“What’s going on?” Stella appeared on the stairs.
“Nothing. It must have been a malfunction.” Brad shrugged.
“But—”
“Stella,” Brad was not in the mood, “no one can get past the gates.” Stella opened her mouth to argue, but they were cut off by the sound of beeping. The gate panel. “Christ, what now?” he grumbled.
“I told the police to come!” Stella moved to the panel by the door. She’d wrapped a bathrobe over the shorts and tank top she’d worn to bed. She pressed a button. The screen lit up. Brad saw a police car on the camera. Brad rolled his eyes.
“Stella, nothing is—”
“We don’t know that!” Stella turned to glare at him before she punched in the code. The gates opened, letting the cruiser in. Brad shook his head, but went to open the front door.
“Officer, sorry about this.” Brad stepped aside, letting the officer in.
“Not a problem, Mr. Wyatt.” The officer nodded to Stella. “Everything ok?”
“We don’t know.” Stella shrugged. “All we know is that the alarm started going off.”
“Mind if I have a look around?”
“Be our guest.” Brad moved over to Stella’s side. He slipped one arm around her as the officer left the house, heading back outside. “What’s gotten into you?” He looked down at her. “When did you become such an alarmist?” Stella glared at him.
“Right. Our security system goes off in the middle of the night, which it has never done before, and I’m an alarmist.” She pulled away from him. “Maybe the better question is, what’s gotten into you? When did you become such an ass?”
Brad opened his mouth to argue, but he stopped when the officer appeared in the front doorway.
“Everything set, Officer?”
“Actually, Mr. Wyatt, could you come down here for a minute? I just have a question about something.”
Stella looked at him. Her eyes were wide with concern. Now Brad felt a bit nervous.
“Ok. Let’s go.” He took Stella’s hand. They both followed the officer outside. He led them down the front stairs to the garage. Brad saw immediately what he had found. The garage had two regular garage doors and one smaller door which opened into the space. Brad and Stella used the smaller door when they hadn’t driven and wanted to come into the house through the basement. Brad saw now that the door was standing open about four inches.
“What the hell?”
“Brad…” Stella gripped his arm.
“I’m assuming you two didn’t leave that door open?” The officer appeared to know the answer when he asked. Brad and Stella both shook their heads mutely. “Ok then.” He reached for a radio at his waist.
“What are you doing?” Brad looked from the officer to the door. Had someone actually been in the house? He felt a bit sick. Someone had just walked in while he and Stella were sleeping.
“I’m calling for back up, just in case someone is still inside.” Brad heard Stella’s whimper beside him.
The other car arrived only moments later. Two more officers got out. All three pulled guns as they headed into the basement.
“Who?” Brad murmured. “Why would anyone…”
“It had to be one of the fans.” Stella was clinging to his arm. “I told you they were particularly crazy this time.” Brad didn’t feel like arguing with her right now. He didn’t quite believe a fan had tried to storm into their house.
The officers came out. They had their guns down and were putting them away.
“Anything?” Brad asked.
“Nothing we can see.” The original officer came over to him. “But that lock was broken. For whatever reason, someone tried to force their way into the house.” Stella took a deep breath beside him.
“Try not to worry too much.” Another officer joined them. “Your system worked exactly the way that it was meant to. It probably scared them off. Probably just a harmless curiosity seeker.” He was looking at Stella. Stella shook her head.
“I want a report filed. And I want this in the news. I want people to know that this is serious. I’m not just some sort of game for them!”
“Stella,” Brad put his hand on her arm. She yanked herself back.
“Brad, someone tried to break into our home while we slept inside of it. Start taking this seriously!”
Brad supposed that she had a point. But he didn’t want to say what else he was thinking. What about Steve? Would Steve try to hurt them because of the estate? What about Melissa? How far would she, or someone she knew, go to harass Brad? Would she have someone try to hurt them to get to Brad’s fortune? He felt sick.
“Do what she says.” Brad rubbed Stella’s arm. “It’s for the best.”
******
Morning came. Brad found himself slumped at the kitchen island over a cup of coffee. A locksmith had come at dawn to put a new lock on the basement door. Stella had taken a couple of sleeping pills and passed out. He was glad. She needed to sleep and try to get out of this anxiety mode she was in. And Brad needed to make some phone calls that he did not want her to hear. His first call was to Melissa.
“I hope I didn’t wake you.” He tried to sound nicer than he felt after no sleep.
“No, Jason’s up. You want to talk to him?” He could hear the baby babbling in the background.
“Not right now. Look, I have to talk to you.”
“Oh?” Melissa’s tune took on a playful stance. “Did Stella see my tweet?”
“Fuck, you did send that.” Brad was angry now. “Did you send someone to the house last night?”
“Wait, what?” Melissa sounded surprised. “Someone was at your house?”
“Yep. Someone tried to break into our house last night. Good thing we had an alarm. Was it you? Did you decide to send someone over here to give me a message?”
“Hell, Brad.” Melissa’s tone was angry. “No, I didn’t send someone to your house. I’m not a criminal. How could you think that the mother of your child was that type of person?”
“Maybe because you sent my wife a message on Twitter that I had a baby I hadn’t told her about!” Brad snapped. He kept his eyes on the doorway just in case Stella woke up. “How could you?”
“You know how I could?” Melissa retorted. “I’m tired of seeing you and Stella all over the news. I’m tired of seeing what a perfect Hollywood couple you are. I want Jason acknowledged—publically—as your son.”
“You know I can’t do that!” Brad shot back in a harsh whisper. “Stella—”
“Oh, right, sweet Stella.” Melissa scoffed on the other end. “We can’t tell Stella. It might crush her perfect little world. You know what Brad? Maybe you can’t tell Stella, but I can. And I will. If you haven’t told her by next weekend, I will be showing up at your house with Jason. We’ll find out what his step-mommy thinks of him.”
The line went dead. Brad dropped his phone onto the counter. He felt sick. He had a feeling this time Melissa was going to tell Stella, so he had to figure out a way to do it.
He tried to turn himself back to the problem at hand. He couldn’t tell Stella now. That would kill her. He’d figure out a way and tell her soon. But not today.
He knew now that Melissa hadn’t been in the house, or had anything to do with it for that matter. But there was someone else he was not convinced hadn’t been involved. He dialed Steven’s number.
“What do you want?” He’d woken Steve. That didn’t surprise him. Steve was probably curled up next to his model girlfriend. Brad wistfully thought that was how his Saturday morning was supposed to start too.
“Did you come to my house last night?”
“What? Fuck no, Brad. I have a lawsuit against you. Why would I do that? We shouldn’t even be talking.”
“Look, I know it had to be you.” Brad wasn’t in the mood. “Stella’s freaked out. So your trick only succeeded in scaring the hell out of her. Knock it off.”
“Brad, I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about,�
�� Steve grumbled. “Get your shit together. You’ve been an ass since this will thing came out.”
“Stay away from us,” Brad growled. “Do not come over here.” He hung up the phone before Steve could respond. It had to have been Steve. The Wyatt billions were worth doing anything. Brad was going to defend it, and his home.
******
David was an excellent attorney. He and Brad had been sitting together in his office Thursday morning for several hours. Brad was unhappy. The week had been rough enough as it was, but things were just getting worse.
“The only thing that we can theorize,” David sighed, “is that your father didn’t want your brother to have part of the company due to his gambling debts.”
Steve’s gambling debts had surfaced in the last few days. It wasn’t obsessive, but it was significant. Steve swore his father hadn’t known about the debts, and he swore he’d racked up the debt with no threat to the company. Brad worried that if Steve needed to pay debts and had easy access to the company, the money would vanish. He’d proposed that was his father’s theory as well. Everyone seemed to believe it was viable, but not certain.
“I know that’s all we have. Can’t we go with that?” Brad pressed.
“Maybe.” David took off his reading glasses. He paused to rub his eyes. “Brad, maybe you really should just share the company with Steve. It’s not such an outlandish proposition. I mean, until you knew you had inherited everything, it was your plan.”
“I know.” Brad stared down at his own paperwork. “But shouldn’t we honor my father’s wishes?”
“Is that really what you’re thinking?” David raised an eyebrow.
Was he really just being a greedy asshole? Everyone seemed to think so. The consensus was that it was Brad who was being difficult, not Steve. Steve had been more than fair, everyone said. He didn’t want the whole company—hell, Brad could keep sixty percent! He just wanted a portion that would make them partners. Brad knew that everyone was looking at him to walk away.
“We’ll see,” he muttered.
“Ok.” David sighed. “Is there anything else?” Brad decided that it was time to come clean.
“Look, I have to tell you something else.”
“Which is?” Brad weighed his wording choices, and decided just to go with it.
“Before Stella and I got married, I had a son with another woman.”
“Right, Brian’s mom.”
“No…” Brad hesitated. “With another woman.”
“What? Oh.” It seemed to hit David. “Ok. Does Stella know?”
“No,” Brad admitted, “but I need to go home and tell her. Immediately. His mom is threatening to tell her, and she already messaged Stella on Twitter. Stella thought it was a joke.”
David groaned. He closed his eyes, shaking his head.
“Ok. Fine.” He nodded. “What are you going to do after you tell Stella?”
“As long as she’s ok with it, I want to start seeing the boy more often. But it may take some work.”
“And you may need a divorce attorney,” David told him flatly. That made Brad go cold. He didn’t want to lose Stella. He loved her too much for that.
“Stella won’t—”
“You don’t know what Stella will do if she gets angry.” David closed up the paperwork. “Brad, I hope it doesn’t happen either, but you need to be prepared.”
He supposed that he did.
“I’m going to go home and talk to her.” Brad got up. “She’s not on set today.”
“Good luck.” David shook his hand.
“I think I’ll need it.”
******
Brad rehearsed what he would say the entire drive home. He tried to prepare himself for Stella’s reaction. Maybe she wouldn’t be angry. Maybe she’d be accepting. Maybe this wouldn’t be awful.
He could only hope.
Stella was in the master bathroom when he came home. She was sorting cosmetics into a travel bag.
“Hey.” He knocked on the door.
“Hey.” She turned. She looked exhausted. She’d been worked up all week. Brad had to admit that her fans were going a bit nuts online. Half of them were broadcasting that Stella was the worst woman they knew. The rest were trying to defend Stella, arguing that the other group of fans was crazy. Stella usually didn’t let this bother her, but it was this time.
“I need to tell you something,” she began.
“Me first.” Brad caught her hand. “Come here, sit down so that we can talk.” Stella looked concerned. She followed him into the bedroom, sitting down on the edge of the bed.
“What is it?” Brad took a deep breath.
“So you know that before you and I were together, I was seeing some other people.” Stella let out a nervous laugh.
“Well, of course you were. Everyone dates before they marry their spouse.”
“Right,” Brad began. “But there’s something I didn’t tell you about it.”
“Oh?” Stella echoed faintly. Brad absolutely hated that he had to say this to her.
“Stella, right after we got together…” He hesitated. “I found out that one of the girls I’d been with…was pregnant.” He watched the color drain from Stella’s face. That made him even more nervous.
“And?” Stella’s voice was firm. He wondered if she was about to freak out.
“And I’ve been supporting my son on the side for all of these years.” Brad sighed. He waited, waited for whatever would come next.
“You’re just now telling me?” Stella asked. She was getting angry. Brad knew that eerie calm in her voice. She was setting him up.
“I was afraid how you’d feel,” Brad murmured. Stella was on her feet in an instant.
“I knew you already had a son; you knew I loved him. What would the difference be with a younger one? Hell, you knew that I wanted a baby of my own! If we had one of ours, think of how close they’d be in age! Why did this have to be some huge secret?”
“I just…” Brad got up. He knew he was wrong. Hell, he’d known all this time he should have told her. “Stella, don’t be mad.” It came out as more of a whimpering plea.
Stella was sweeping through the bedroom like a wildfire. The closets were opening. Clothes were coming out. Stella had a pile going on a bed.
“What are you doing?” He gasped.
“I’m going to Chicago, remember?” Chicago? What was she talking about? Brad racked his brain. Then he remembered. Stella had a fan convention in Chicago this weekend.
“Oh, right, the convention.”
“You forgot.” Stella stared up at him. “What the fuck, Brad? What has gotten into you? You were such a good guy when we first got together. Lately, you’ve just fallen apart. Now I find out you’re lying to me. You haven’t heard a word I’ve said in weeks.”
She was slamming clothes into her suitcase. Brad opened his mouth to argue, but Stella waved him away.
“Get away from me.” She stormed into the bathroom. “I don’t even want to see you right now.”
He did as she asked. It was his fault after all. He figured she’d come into the living room to say goodbye before she left. She wouldn’t leave him angry.
But this time, she did. Brad heard the sound of someone at the door. Stella was chatting with him, laughing. She was a hell of an actress. Then he heard the door slam shut behind her.
He went to one of the front windows. Stella was stepping into a car. The driver closed the door after her. He got in himself and started backing down the driveway. She’d done it. She had actually left him without saying goodbye. Should he text her? Should he prompt her to talk to him?
No, he finally decided. If Stella was angry, he had to let her be angry. He couldn’t say anything right now. Maybe he’d text her tonight. Or tomorrow morning.
Brad spent the rest of the night pacing around the house. He was heartbroken. Stella was gone. His relationship with his brother was shot. He thought about calling Melissa to see Jason, but he knew how she’d
take that. He didn’t want Stella thinking he’d sought comfort in another woman.
Stella had left her laptop on the living room coffee table. He didn’t feel like walking over to the office to get his, so he picked up hers. He started it up. He realized she’d left a Word document open on the screen. Curious, he skimmed over it. What he found horrified him instantly.
The document contained a collection of posts. Stella had apparently saved them from her social media. Some were tweets, some were private Facebook messages.
Anyone who plays a character like Erika has no soul. You need a bullet in the head.
Hey, Stella? Better run, better run….run from my gun.
Don’t turn around, Stella; that might be a gun at your head.
Brad was horrified. He had read death threats against Stella before, but they usually consisted of ‘I’m going to kill you’ and nothing more. These were far more specific. Even scarier, they’d been sent from fans whose names contained the word Erratticus. It was the collection she’d told him about.
He knew now why Stella was so freaked out. This was frightening. He kicked himself for not paying more attention. He didn’t want to keep reading, but he had to. All of the messages were roughly the same. But the very last one froze him.
Nice house, Stella. It’s not that hard to find…or to get into. #BetterRun #Erratticus
“Fuck,” Brad whispered. She’d been right. A fan had tried to get into the house. He wondered if she’d told the police. Vaguely, he remembered her saying that she needed to tell him something. This was probably it. Hell.
And he’d let her go off into a room full of crazed fans. Brad dove for his phone, dialing Stella.
******
By Saturday morning, Brad had filled Stella’s voicemail with messages. He’d pleaded with her to talk to him, begged. He’d apologized, both for keeping a secret from her and for not believing her. He admitted he’d read the messages. Right now, all he wanted was to hear from her…and get her back from Chicago in one piece.
But he heard nothing. No calls, no texts. Stella was apparently furious. Brad had to resort to following the convention online. He wasn’t getting a quarter of the information he wanted. He’d just decided to send her representative a message when his phone rang. Conveniently enough, it was just who he had wanted to hear from.
Double Obsessions Page 27
