Chapter 20: Luna

I paced up the stairs to Mr. Kerrington’s office, cheeks burning. I’d dumped the Stormtrooper helmet the minute I piled into the taxi, but I still hadn’t cooled down. I narrowly avoided a massive brawl in the middle of the sci-fi con parade to the hotel. It’d been something to behold. Why weren’t the reporters covering the convention, something that was actually newsworthy? For a second, I thought I’d caught sight of Corban, but it’d been my mind playing tricks on me. He wasn’t charging in on his white horse to save me.

Besides, he’d already left missed calls and messages on my phone. I’d cleared those notifications too. I didn’t want to hear what he had to say because I already knew what it would be, and his rejection would just cause the tears to start fresh. We’d been on one official date. Slept together once. And then Thorn had ruined everything. End of story.

All Corban would have to say was that he never wanted to see me again. Or maybe he’d have censure and disdain like everyone else. Either way, it could wait. If he really wanted to do that, he could do it in person at the Twins event. He’d been a gentleman thus far, but men could get weird about sports heroes. Decorate their man caves, their faces, and their beer guts in the Twins colors.

Maybe if I could tell him the truth, I could save what we had. Because it felt like something. It felt like hope.

It felt like a future.

“Ugh, who am I kidding?” Whatever happened, I wanted to live my life without the threat of Thorn hanging over my head. I wanted to be at peace, and I couldn’t do that until the truth came out.

I inhaled, worked up my courage, then rapped my knuckles on Mr. Kerrington’s office door, right beneath his bronze plaque.

“Come in,” he called out in his croaky voice.

I opened the office door and entered, sweat trickling down the back of my neck.

“Luna, are you all right?” Kerrington got up and shuffled around to my side of the desk. He drew the chair back, one kindly palm settling on my shoulder. “You’re flushed and heaving.”

“Yeah, I had some trouble getting over here. I’m fine,” I said and sat down.

“Would you like anything to drink? Water? I might have a little something stronger.” Kerrington hurried to his small bar in the corner of the office, right beside the bookshelves dominating the rest of the back wall, and fumbled with a tumbler and decanter of scotch.

“Actually,” I said. “Yeah, I’ll take something stronger. I’ve had a rough day.”

“What happened?” He bent and opened a bar fridge, brought out an ice cube tray, then clinked a few of them into the glass. He splashed scotch over the cubes.

“Thorn happened,” I said.

“Uh oh.” Mr. Kerrington carried the tumbler to the table and placed it in front of me. “What did he do now?”

“It’s a long story,” I said, “but it made me realize that I need to go over what’s happened again. Legally, I mean.” The last thing I wanted was to discuss my relationship issues with my lawyer. He wasn’t my therapist, but at this rate, I’d need a recommendation for a good one. One who was getting paid not to hate me.

I slurped down some of the blessed alcohol, and it burned the back of my throat, all the way down to my stomach. I relished the sensation. “Thanks.” I tipped the tumbler toward him, ice clinking against the glass. “I needed this. I’m normally not a day drinker, but…”

“I understand, my dear. Thorn can be… well, a thorn. You want to discuss the legalities of the NDA,” Mr. Kerrington said and sat down behind his desk. Right down to business, which was I needed, to be honest. I mentally thanked him for his discretion and his empathy. He interlaced his fingers and rested them on top of the desk.

“Yeah, I want to know what I can and can’t say. There’s got to be some kind of loophole, Mr. Kerrington. I need an out. It’s too much. When I signed it, I was desperate and thought I could comply, and now… well, it’s just ratcheted back up again when I truly believed that once the novelty wore off, I could just go back to living my life.”

He studied me over the rim of his glasses and sighed. “I’m afraid there is no loophole. I went over that contract myself, Luna. You’re obligated to keep the facts a secret or Thorn has the right to sue you in civil court as well as take the house and the car.”

“Sue me,” I said and snorted a laugh. “For what? My non-existent business? He’s pushed me into a corner, and there’s no way I can get out of it.”

“If you renege, you will be beholden to him. And courts have granted awards that include liens against future assets and income. The NDA is ironclad. If you break the agreement, you will forfeit the leases on your car and the Summit Avenue home.”

I gritted my teeth and squeezed the tumbler. The fluid inside trembled. “The Mercedes was a birthday present,” I said. “How can he take it back if it was a gift?” I already knew the answer, but I needed to hear this all again. It’d been chasing me around for a year. “And the house was a wedding gift.”

“It’s all part of the agreement, Luna,” Kerrington said softly because he knew that I was aware of that. “The agreement you signed against my better judgment.” That everything I’d said so far and asked about were things we’d been over a hundred times.

I remembered the day I sat in this office and signed that agreement when Kerrington had warned me that the prenup was particularly stringent. He’d advised me against it, but Thorn had made it amply clear that if I refused, it was over and I’d have nothing anyway. But I would have still had my pride.

And I’d loved him too much to see it end. I’d loved him enough to think I could sacrifice everything I truly desired. A chance to have a little family of my own. To bring a child in need into my home if he couldn’t father one biologically.

If I broke the agreement, I would be homeless, without a car and destitute. No parents. No one but Larissa and she’d already saved me once. I wouldn’t ask her to do it again. My sinking business would reach the dark ocean floor. All things I knew already. All part of my frustrating reality. Blackness closed in, enshrouding my sliver of hope.

“I know,” I said and hung my head. I smacked back the last of the drink. “I just needed to hear it again. I needed to be sure there wasn’t another choice. Any other choice.”

“What do you mean?” Kerrington asked. “What choice have you been presented?”

“It’s not an option that’s been presented, it’s one that’s been there all along.” I placed the empty tumbler on the desk, the alcohol burning through my core. Warmth settled in my arms and legs. I felt a little lighter, but it was fake. The minute the booze wore off I’d be heavy as lead again.

“Don’t do anything you’ll regret, Luna,” my lawyer said, his already wrinkled brow puckering up even more.

“I already have,” I said and laughed. I choked on that one because it was mirthless. “Thank you for your time, Mr. Kerrington. I’m sorry I wasted it.”

“Not at all, Luna. It wasn’t a waste of time. I’m always here for you. I don’t like what Thorn and his family did any more than you do.”

We both rose at the same moment, and he extended his hand. I took it and shook once, firmly. It might be the last time I saw the man, after all. “Have a good evening,” I said.

“You too.”

I left his office behind and hurried down the rickety stairs that led out into a narrow lobby. As I moved into the street and stopped at the top of the stairs, the smells and sounds of the city wrapped me in a blanket of nostalgia.

I couldn’t go back to the house on Summit Avenue. The press would be there. Those bloodsuckers had camped out in front of my home for months after I moved back in the first time. This was a mini-resurgence of hatred for me. That meant they’d probably act the same.

It took me twenty minutes to get to Larissa and Ross’s house in Minneapolis. And another five minutes of standing on their doorstep in the dark before I worked up the nerve to knock.

Footsteps approached the other side of the door, along with my best friend’s frantic voice. “I don’t know who else to call. I can’t report her missing,” Larissa said.

“Lar, calm down. She’ll be fine.”

“Have you heard what they’re saying about her? She’s not going to be fine.” Larissa was just on the other side of the door, locked in a conversation that made my insides curl up and shrivel. I didn’t want to know what else they’d said about me.

I swiveled and stepped off the front step. The door opened behind me.

Larissa squealed and grabbed me by the shoulder. “Oh no, you don’t. Come back here. Ross, it’s her. It’s her. She’s okay.” She wrapped her arms around me and dragged me back into the house. The door slammed, and Ross locked it.

“Thank god, you’re here,” he said. “She’s been driving me crazy with the paranoia. Ever heard of a cell phone, Luna. A one-word text would have sufficed.”

“Shush you.” She flapped her hands at him and finally released me. “Come here, come here, and let me get a good look at you.”

I stood on display and shut my eyes. I couldn’t stand the scrutiny, but this was my best friend. At least her curiosity sprang from concern rather than a sick need to sell papers or magazines or online advertising.

“What the hell happened?” Larissa asked.

I opened my eyes and sighed. “What didn’t happen?” I lifted a shoulder. “Thorn turned up at brunch this morning and ruined everything. He told Corban who I was, basically. That I was the famed Runaway Bride. And he was very articulate about how much he hated me and why.”

“Bastard,” Ross muttered.

“Yeah, but you know that Corban–”

“Stop,” I said immediately, throwing up a palm between us. “I don’t want to hear it. Honestly, Lar, I don’t want to hear anything about Corban, okay? Or about Thorn or anyone else.”

Larissa’s lips writhed in place. Clearly, she had more to say, but she’d respect my wishes, the same way she had when she’d driven me away from the cathedral in my white dress.

“I need a place to stay,” I said. “Until the vultures fly away from Summit.”

Larissa still didn’t speak. Perhaps she didn’t trust herself to.

“Of course, you can stay with us,” Ross said. “The guest room is ready, I think. Isn’t it, Lar? Except this time, you have to promise us you’ll come out. At least to shower and eat.”

“Uh huh,” she said, then clammed up again.

“It will only be until all this insanity has died down. Until after the Twins event. No matter what’s happened, I won’t let Corban down. I feel like our friendship is riding on it since you both took a chance to recommend me for the event. I’m really sorry about this. I know it’s a hassle having to deal with this crap all the time.”

Larissa shook her head. “Don’t be ridiculous. We’re here for you always, hon. You’re my best friend.”

I sniffed and swallowed the lump in my throat. “Thanks.”

“Why don’t I order us some Chinese? Pizza? Sushi? Hamburgers?” Ross listed them and ticked off on his fingers.

“All of the above?” I suggested. “I’ll admit I haven’t eaten in a while.”

We laughed, and Ross trundled off down the hall to make the call. He’d likely order burgers. They were his favorite after all.

“Do you want me to draw you a bath?” Larissa asked. “You’ve had a long day.”

I couldn’t work out exactly what it was about the sentence, but the thought of a hot bath had me weak at the knees. The thought of being in a house that probably wouldn’t be surrounded by reporters in the morning. God, it was a mixture of relief and dread.

Relief that I didn’t have to deal with them here, and dread that I would still have to deal with them some time. I was helpless. I’d hit rock bottom because, god dammit, I couldn’t do anything about this. A snake of frustration and hopelessness wrapped around my heart and squeezed.

My visit to Mr. Kerrington had confirmed everything. I’d already known I was trapped, but I’d let the memory of it fade into the background. A sword of Damocles hung above my head, and Thorn had put it there. His hand on the hilt, inching downward, closer and closer to my crown.

It was over. Corban was over, and my dreams of being a success in the city I loved. Maybe I’d move to Phoenix with my retired aunt and uncle. A fresh start in a city where no one knew my name or even cared. The bath would wash away the grime and stress and even the aches and pains in my muscles, but it couldn’t erase the facts. I had to leave.

I had to move away from Minnesota for good if I wanted to survive. And that meant giving up everything I loved, including that tub upstairs and my best friend. And my charming, historic home on one of the most sought after streets in my home state.

“You coming?” Larissa asked, already halfway up the stairs.

“Yeah,” I said and forced a smile. “I’m coming.” But soon, I’d have to leave before I ruined their lives too.