposed to make me feel bad for you?” Aster stared at her for a long moment before hopping to her feet and shoving her face in front of Irina’s. “After everything you've done, you deserve this and so much worse.”
Irina's eyes widened in question. What did she ever do to Aster? She voiced the question in her mind, but her words were muffled once again behind the tape. Aster's eyes dropped to Irina's mouth, and she grabbed a corner, then ripped it off with no finesse.
Irina jerked back, pain exploding over her face. The first time had sucked, and the second time wasn’t any better. “Why are you doing this?” she choked out through numb lips.
Aster grabbed an oak chair from the table beside them and spun it around, straddling the seat so she was facing Irina. “Your life, everything you've done over the past two years”—her eyes bored into Irina’s—“that should be me. I was on track to be Stargazer’s next top star before you showed up.”
“What are you talking about?” Irina asked. “You said you wanted out, that you—”
“I lied,” Aster snapped. “The second they looked at you, listened to you sing, they threw me right out the door.”
“I—If I’d known—” The music industry was cutthroat; Aster knew that. Irina wasn’t honestly sure there was anything she could have done differently. It wasn’t as if she were the one to turn Aster down.
“As if that wasn’t bad enough,” Aster snapped, “then you had to steal Jackson, too.”
Irina gaped at her. “Jackson Meyers?”
“He was mine!” Aster screamed, her index finger jabbing inches from Irina’s face. “You took everything from me!”
Irina shook her head. “Aster, I swear—I never wanted—”
“Don't give me that,” Aster barked. “I despised you the moment I laid eyes on you. So pretty and perfect, exactly what they wanted. I lost everything because of you.” She glared at Irina. “We’ll see how much you like it when I take away everything that matters most to you.”
Irina's stomach revolted at the thought. She couldn't believe that Aster, the woman she had considered her closest friend for the past two years, was capable of something so heinous. She glared at Aster. “How could you do this? We were friends!”
“We were never friends,” Aster scoffed.
Her revelation stunned Irina. “You offered to be my assistant. Said you still want to be involved!”
Aster let out a peal of laughter. “So I could be close to you, you idiot. I had to use any opportunity available to me to make your life miserable.”
“Don’t be stupid,” Irina warned. “You’re going to get caught, and you’re going to take that guy”—she used her head to gesture toward the door—“down with you.”
“Oh, no. He’s looking forward to this just as much as I am.” Aster smirked. “Funny how fate has a way of sending people your way exactly when you need them.”
Irina racked her brain, trying to figure out if she knew the man but came up blank. He looked familiar, but she couldn’t place him. Dismissing it for the moment, she changed tacks.
“So, what? You kill me. Then what happens?” She lifted a brow at Aster.
“You've been out of the game too long. Do you really think Stargazer will pick you up again? They won’t want to invest that kind of time and money in you.
They didn't want to do it the first time.
What makes you think they'll do it now?”
Irina knew she had hit Aster where it hurt the most, because Aster's eyes darkened with fury, and she let out a hiss. “You evil bitch.”
Irina laughed. “Awfully ironic, coming from you. You’re the one willing to commit murder because you weren't talented enough.”
“I swear—” Aster's hand flew out and wrapped around Irina's throat, her nails digging into her skin.
Irina winced and tried to jerk back, but her body was hampered, tied to the chair.
“I won't miss having you gone,” Aster snapped.
“Being your gopher, keeping track of your phone calls and appointments. I deserve so much more than this.”
Releasing Irina, Aster sat back in her chair and rolled her neck from side to side, like she was trying to relieve the tension from her muscles.
She drew a deep breath and centered her gaze on Irina again.
“But none of that matters now. Since you decided to take everything away from me, I found a way to get it back.”
The way she said it sent a little chill down Irina's spine. “What do you mean?”
A vicious smile lifted one corner of Aster's mouth. “Does Dale look familiar to you?”
Irina hadn't paid much attention before, but now she drew his face into focus, paying attention to each detail of his face. Aster was right; there was something familiar about his blue eyes. What was it? “I know him,” Irina whispered. She could feel it in her bones.
Aster made a little sound in the back of her throat. “You don't know him, exactly. But he knows you—rather, he knew of you. Ever hear of the six degrees of separation?”
Irina nodded slowly, warily, and Aster continued.
“After that whole ordeal with Jackson, I found myself at a bar one night, debating what to do. I was so furious with you, and I couldn’t help but vent to the man next to me.
Turns out Dale”—a huge smile stretched over Aster's face—“spent some time in Kentucky a couple decades ago.”
Irina felt like she was floundering. She would have been a kid; how would she have known him back then? Cold suddenly settled over her as memories of Mama’s men came flashing back in rapid succession. Dozens of nameless faces that she rarely paid attention to.
“Shame that your mom was such a slut.” Aster tsked. “She really should've made sure you knew who your daddy was.”
The implication slammed into Irina like a lightning bolt, throwing her back in the chair and temporarily stealing her breath. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying,” Aster spoke slowly, “it was incredibly fortunate that you never changed your will. With your mother in jail, guess who has access to your life insurance payout?”
Irina blinked several times, her mind working furiously. The last time she and Mama had spoken, Mama had told her she was no longer seeing Burt. Instead, she was back with Irina's father. Dale. “Did he…?”
“Set her up? Like it was hard to have her arrested.” Aster rolled her eyes. “Why would the cops believe her, given her history?”
Anger burned through Irina. “And my car? That was you, too?”
“You made it so easy.” Aster shook her head almost bemusedly.
“You were too lazy to use actual keys for your house, so they just sat in the drawer. You know”—she sat forward, her intense stare pinning Irina in place—“I kept them for almost a week, just to see if you’d notice.
You never did.” She shook her head as she stared at Irina. “I mean, really. How stupid are you?”
A combination of rage and humiliation curled in Irina's gut, turning her body hot. “You know Roman won't let it go until justice has been served. They’ll find you.”
“They’ll find someone.” Aster shrugged again, completely unconcerned. “With that idiot sending the stupid love notes, I figured that was as good a way as any to get rid of you for once and for all.” She let out a little laugh. “I thought those recipes were a nice touch, didn’t you?”
Irina's stomach twisted in disgust. It only proved how absolutely insane Aster was. “You hate me this much—to kill me and risk going to jail?”
“Yes—and we won’t be going to jail.” Aster waved a hand in the air. “They’ll look at the man who sent you notes, just like we intended. They’ll arrest him, and that will be that.”
They would send an innocent man to jail?
Of course they would, Irina thought bitterly.
They planned to kill her for money; they wouldn’t hesitate to take down anyone in their way.
“How will you explain being here?” Something else occurred to Irina at that moment, too. “And how did you know where I was?”
“Well, that’s an easy one. You called me.”
“So?” What did that matter?
“So…” Aster dragged out the word. “I’ve had one of those tracker apps on your phone for months now. When you finally turned your phone back on…”
She trailed off, and angry tears stung Irina's eyes. In turning to Aster for advice, she had unwittingly led her straight to them. “I hope you enjoy it while it lasts,” Irina snapped. “Money isn’t everything.”
“No, it’s not.” Aster tipped her head to one side. “But it makes life a little better.”
“You’re—” Fear ricocheted through Irina as she heard the scrape of heavy feet against the pavement outside. Aster slapped the tape over Irina's mouth once more, then moved toward the kitchen just as the door swung open.
Dale stepped inside, and Irina couldn’t tear her eyes away as he closed the door behind him and met her gaze.
She still couldn’t believe this man was her father.
Now that she looked at him—really looked at him—she saw the similarities.
The same blue eyes, the same basic facial structure.
She’d never before realized how little she resembled Mama.
Maybe that was why Mama had despised her so much.
It had to be horrible for her to have a little girl who looked exactly like the man who’d skipped out on her.
Tears clouded Irina's vision. It was ironic, almost. She’d spent a good portion of her life wondering about her father; this was the first and last time she would ever see him.
She knew he had absolutely no emotional connection to her whatsoever, but how could any parent do this to their child—and for money?
She’d cut Mama off because of her greed and self-sabotaging ways. But Dale—the father she’d never known—felt zero compunction killing her for a hundred thousand dollars. She wanted to demand answers, but the tape over her mouth prevented her from doing so.
His cold eyes jumped between Aster and Irina, then back to Aster. “Everything good here?”
Irina twisted her head to look at Aster as she held up a bottle of cleaning fluid. “Yep. Just getting rid of the fingerprints.”
Fury streamed through Irina's veins at the injustice of it all. She’d finally found a man who truly cared about her.
She’d found something with him she’d been searching for her whole life—acceptance, understanding.
Love. She’d wasted so much time in the beginning trying to seal him out of her heart for fear of being hurt.
Now she would never have the opportunity to tell him how much he meant to her.
She glared at Aster through watery eyes as Aster swabbed the duct tape covering Irina's hands, ankles, and mouth, obliterating any lingering evidence. Irina's eyes widened as Dale stepped forward, a dark gleam in his eyes.
“We gotta move before the police show up.”
Aster’s gaze snapped to his, her fear barely concealed in her honey-colored eyes. “They’re here?”
“Close.” Dale gestured to Irina. “Someone must have called about her screaming her head off. They’re questioning the neighbors a couple streets over.”
Aster hopped to her feet, then ran to the door and shoved her head outside. A moment later, she tipped her chin toward Dale. “All clear.”
He braced one hand behind Irina's back, the other behind her knees, then lifted her against his chest. Her arms ached from being bound behind her, and Dale had taped her ankles together again.
They stepped outside, and Irina's heart leaped with hope as she saw the red and blue lights flashing through the palm fronds dancing in the breeze.
God, help was close—so close. If she could just somehow get them to hear her, see her…
The strobing lights were extinguished along with her hopes as Dale tightened his hold then slipped around the building and deeper into the dark. “All right, girl. Let’s get this over with.”