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Her friends had abandoned camp at the first sign of trouble. There was a lot of chatter among the elite, with people taking sides, but I just ignored anyone who claimed I should’ve handled it differently and that it was a private matter and should’ve been kept between the family.
I put them in the abusive parent pile because the only ones who would say that shit would be the ones who saw nothing wrong with it. I called out most of them for their bullshit, and Garrett took care of the rest.
I guess that’s not the way they handle things around here, but I let them know that I wasn’t interested in being chummy with idiots, and Garrett wasn’t shy about telling them not to fuck with his wife. That got a whole lot of them to change their tune, but it was too late. Once they showed their true colors, there was no turning back.
Garrett was pissed because a lot of people he thought were upstanding sorts turned out to be abuse sympathizers, and now they’re blaming me for turning him against them, which doesn’t bother me in the least. I just let him know that none of them were allowed near me or I’ll beat their ass too, so he culled the herd.
Somehow, I ended up being the designated matron of these people by the end of that week. By that, I mean I was now the go-to girl. I had invitations coming out of the ass, and everyone was asking my opinion on shit that had nothing to do with me.
They were acting as if child abuse was something unheard of, and suddenly I was the voice for that shit. Meanwhile, I was side-eyeing all their asses because I’m not that stupid.
They were like a big monster machine that I wanted no part of. I wasn’t interested in joining their mean girl clique, especially since I knew that had it not been for my husband’s money, none of them would give me the time of day.
I wanted out of there and was headed back home by the next weekend because that place gave me the ick. Now that everyone knew what Natalie was really like, their mouths were moving.
All the lies she’d told about me and about her and Garrett since our wedding came out, and it was a doozy. How none of these people realized that she was out of her damn mind is beyond me, and they call themselves friends. It was obvious that she’d been spiraling right before their eyes, and they either didn’t see or didn’t care.
By the time we left California, I had gained a reputation for championing kids, which was not my intention, but it is what it is. Little Andrew was doing better since his paternal Grandparents had come to help watch him while his Dad worked.
They’d asked to meet me and had thanked me profusely for what I had done. Apparently, Natalie had been keeping the kid away from that side of his family for whatever reason, so I was sure they would do whatever it took to keep her away from him, at least for now.
I didn’t stop with Natalie, though; I was sure to let it be known that her parents were more than willing to let her get away with harming a child, which had some backlash against her Dad’s company.
Throughout all of this, Garrett never once tried to stop me. I kept waiting for him to say something after each new revelation, but he didn’t; he just let me do my thing. When I asked him that last night before we came home why he didn’t stop me or say anything, he said it was because he agreed with the way I handled things, and he wasn’t there to stifle my passionate nature.
I think he was still a bit shaken up himself because he didn’t realize that his friend was as far gone as she was. The nanny was in therapy because apparently Natalie was abusing the hell out of her as well, and the poor girl was too afraid to speak out until Natalie was no longer there.
I’m not sure how everything is going to turn out, with Natalie’s parents still doing their best to make it all go away, but Kevin knew that Garrett and I were on his side and there if he needed us.
I did get to learn a bit more about Natalie from her friends, who were only too happy to fill me in. Apparently, she was under the impression that she could win Garrett back up until we got married. In her eyes I was the usurper who had stepped in and taken her man, never mind that she was married with a kid.
That’s when it came out that she had contemplated getting rid of the baby, but her friends had talked her out of it. Kevin had walked around like a zombie for a few days before his family came to take care of him and the baby, and he was thinking of moving back home with them so they could help with the kid after the divorce that he was dead set on getting.
I already told Garrett that I would spend all of his money making sure Natalie’s parents never won custody of that kid, which is something they had threatened. My new in-laws hailed me as a hero, and I’m the new ‘it’ girl among their peers.
By the time we left, I had turned Natalie’s crew against her, exposed her for the delusional nut bag she is, and came out smelling like roses. I don’t think I’ll ever have to worry about her again, no matter how much she was still cursing my name.
In all the uproar, it was days before I realized that Jacks was gone, and when I asked Garrett what was going on, he hemmed and hawed so much that I started to get really suspicious.
He ended up telling me a little bit about her background and the things she was into before working for him, but I didn’t care; I wanted my Jacks back. It was selfish, I know, but that shit sounded dangerous, and she had already faced danger so bad that she’d gone into hiding.
I called her phone, and some man answered and grilled me up one side and down the other before letting me talk to her. She sounded fine, but I was still pissed at the way he’d just snatched her away, which is how Garrett explained it to me. I told this Marcus person he better not do anything to make me come looking for him, and he just laughed and told me I’d be better off protecting my husband from him.
I don’t know what that was about, but when I mentioned it to Garrett, he just rolled his eyes and went about his day, so I guess it was no big deal. We went back home, and I felt the stress of the past week and a half evaporate once I was back on my turf.
I woke up in the middle of the night on our second day back to a bunch of men in Garrett’s office. I stood outside the door, eavesdropping until one of them stopped the others and ordered me to come inside. I don’t know how he knew I was there because I hadn’t made a sound.
I walked into the room to find three strange men sitting there. “Lyon, Mancini, Blair, this is my wife, Alyssa.”
“You the one who sent my kid that video?” This was the one who had ordered me to come inside.
“Your kid? What video?”
“The video of that moron beating her kid.”
“MengeLiNi is a kid?”
“Why are you listening in at doors?”
