Page 90 of Protect Your Queen

“Shush, Songbird. You have to keep quiet now, sweetheart. Promise me. Keep your mouth shut. From now until we get things handled, you have to be very, very quiet, and let us handle this for you.”

I cried. I must have cried for days because moments passed in a blur. I was on a gurney, then later here, in my house, on the couch. All the while, I said nothing. I was asked questions, and I couldn’t speak.

Chris would answer, until they pried me away from him. I fought them, and lost as he let go of me.

Then Jareth was there. The lamp by my sofa armchair was on, and I was staring out at the darkened wall beyond. My career was over. My life was over.

I could already hear the headlines.

Jestiny Sleeps Her Way to the Top.

Jestiny Blackmails Her Way to a Label Deal.

Talentless Miss Idol, Fraud From the Beginning.

Jestiny. Murderer.

The worst thing in the world had happened, and now, it was over.

Chapter thirty-four

Fly To Me

Chris

When it rained, it poured. Every single feeling and hidden emotion. Every secret she had kept close to her vest was out in the world. My job, as her bodyguard, was to control the spillage.

I took my jobveryseriously.

“We’re not making any statements to the police,” I said as I saw the familiar face of Detective Athanya Delgado in the hospital floor.

“Really? And I thought she was so innocent.” Her eyes narrowed as she looked at me with suspicion.

“We’re not speaking without a lawyer,” I told her.

“We? I thought you were just the bodyguard. Are you speaking for the family now too?”

“I am speaking for my client. My job is to protect her, after all.”

I wasn’t going to let this woman within fifteen feet of my Songbird. Not until she was surrounded by her family, and the armed men of Caledonia Security.

I didn’t let her out of my arms until Jareth strode through the halls of the hospital, bellowing at the staff. “What the fuck is she even doing on this floor? Do you know who she is?”

Along with his threats was also the promise of money, and we were whisked to a VIP suite. Arealroom, with more luxury accommodations that were easier to secure.

When a paparazzi punk barged his way in, I almost lost my shit and punched him in the throat. I would have strangled him with his camera strap if Lea hadn’t intervened. I wondered if that arrogant fucker even understood that he owed her his life. Asshole.

I thought that Caledonia Security would need to leverage its connections to Laurent Media to get everything under control, but the television over the nurse’s station proved me wrong.

“Jestiny Barkada is a hero,” said Mrs. Dryden in a statement with the press. On the screen, she was at a podium in front of Dryden Studios, the flash of cameras making her pale skin practically translucent in the bright sun. “My husband was a man who used his privilege and power to harm women. I have statements all verified by me, from women who he hurt. They have refused to come forward because they feared reprisal.”

The flash of cameras was blinding, as the dozens of microphones on the podium outside the Dryden building recorded every breath.

“I was divorcing him.” That statement sent a murmur through the crowd, as people tried to verify what she was admitting. People of that caliber, especially the women, did not publicly divorce if they could help it. “I had filed with the lawyers, and Michael…” She smiled, sadly, and shook her head. “Thought he could put a gun to my head and frighten me into staying with him.”

She shook her head, slowly, as if baffled by that turn of events. It wasn’t lost on me that through all this, she did not shed a single tear.

“His illegally acquired firearm was to my head, when Jestiny’slegallypurchased, concealed carry saved my life. She saved me, and I will owe her a lifetime debt that I couldn’t even begin to repay.” She then flipped over the page in front of her - no doubt, her statement had been crafted by the best members of the Dryden PR wing. “As such, I am here to request that she have some privacy as she deals with the shock of these events. I give her nothing but my full-throated support for her extraordinary feat today. I will not be taking questions.”

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