Page 81 of Since Always

"It's going to be okay, I promise," she says, stroking my hair.

"I just don't to lose either one of them," I say. This time, she is silent.

CHAPTER 26

Owen

Chris tells me the story of Jana and Mark Reynolds as I drive us to the Reynolds Estate. His tone is strained, and he says nothing more than he has to. I want to fill the silences with more attempts to make him understand my side of everything, but I fight the urge. There will be a time, but this isn’t it.

The Reynolds Estate is a 1000-acre farm, which sits about 25 miles outside of town. Mark lives here still, on the same property as his parents, in a 4000-square-foot log cabin about a 10-minute drive from the sprawling main house.

At the towering iron gates to the property, a young man takes my name, though I can tell by his reaction he knows who I am. After a quick call to Mark, he nods at me.

“He’s at the main house, sir. He said to meet him by the side entrance and that you’d know where that was.”

I follow the long driveway to the mansion, fighting a wave of memories back. I haven’t been to this house in a decade, but nothing has changed. Nothing, I am pretty sure, ever does here.

Mark is indeed standing outside the side entrance, leaning up against a large pillar, casually looking at his phone and I want to jump out of the car and knock his ass out the second I see him. Having just heard the story Chris has told me, I am no longer feeling like maybe I am really the villain to his hero.

I made a horrible mistake once, but Mark is still the villain in this story.

“Aw, look at that,” he says as we get out of the car and walk over to him. “You two are so cute. Always joined at the hip, huh? You alright with him railing your little sister like that?”

I glance at Chris and see the tightening of his jaw. I know he, too, wants to take a swing.

“Well, I guess now you and I could start a club,” Chris says dryly.

I grit my teeth, but the barb stings Mark more than me, and his entire demeanor changes.

“I’m assuming this isn’t a friendly house call. What do you two want? I’m not killing the story.”

“Have you heard, Mark,” Chris says. “The name Stephanie Kennedy? Does that ring a bell to you? Great girl. Beautiful. Smart. Funny. I’m currently dating her and I’m a lucky guy. Oh, and I guess I should say she used to work with your ex? Jana? Does that make it sound more familiar?’

I watch Mark’s body language closely at this, and notice that she shifts uncomfortably at the mention.

“Your ex is a real sweetheart, by the way,” Chris continues. “You fucked that one up, man. She was way out of your league.”

“What the hell do you two want, honestly? Let’s stop the games and you just say it.”

“Okay,” I say, stepping close enough to him that he takes a small step back. “Let’s do that. Because I am tired of playing your bullshit, so how about this? What we want is for you to kill the fucking story. I want you to take your pictures and shove them up your pretty little ass.”

“Why would…”

“You obviously know why,” Chris says, stepping forward to stand at my side. “We know about Jana. We know why your engagement ended.”

“I don’t have a fucking clue what you two think you…”

“I thought we weren’t going to play games,” I say, sounding every bit as tired of his bullshit as I feel. “You do know. You know that you set that incredible woman up, even after, for some godforsaken reason, she agreed to marry you. You knew that you didn’t want to marry her, but that mommy and daddy would be mad and it would look bad if you were the one who ended it.”

“So you hired someone to seduce her,” Chris says, filling in. “You hired someone to pretend to be into her and get her to fuck him and give you proof it happened—I imagine you probably wanted pictures, right, you sick fuck? And then it would be her fault, and not yours. You were just gonna ruin her life like that, Mark? For what? I honestly don’t understand? To save face in the press? Like no one has ever broken off an engagement before?”

He doesn’t respond. Just grinds his teeth together. But I know him. And I know his family.

“It wasn’t about the press. It was about his old man. See, Chris, what you have here is a classic case of ‘daddy didn’t give me enough attention, and now I’m spending my entire life trying to make him love me.’ She was great on paper, right? That’s what you said? And that’s what he wants for you. But what you didn’t count on in your shady little plan is that not only did Jana fall for the guy you paid, but he also fell for her”

The thought of this makes me laugh a genuine, hearty laugh. It’s just too good. “The dramatic irony of that, man. That’s honestly brutal. And then they turned on you. So now, here we are. And we have the recording he made of you threatening him if he didn’t produce the evidence you wanted. And we also have the photos.”

“The photos of Jana?”

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