Page 134 of Love Notes & Lifelines
My heart stops beating as I study this—this betrayal. I drag my hardened gaze to Stella’s. Thump. Thump. The beat starts slowly, then rolls into a raging thunder, then back to the photo. Would she have done this to me?
My thoughts shift to Silas and to the hurt that she’s carried with her. When I glance back at Stella, I already know the truth—that’s not the face of a betrayer. That’s the face of someone who has been betrayed over and over again.
I stalk toward the screen, studying the photo as if it’s a feral animal, searching for the proof that has to be there. This photoisn’t real, I know it in my soul. In my periphery, Danica retreats like the snake she is, but Daisie doesn’t let her get far.
Flashing blue lights streak the sky as the sheriff, Joe Carol, rolls in on a four-wheeler, and once again, it’s Leo who stops my forward motion. Why is everyone getting in my fucking way?
“Go,” Leo spits. “Take out the trash. I’ll check on Stella.”
“No, I’ll go?—”
“Son, a word?” Sheriff Joe appears at my side. This guy has to be pushing eighty and his speech pattern shows his years.
This is going to take forever.
“Fine, just give me a minute,” I concede to Joe. To Leo, I say, “Just—just make sure she’s okay. I’ll be up as soon as I can.”
Leo shoves me off him with two hands. I’ve never seen Leo this pissed. “File something with Joe. Stella’s already on the move. She should have been your first priority, but instead you panicked. You let your own insecurities override what you know in your heart. You told her to trust you, yet you bought into this bullshit and froze the very first time you were tested. You didn’t go to her. You didn’t support her, and you let her suffer the humiliation alone. You broke the trust, Becker. Not Stella.”
“I’ll explain. I’ll?—”
He storms off, and panic seizes my lungs.
“She assaulted me with cake,” Danica squeals like the pig she is.
Tabby holds a handful of purple mess above her head. She’s probably considering a repeat performance.
I do a quick scan of the party to find Ruby and Emmy far away from the chaos with Bella. She gives me the okay sign, and I walk toward Tabby.
What a fucking mess.
“Tabby,” I say gently. She spins, and the fire in her eyes tells me she’s reacting to more than just me and Stella. This was Tabby’s retaliation for a lifetime of wrongdoings. Little TabbyHayes is a pissed-off hornet ready to sting, and I don’t blame her a bit.
“Who does she think she is, coming in here and invading Stella’s privacy like that? She’s a wretched, wretched bitch,” Tabby announces.
“Put the cake down,” Joe says. I swear it takes him a minute per word.
I look toward the house, but it’s too dark to make out anything in the shadows.
“She doesn’t care who she hurts.” Tabby’s lip trembles. How much damage has Danica done to my family over the years?
Placing a hand over hers, I lower her arm, and she drops the cake.
Danica wipes her face with a napkin that doesn’t belong to her, and suddenly I’m proud of Tabby’sspecialbaking abilities. Danica’s face is tinted a deep purple, and it’s not coming off.
People point and laugh, which makes this vile human even more angry.
Another officer arrives and pulls her to the side while Joe speaks with me. Just fucking perfect.
“Joe, it’s great to see you, but this woman just demolished what should have been one of the best nights of my life. She hurt and embarrassed my fiancée. She’s trespassed, recorded us illegally, and has been a menacing pain in my ass for the last time.”
He nods while taking notes. “Illegally recorded you, you say?”
“It’s my house,” Danica shrieks. “I can put cameras anywhere I want as long as they’re not pointed at bedrooms or bathrooms—I checked. Everyone needs to know that you’re not so innocent either.”
“Is that true?” I ask.
“It’s not a law I’m familiar with. We’ve never had this issue in Sailport Bay before.” Old Joe scratches his chin and looks at his notepad like the answer will jump out at him. “Nope, not one I’m familiar with at all. It’ll be for the courts to decide, son. Trespassing I can do something about.”
