Savaged Vows: Savaged Illusions Trilogy Book 2

by Jennifer Lyon

  “I love you too. Be careful. And, Beth?”

  “What?”

  “No cutting. Swear it. Don’t let that fucker make you cut. Especially now when you’re pregnant with our kid.”

  She lifted her left wrist, the faint smear of blood on her pale skin an accusation. But she hadn’t done that on purpose. She hadn’t intentionally cut in years now. “I won’t.”

  She meant it. Hayes had taken enough from her and her family. He wasn’t getting any more of her blood. Beth wasn’t that naïve girl she’d been seven years ago, or even as fragile as she’d been last year.

  She could handle this.

  * * *

  Simon muted the TV. “I can’t fucking believe this. It’s happening again.”

  Justice poured out more coffee from the two carafes in Simon’s room. “You knew Liza was pregnant and that we’re married.”

  “He’s right,” River said. “This isn’t quite the same as last time Hayes released a video, but it’s still a problem. He’s targeting our fans, and right after our appearance on Chatterbox.”

  “But will they listen?” Gray said. “He’s a felon that fled the country.”

  Simon’s laptop chimed.

  “That’s Christine.” Simon accepted the call and positioned the computer on the dresser by the TV.

  Christine stared out at them, her eyes grim. “I warned you, Justice. Hayes is a devious bastard, and we know he invested in Jagged Sin. He wants them to succeed and you to fail. You’re not only in the way of his band’s success, but he wants to destroy Liza.”

  Anxiety burned like a motherfucker in his gut, but he wasn’t throwing his wife to the wolves. He folded his arms over his chest. “I’m not rehashing this, Christine. We’re married. Liza offered to fly out and make a joint statement. We can say that we kept our marriage quiet to protect our child, as Liza was attacked in the past. And that attacker had a connection to Hayes.”

  She shook her head. “Having Liza involved in a statement will draw attention to her, and that’s the last thing we want. Tell her to lay low and say nothing. We’ll draft a press release that yes, you’re married and you’re expecting your child this summer, but right now, you’re focused on your music, the band and your fans.”

  Worry for Liza nudged at him. His need to protect her pushed him to either get home or bring her here with him so he could keep her safe. But it’d been after a show that she’d been stabbed last June, so maybe it was better to keep her away for this weekend. One glance at the stone faces of Gray, Lynx, River and Simon added to that last thought. “All right. I’ll tell her.”

  “You’d better find this leak, Justice. How did Hayes get all that information? He has to have a source.”

  “Jagged Sin,” River said. “Ace and Mick were at that pool bar in Vegas. Any one of them could’ve gotten a hold of someone else’s picture of Liza pushing him in the pool.”

  Justice agreed. “Ace baited her that night, calling out for the DJ to play one of Gene Hayes’s songs. I didn’t think too much of it then. That’s the kind of asshole Ace is. But maybe he did it on purpose. It’s possible one of Jagged Sin’s band members was hovering around and took that shot.”

  “True. As for marriage licenses, they’re public record,” Simon added.

  All that made sense, but what bugged Justice was, “How’d he get that ultrasound picture? It looked like the still shot we were given when we left the doctor’s office. How the hell would anyone know about that?” He couldn’t figure it out.

  “Find out,” Christine said. “We need this stopped. Tell Liza to be more careful. She needs to make sure things don’t get into the wrong hands.”

  Justice dropped his hands on the dresser, leaning in. “Liza’s lived her life careful since she was fourteen years old.”

  Christine didn’t flinch. “Not that careful. I had to tell her to take her rings off at opening night. She didn’t post that ultrasound picture online somewhere, did she?”

  “No.” That was absurd. “Liza keeps the picture in her wallet, which is in her purse.” A thought struck him. “Oh shit. She had it in her purse when she was with me on opening night. She switched to one of those little purses and left her bigger bag in the room.”

  Christine frowned. “Are you thinking the hotel staff got it or something?”

  “There was a naked girl on our bed when we got back to our room that night. Liza was furious, I called security.” Frustration bounced and gnawed at him. “That girl could have been snooping. Maybe she was put up to it by Jagged Sin.” His eye twitched with his frustration.

  “Did security take a report?”

  “No. They just escorted her out. I can ask the hotel if they kept information on her.”

  “Without a police report, I don’t think they’ll release anything to you,” Christine said. “You should have called me. That’s what I do, advise you on these things for reasons like this.”

  “You didn’t tell us this either,” Simon snapped.

  He’d been too hyped and, frankly, hot. Beth’s possessiveness had been a huge turn-on, but he also hadn’t wanted her embarrassed and worrying about the guys teasing her. She was giving him a hell of a lot of trust. “Because I thought it was handled.”

  “What else was in the room?” Christine asked.

  Justice tried to remember. “Liza’s laptop, but she locked that in the hotel safe.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Was he? “As much as I can be.”

  “Okay,” Christine went on. My people are at the courthouse looking to see what Hayes’s lawyers filed. I assume it’s a motion to overturn the verdict, and that’s going to take a long time. But you need to think about protecting the band.”

  “What the hell do you think I’m doing?” He was here instead of on a goddamned plane going to his wife. What should I do? Her shock and fear had trembled in that question. But he had to believe she could handle this. She wasn’t the same girl as the last time Hayes blindsided her with a video.

  “I’m thinking of your record company. Hayes can’t sue Liza in U.S. courts while the verdict stands. But if he gets it overturned, he can bring a huge suit against her. You’re married, and you didn’t get a prenup.”

  Shit, shit, shit. He rubbed his hand over his head. “They can’t touch our company, can they?”

  “I’ll check into it,” Christine said. “But you need to get her to sign a postnuptial that S.I. Records is not part of the marital assets. She must agree to relinquish any and all claim on the company.”

  Justice could feel the stares on him from the other guys. “Anything else?”

  Christine looked away then back. “Your numbers are holding this morning on the music charts. That’s something. Let’s go forward. We’ll do the press release, you keep on your schedule, and if Liza’s name comes up, change the subject. We’re going to do a publicity blitz about breaking onto the top one hundred of the charts. Go. We have a busy day.”

  Justice grabbed his cup of coffee and headed back to his room to shower. He pulled his phone out, but there was no text from Liza, so she wasn’t in her office yet. He shot off a quick message of, Call when you can.

  Chapter 15

  Liza had a headache and hadn’t eaten before leaving the house. Anger and fear had teamed up with that last smidge of morning sickness to torture her stomach.

  Once inside the lobby at SLAM, four different people popped up from the sitting area. They had to be reporters. Phones rang incessantly. Glancing at the desk, she saw Sophie had a second person helping her. Both women looked frazzled. Sophie said into her phone headset, “I can give you her email to make a request. No she’s not in yet.” Sophie’s gaze hit hers, anger sharpening the colors in her hazel eyes.

  Liza’s stomach turned over at the confused betrayal there. When she’d been an intern, she’d helped out at this desk with Sophie a few times and had occasional lunches with her. They were casual friends. Now Sophie must feel blindsided and hurt to find out that Liza wa
s married and pregnant. She barely had a second to process that before other voices called out from the waiting area.

  “Liza! What’s your reaction to the Gene Hayes video?”

  “Miss Glasner! Is it true you trapped Justice Cade?”

  “Mrs. Cade, will you recant?”

  “Liza—”

  Determined to keep her composure, she focused on the reporters. “I have no comment on my personal life. If you’d like to talk about SLAM, please go through the proper channels.”

  A door opened, and a man strode out wearing a black polo shirt with SLAM SECURITY on the back. He stepped in front of Liza, facing the reporters. “Unless you have an appointment, you’ll need to leave.” He easily got control of the reporters and herded them out of the building.

  She breathed out a sigh of relief then faced Sophie. “I’m sorry this has blown up. We were planning to announce our marriage and the pregnancy in a few weeks.”

  Sophie looked away. “Sure.” She answered the next call.

  Liza hauled her tired body and baggage of guilt into the elevator. She’d never thought about how her friends at work might feel when the news of her marriage and pregnancy came out. But then, she hadn’t thought it would come out like this.

  The elevator doors slid open, and she walked out. “Morning, Tess.” She looked pretty in a teal shirt today, and her face was sympathetic.

  “You okay? I can’t believe all the stations ran that video.”

  She really didn’t know what she was at this point. “I’m shocked, I guess. Mad, upset, scared. Sophie downstairs in reception is angry, and I never thought about…” Liza trailed off. “Does she think I trapped Justice?”

  “She’s surprised, Liza. She had no warning or inkling, but think about it. She’s protected you a few times by screening reporters and handling a few of Justice’s super fangirls trying to get to you for whatever reason their hormonal brains dreamed up.”

  Guilt dug in deeper. When Liza first started here, there’d been a lot of curiosity and some suspicion about her. Over the weeks and months, people had gotten used to her and began to see Liza, not her past and Justice’s fame. They trusted her.

  And now this.

  “I’ll apologize again. I didn’t know this was going to happen. I’d never let them be blindsided.” This was how Justice’s band had felt when that first video came out.

  “They’ll get past it. Right now everyone just feels a little…”

  “Betrayed.”

  Tess sighed. “It’ll blow over. But for now, you have a ton of messages from reporters calling to get your comments.”

  Her phone had been buzzing nonstop. Oh! She needed to text Justice that she’d arrived at work safely. After pulling her cell from her purse, she winced at the sheer amount of calls and texts. Then she saw Justice’s message and called him.

  “Hey,” he answered. “I only have a minute before we have to run to another interview.”

  “Did you talk to the guys and Christine? Want me to book a flight?”

  He paused. “Let’s keep our plan for you to meet me in Florida next weekend.”

  Liza went into the small hallway that led to a kitchenette, trying to tamp down her irritation. “You don’t want to handle this together?” Why did this feel like she was being cut out, shoved aside and hidden?

  “I don’t want you attacked by a crazed fan stirred up by Hayes and in some kind of crowd frenzy. That’s what I’m most worried about. I want you and our baby safe.”

  His words rolled over her, calming the part that deep down worried his chase for fame would come before her and their child. And it made sense. “Next weekend then.”

  “Christine brought up a good point about where Hayes is getting his information.”

  Liza made some tea while listening as Justice explained what he, the band and Christine had discussed. “I had the picture of the ultrasound in a plastic photo sleeve in my wallet. So you think it was that groupie room crasher?” Who else would have seen it? She’d only shown it to Justice and a couple friends.

  “Maybe. Either Hayes or Ace could have put her up to it. And clearly he timed this video release to coincide with our Chatterbox appearance to put a wrench in our climb up the charts.”

  And using her to do it. “I haven’t looked since I got up this morning. Where are your numbers on the single?”

  “Holding at seventy-eight.”

  She blew out a breath. “That’s good, right? There’s no loss of momentum. Hayes isn’t having an effect.”

  “Too soon to really tell. I have to get to the local radio station. You’ll be okay? I don’t want you scared. If you can’t handle things there, I’ll figure something out.”

  She stared into her tea. Be strong, you can do this. “No. I’m fine. Go, and good luck. Keep the momentum going.”

  “Love you, later.” He hung up.

  She grabbed a health bar from the drawer of samples they always had from distributors, opened it and took a bite. Ugh. It tasted like dried bran cereal. She made herself take another couple bites while she accessed her work email on her phone. She repressed a groan at the sight of her mailbox.

  Tess came in and poured some coffee in her cup covered in bright yellow daffodils. “More problems?”

  “There’s twenty-five media requests in just the last hour.” She tossed the remainder of the health bar in the trash can. “I need to talk to Sloane, then deal with this.” It was going to be a long day.

  Tess touched her shoulder. “Let me know if you need help or a place to stay.”

  She appreciated that. “Thank you. But you have kids, and I’m not putting them at risk.” She rubbed at the scar behind her neck, then realized what she was doing and stopped. “I’ll be fine.” After quickly dropping off her purse and tea in her office, she hustled to Sloane’s office. She knocked then stuck her head in. “Now a good time?”

  He shut his laptop. “Come in.”

  She tried to read her boss’s face, but better people than her had attempted that feat and failed. He was dressed in his usual dark suit, with his hair combed and jaw set. Going to the chair in front of his massive desk, she stood there awkwardly. “I had no idea that Hayes would release that video.”

  He held up a hand. “Don’t waste time with the obvious.” His dark eyes flickered with something raw and ruthless. “Hayes is a predator trying to discredit his victim. He’s not the first or the last scumbag rapist to try this blame-the-victim shit.”

  The anger vibrating there wasn’t only about her. It was his past, and yeah, she’d Googled him, but it wasn’t her place to bring it up. This had clearly touched a nerve for Sloane personally as well as professionally. However, her boss wasn’t the type of man to swap stories on their pasts, so she focused on business. “Thanks. How do you want to handle this?”

  “Draft a statement that makes it clear you keep your personal and professional life separate. You will, as always, be available to handle any media questions or inquiries directly related to SLAM Inc. We’ll post that on our website and send it in release. Otherwise, do your job.” He leaned forward. “Am I correct that you can handle this job even when it’s personally challenging?”

  In other words, suck it up. It wasn’t that Sloane didn’t care, it was that he didn’t fold. He fought back. Much like Justice did. Her husband was going out to give radio interviews and fight for his spot on the music charts.

  Liza wouldn’t fold either. “Absolutely,” she answered, already feeling better with a plan. “I’ll get to work on the statement. Once we have that finished, I’ll use that in response to the emails, etc.” She pulled up Sloane’s schedule on her phone, although she already knew this one. “You have a lunch meeting with the writer pitching the reality TV show at 1:00 p.m. at Opulence Dining. Portia from SLAM Entertainment has it on her calendar as well.” She lifted her gaze. “Will I be going with you?”

  “Yes.” He opened his laptop, clearly finished.

  Liza walked out. Okay then, tim
e to tackle her job, because she wasn’t letting Hayes destroy her life.

  * * *

  “The adult-diaper business must be picking up.” Liza looked around the pretty condo Nikki had just moved into.

  Nikki snorted. “Nope, my dad helped me out, and I’m renting. I had to suck up to the stepwitch, but it’s worth it.”

  Liza walked through the living room, and damn, she loved that red chair paired with the gray couch and a red-and-gray rug. To the left was a small formal dining room, and ahead a kitchen done in gray quartz countertops, white cupboards and stainless-steel appliances. “This all happened so fast, I guess I haven’t caught up. So what made you decide to reach out to your dad and stepmom?”

  “Yeah, I’m curious too.” Em handed over a bottle of wine she’d brought with her and sat next to Liza at the bar.

  Nikki pulled out a corkscrew and got to work on the bottle. “I got a notice that my landlord was raising the rent. I had enough, you know? So I ate my pride and made the call.” She popped the cork.

  “None for me.” Liza got up and grabbed a bottle of water from Nikki’s fridge.

  “Must have been an awkward conversation,” Em said.

  Liza had to agree, given all the shit Nikki said about her stepmom.

  Nikki shrugged. “I don’t want to talk about it. We do what we have to, and move on.”

  Seeing that Nikki was uncomfortable, Liza felt for her. After all, Liza rarely talked about her mom in prison, and she never talked about her dad.

  Retaking her seat at the bar, she changed the subject. “I love this island.” She smoothed her hand over the cool gray surface. “You know the wall between the kitchen and dining room of my house? We could take that out and do an island like this. Then put in wood floors and paint.” But she’d keep all the chickens. She wanted to update while retaining some of the character and connection to Justice’s grandmother.

  Nikki leaned on the counter across from them. “Justice is doing great. You can probably buy a new condo or house soon. Maybe even in someplace swanky like Malibu.”