Page 78 of Hot Mess

I lifted her chin so I could look into her eyes. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Those pictures of me and that other woman, they’re why you left me, aren’t they?”

She nodded again and looked away.

“The images you saw of me, and May Rogers were taken from the production of the show. It was a closed set, so I don’t know who took them, or how they got leaked. I was not with her like that.”

“You were acting?” her lower lip quivered with pent up emotion.

“Yes. A lot of acting. Those pictures didn’t show you the entire crew, lights, cameras, all of that. There were lights on the side of the tent shining in on us, that's why we were visible in the dark.”

“Is it all part of the show? Did I meet May on set?”

I shook my head. “You wouldn’t have liked her.”

“Don’t make judgements for my daughter. She is a very personable young lady,” her mother cut in. “She can decide who she likes without being told.”

I chuckled at her fierce defense of Kayla. “Kayla is very personable and sweet; however, May Rogers is not. And she would have been rude at the very least. Do you remember Steve? He said you are welcome back on set at any time. He likes you.”

“Why would I go back?” Kayla asked.

I knew she was remembering how she had been treated when I had her with me when filming started.

“Because I don’t think I can let you out of my sight after this. I don’t want to risk losing you again.”

“But if that other woman is so objectionable, why expose Kayla to her?” her mother asked.

“May won’t be there much longer. I got confirmation that after this morning's events they are going to go forward with killing her character off. I won’t be there much longer either. They are finally killing my character off.”

I twined my fingers in with Kayla’s.

She took in a shuddering breath. Tears rimmed her eyes with red.

“How did you find the pictures? How did you know?”

I let out a long slow breath. “When you didn’t return my texts or calls, I came home and you were gone. I stepped on a fucking”— Kayla’s mother made a disapproving noise. I ignored her— “envelope. I opened it.”

This time it was Kayla who made a noise.

“It had the pictures in it. The ones from the set, and the ones that were sold and released this morning. I saw everything, Kayla, including a note.”

She looked at me with terrified, wide eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“Babe, no. You have nothing to be sorry about.”

“I tried… I tried, I gave them all of my money, but it didn’t matter.”

I brushed a tear from her cheek. “It was never going to matter how much you paid them. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I couldn’t. It wasn’t your fault.”

“Kayla, it wasn’t your fault.” I cupped her face in my hands. “Look at me, look at me. None of this was your fault. None of it. It is one hundred percent their fault. You never would have paid them enough money, the pictures would have gotten out eventually. You could have told me.”

She bit her lip and sniffed. “They wanted me to. They wanted me to get the money from you.”

“But you never asked me for anything.”

“It was my problem to deal with. I was handling it.”

She started crying again. I pulled her into my lap.

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