Page 106 of Crimson Desires

After the Louisville show, Jack told me about the terrible press that he’d gotten himself tangled up in—both with Kaleidoscope Radio, and with Killing Kiss. He asked me to make a public statement to set the record straight about his conflict with Arnold.

I admit that I was a little apprehensive at first. The idea of openly accusing one of the biggest metal musicians in America of sexual assault was terrifying. I knew that regardless of what I said, the sheer act of releasing a public statement would place a huge target on my back.

Killing Kiss’s diehard fans likely wouldn’t even believe me. At best, they’d write me off as an attention-seeking liar. At worst, they’d accuse me of libel.

Jack assured me that I’d be protected. “If Arnold had better lawyers than me, he would’ve taken me to court instead of bitched about me on the Internet.”

Still, that didn’t do much to assuage my fears. With Dad’s surgery on top of everything else, I had enough to worry about in my life even without getting mixed up in Jack’s PR disaster. Funnily enough, the thing that had pushed me over the edge into agreement was an email from Arnold.

Or rather, Arnold’s lawyer.

The email was full of bullshit legal jargon—but from what I could tell, it seemed to be a hush-money deal. Arnold was willing to pay me $150,000. All I had to do was keep my mouth shut about the events that had transpired on Killing Kiss’s tour bus.

I was only tempted by the cash for a fraction of a second. After my moment of weakness passed, I found myself overcome with disgust and anger. The fact that Arnold thought he could buy my silence was fucking humiliating.

I was struggling. I wasn’t spineless.

And the thought of a mega-rich superstar being allowed to do whatever he pleased to whomever he pleased so long as he could pay off the consequences didn’t sit right with me. So, with Ava’s help, I began to draft my public statement.

About five minutes into editing my lines, I received a phone call from Melinda.

I picked it up.

“Hello?”

“Hi, dear,” Melinda’s voice sounded light. Airy, almost. “I just wanted to let you know that your father’s surgery is being moved up. They’re doing the procedure tomorrow. He’ll have an overnight stay, and then he’s free to come home.”

“Really? But wait, I’m not going to be home for another three days. Who’s going to take care of him?”

“I’ll be there for him.”

“Melinda, I can’t ask you to do that. You’ve already done so much.”

“I insist. I want you to enjoy the rest of the tour,” Melinda said. “Also, I have some more good news. You might want to sit down for this.”

I furrowed my brow. “I’m sitting.”

“Okay, well, I called the hospital this morning to see if I could get an itemized list of the bill, and they told me that everything has already been paid.”

Even though I was sitting, I somehow lost my balance. I nearly fell out of my chair. “What?” I breathed. “How is that possible?”

“I was as amazed as you are, dear,” Melinda said. I could hear her smiling through her words. “And I don’t know. I’ve already called the hospital to make sure that there wasn’t a mistake that had been made. But they told me that there wasn’t.”

“That makes no sense,” I said. “Melinda, you need to find out who paid Dad’s bill.”

“I’ll look into it,” Melinda assured me. “But if I were you, I’d just accept it as an unexpected blessing. Love you, dear. Take care now.”

“Okay. Bye.”

I hung up the phone, and for a moment, I didn’t even dare to breathe. How could my father’s medical bills be paid off, just like that?

My stress should have evaporated instantly. Instead, it just compounded. Could it have been Arnold? Maybe he paid off the bill as a way to keep me quiet. But that wouldn’t make sense. I had told Arnold a lot about my father—but I hadn’t mentioned his illness.

Who else could have possibly paid it?

A thought bubbled up in my mind. A four-letter name.

I couldn’t tell what emotion was stirring in my chest. Gratitude. Embarrassment. Joy. Fury. Perhaps a mix of all four.

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