by Lori Ryan
When he finally convinced her it was safe to involve Chad and one of his tech staff, Samantha, they headed out to walk to Chad’s.
Gabe took PJ’s hand as they started up the beach.
“I’m really glad you came with me this week, Pru,” he said and was rewarded with that bright easy smile she’d had since she woke up from her impromptu nap this afternoon. She looked happier than he’d seen her look all week, despite the fact that she still had the weight of the missing journal and Jimmy Mondo’s threats on her shoulders.
“Pru, why didn’t your parents report Jimmy all those years ago?” he asked but squeezed her hand gently to soften the question.
She blew out a burst of air before answering. “I think they knew it would have crushed me to have this made public.” She looked up at him, and suddenly she looked a lot younger than twenty-nine. “I really thought he loved me. It was stupid, but I believed I was really special. To have the world know I had been so foolish….” She shook her head before she continued.
“But, there was also the baby. Jimmy had demanded I get an abortion. I didn’t want that. In the end, my family decided it would be better to break all ties with Jimmy. My parents told him they wouldn’t report him if he let me out of my contract without any penalties. He never asked about the baby, and we never told him. I didn’t fill in any name for the father on the birth certificate. It was probably the wrong thing to do, but I just didn’t want him having anything to do with Matthew. I didn’t want Jimmy to be able to touch him, to taint his world in any way. Although, looking back, I suppose we could have gotten his signature on the adoption papers by promising not to press charges against him.”
“You didn’t want him to know you hadn’t aborted the baby, though,” he said. Under the circumstances, he couldn’t blame her.
“Yeah. I just didn’t want him anywhere near the baby, you know? Not after the way....” She didn’t finish her thought, but she didn’t have to. He got it.
He stopped them at the gate to Chad’s backyard and pulled her to him, wrapping her up in his arms. She tilted her head up at him and smiled that smile again, and it cut right through him. Gabe leaned in and brushed her lips softly at first, then harder. The kiss took on a life of its own. She wrapped her arms around him and he loved the feel of that, the feel of her trusting him, touching him, kissing him back with everything she had.
God, he wanted her more than he’d ever wanted any woman. He almost laughed. Who was he kidding? No other woman had come remotely close to the pull she had on him, the intensity of what he felt when he was with her. He broke away and looked at her.
He needed to keep himself together long enough to get Chad and Samantha—Chad’s computer guru—on the case and give them the info they needed. Then, he could take PJ home and make love to her. They had three more days until she had to go back on tour. He planned to spend as much of that time exploring her mind and body as he could.
“Ready for this?” he asked but her eyes were glassy.
“Huh?” she asked, drawing a laugh from him.
“Ready to go see Chad and Sam?” he asked again.
“Oh! Um, yes,” she said, and he laughed even more at the adorable blush creeping into her cheeks. She was sexy as hell when she was flustered. And, he wanted to see just how much more flustered he could make her. But, that would be later.
For now, he tugged her up onto the lawn, and they cut across Chad’s backyard until they came to the stone wall that surrounded Chad’s house. They rang the bell and a little buzzer sounded. The mechanical sound of the gate clicking free told Gabe Chad had unlocked it remotely. They walked through and found him waiting on the back patio for them.
“Thanks, Chad,” Gabe said as they approached.
“You guys need to come see this,” Chad said, skipping any greeting. The grim look on his face sent cold rushing through Gabe again. They followed Chad into the living room where a newscaster was talking about Jimmy Mondo.
“He died in a hospital in Los Angeles about an hour ago,” Chad said quietly, and Gabe heard PJ’s gasp beside him. He put his arm around her and drew her in closer as Chad continued. “It was a car accident. They’re saying it may have been alcohol-related. Apparently he was seen at several parties last night. There are conflicting accounts, so the cause of the accident isn’t clear yet. Some people swear he was sober when they saw him, but others say he was completely wasted.”
The small floating box behind the newscaster alternated between showing a headshot of Jimmy Mondo smiling his greasy smile at the camera, and showing a wrecked car in flames on the side of a highway somewhere. PJ’s face showed the horror she was feeling as she gaped at the screen.
He wanted to draw her away.
“Check your phone, PJ,” Gabe said, wondering if her blackmailer had something to do with this.
PJ was pale as she drew it out of her pocket. “I turned it off,” she said. Her hands shook as she held the top button down and the phone booted to life, chiming seconds later to indicate a text was waiting. Gabe watched as her face crumpled, and he caught her in his arms when she likely would have fallen to the floor. He scooped her up and brought her to the couch. Samantha hovered in the background—always more comfortable with computers than people—but Chad came and sat near them.
Gabe took the phone from PJ and read the text before passing it to Chad. Chad slipped away to where Sam sat with her computer and the two of them bent their heads over the screen murmuring quietly as they worked. The words of the most recent text echoed in his head.
Jimmy paid. Are you ready to pay, Pretty Pru?
No way in hell he would let PJ go back out on tour now. At least, not without going with her. Gabe pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, and sent a quick text to his assistant so he could arrange coverage for all his meetings, and move dates of anything that couldn’t be covered by someone else. He cleared two weeks and he’d clear more if he needed to.
His next text was to Jesse’s fiancé, Zach Harris, who owned a private security company. When he’d met PJ at Jack’s party, he hadn’t batted an eye when PJ was introduced. Zach and his company were very used to handling high-profile clientele and doing so discretely and effectively.
Do you have any of your people available for personal security for PJ for the foreseeable future? She’s been getting threats. I’ll be with her, but I’d like additional security if you have anyone. I don’t trust her security staff. They really aren’t even off the suspect list themselves yet, so I need to have backup for her.
The response came back almost instantly.
I can send two of my people tomorrow morning. I can come over myself if you need someone before then.
Gabe texted back. Tomorrow’s fine. I really don’t think anyone knows where she is right now. Thanks.
He let his lips brush PJ’s temple. “You okay, Pru?” he asked, and she nodded before looking up at him.
“I guess I haven’t been taking this seriously enough. Do you…?” She swallowed and licked her lips before she continued. “Do you really think he killed Jimmy?”
Gabe could see her blinking her eyes and knew she was close to crying. She was shaken more than she wanted to admit. That was PJ—always trying to be tough, not letting people see what she was really feeling or how hard things really were. He’d seen her do the same thing on tour. She had this crazy hard work ethic, and truly believed she’d been given a gift in her stardom. She believed she owed her fans for the opportunity they’d given her…the life they’d given her. And, he knew, she’d work forever to try to pay them back for that.
Now that he knew what had really happened thirteen years ago, he had a feeling she felt the same way about her parents. As if they’d given her a second shot at a career she’d almost thrown away with her alcohol abuse. Her parents had helped give her child a chance at a life that was more than she would have been able to give the baby as a fifteen-year-old. Gabe looked her in the eye, knowing her tough-girl act was held together b
y a very thin strand at the moment.
“I guess there’s a possibility Jimmy just got drunk and stupid and crashed his car on his own. It’s not like the man isn’t known to drink. But—whether this guy’s just taking credit for an accident or really had something to do with it—I don’t want to take any chances. I cleared my schedule for a while so I can go with you for your next few tour stops, and I’ve got Zach sending extra security over tomorrow.”
Chad approached and sat on the sofa across from them.
“What have you got, Chad?” Gabe asked.
“The blackmailer is using burn phones to send his texts. So far, he’s used three different phones. With some carriers, we can get more than just the number. We can trace the texts to the person who bought the phone. With other carriers, that information is never recorded. So, if the person paid in cash for the phone, and paid cash for a phone card to charge up the phone, there’s no way to trace it. That’s what we’ve got here. Your guy knows how to stay anonymous.”
“There’s nothing you can do to trace it? Even if we’re monitoring her phone when a text comes in?” Gabe asked.
Chad shook his head, his mouth set in a tight line. “Sorry. There’s no way to trace it. Even if we got the police involved, they wouldn’t be able to get the information with a warrant. It simply isn’t there to get, and I think your guy knows that.”
Chad turned to PJ, who sat tense and anxious next to Gabe. “Based on what Gabe’s told me, it’s safe for us to assume this was someone close to you, correct?”
Gabe could feel the intake of breath as PJ seemed to brace herself for the conversation. He couldn’t blame her. The idea that this was someone close to her killed him. It had to be tearing her apart inside, too.
“Right,” she said, quietly. “No one knows I keep that journal. I’m careful only to get it out when I’m alone in my room, and I put it back each time I finish. I never write in it around anyone; even my parents didn’t know it was there.”
Chad’s face creased in thought.
“What?” Gabe asked, knowing Chad had a theory.
“You don’t travel in a typical bus like other singers? You only use Gabe’s hotels?” When PJ nodded, Chad continued. “Who preps your room for you when you arrive at a new hotel? Does someone go in ahead of you, other than the hotel staff, that is?”
“Usually either Lydia or Ellis. Sometimes Debra if she’s with us, but she doesn’t travel with us very often. One of my bodyguards accompanies hotel staff when they take my luggage up to the hotel room. Ellis or Lydia often have things to drop off for me, or they may be in there laying out clothes for interviews, shows, that kind of thing.” PJ blushed a stark red. “I guess it sounds like I’m a spoiled princess, but I usually have to go over to the venue and do a sound check or talk to the guys in my band. They travel in a bus and not with us. They prefer that.”
“Why don’t you travel by bus too?” Chad asked, and Gabe saw PJ flush again.
“I don’t––” She paused and glanced at Gabe. “It’s just that it reminds me of what it was like when I first started my career…of what happened with Jimmy.” Gabe had filled Chad in on the whole story before they’d come over, everything from the baby to Jimmy’s agreement to let her out of her contract, to his recent angry text messages.
Gabe squeezed PJ’s hand and rubbed his thumb over hers where their hands were joined.
“PJ, did you leave your luggage at the hotel with Lydia and Ellis, or do you have it here with you?” Chad asked.
“Most of it is with the team. I only brought a small bag with me,” she answered. “Why?”
“The way I figure it, someone had to have found out about the journal. If you had a bus you used regularly, I’d check it for peepholes of some sort in your section. Some way someone could spy on you.” PJ’s intake of breath was sharp and audible. She shook her head. “No one, no.... Not on my team.” This last part was weak. They all knew it had to be someone on her team, but it sounded as if she wasn’t ready to face that possibility.
“I’d like to check your luggage to see if anyone’s tampered with it or planted cameras in your belongings. That’s really the only way someone could have seen you write in your journal and known where to look for it. Where are Debra and the rest of your team now?” Chad asked.
“Debra went on to Denver. She’s in the Towers there, getting ready for the next show. Debra plans to stay with us for a few stops until this all dies down, then she’ll go back to her office. I think the rest of the team was given a few days off. They’ll meet us in Denver for the show. They should arrive tomorrow.”
“Give me a minute,” Chad said and crossed back over to speak to Sam. They could hear him instructing her to send two of his people to Denver to screen all of PJ’s luggage. He also sent someone to the hotel in New York where she’d been to search the hotel suite there for any evidence that someone had been spying on her.
PJ sank forward, her head in her hands, and Gabe rubbed her back. He wanted to say something, anything, that could make this better for her, but he knew there wasn’t anything to say. Whoever this was, would prove to be a huge and very personal betrayal by someone she loved very much – or at the very least, trusted. Chad returned, sitting down across from them once again.
“You guys can go back to your house, Gabe. Sam and I will be running full background checks on your team, the band, your bodyguards—anyone who could be behind this, PJ. We’ll come by to talk about the results tomorrow. You have security arriving in the morning, Gabe?”
“Yes, Zach’s sending two of his people over at daybreak. We’ll keep them at the house with us, and then take them with us when we go on the road.” Gabe could feel PJ’s eyes on him. He hadn’t exactly told her he planned to go on her tour with her and stay on the tour for as long as she needed.
“All right. Sam and I will be over in the morning, but I’ll call if we find anything major in the meantime. Let me know if you hear from this guy again.”
Gabe nodded and pulled PJ up to her feet, then guided her to the back door. She seemed a bit shell-shocked as they walked back down the beach.
***
Lydia smiled and sipped her coffee as she watched the news. How many lives had Jimmy Mondo ruined? How many other teenage girls had he seduced? How many other babies had he abandoned and ignored, letting someone else clean up his mess? It was time someone made him pay for it, and she had been all too happy to do it. Slipping him a heavy dose of sedative right before he got in his car had been easy. Too easy when she’d flashed a little cleavage at the creep, and leaned in nice and close to whisper in his ear. From there, dropping the crushed tablet in his drink beside him while the bartender was at the other end of the bar was simple. The accident had been all but guaranteed after that.
Now to make the little whore pay….
But she wanted to drag this out with Pretty Pru. It hadn’t taken Lydia long when she first started working for PJ Cantrell to realize PJ was exactly like Ellis in so many ways. Lydia laughed. In fact, Jimmy Mondo was like them as well. All three skated through life, letting the world around them fix all their screw-ups. Expecting everyone around them to fawn over them, meeting their every demand and need. It was disgusting.
And now, Pretty Pru was off hiding, thinking no one knew where to find her. Time to take away that false sense of security. It hadn’t taken much to find someone in the hotel who had seen her leave with Gabe Sawyer and was willing to talk to Lydia for a little money. It turned out Gabe had a house in Connecticut he liked to keep private.
Everyone underestimated the power of money when it came to exposing secrets.
Lydia smiled. Time to wake up Pretty Pru, and let her know she couldn’t hide herself or her secrets any longer.
Chapter Eleven
PJ felt numb as they walked back up through Gabe’s backyard. He entered the code to the back gate and held it open for her, then ensured that it clicked shut behind them before they continued up to the patio. PJ’s phone c
himed. She pulled it out of her pocket, tense but comforted when she felt Gabe’s strong hand on her back. She didn’t mind at all that he looked over her shoulder, and she angled the phone toward him to allow him to see. Aunt Susie and Uncle Brian had sent a text.
Call when you can.
She hit the button to make the call and put the phone to her ear. Brian picked up almost immediately.
“What is it?” PJ asked. “Is Matthew all right?”
“Yes, PJ. But, we wanted to let you know,” he paused, and she felt a jagged pain in her gut, dreading what was coming. Had her blackmailer found Matthew? Had he contacted them?
Brian continued. “We told Matthew about you. We told him you’re his birth mother.”
PJ felt hollow and then felt Gabe’s arm around her, all but holding her up. Her head was reeling. “I always thought…. Well, I always just assumed….” Matthew had known for years that he was adopted, but they hadn’t told him PJ was his birth mother until now. She thought she’d be a part of that conversation when the time came.
“I’m sorry, PJ,” Brian’s voice softened. “We just felt we needed to tell him before he found out some other way. We didn’t want to wait and then have him see something on the news.”
She squared her shoulders. “Yeah…. No, I get it. That’s fine, Brian. I understand. How did he take it? Can I talk to him?”
She heard the hesitation in his voice. “I’m sorry, Peej, honey. He’s upstairs. He doesn’t want to talk right now. I think he’s still processing it.”
PJ broke down when she heard that. Tears ran down her cheeks as Gabe’s arms came around her and held her tight. She tried to talk, tried to ask if Brian thought Matthew would be all right, but she couldn’t. In her head, all she could do was berate herself for crying like this. Matthew was the important one. Only his feelings mattered here. But somehow, knowing he knew the truth about where he’d come from and might choose never to speak to her again…well, it brought back all of the memories of having to turn over her tiny, incredible, precious baby the day he was born.
