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“We didn’t,” Savage replies. “When you involve the police, things get complicated and messy in a way that limits our actions. But if you want to—”
“No. No, I do not want to go to the police,” I say quickly, but what I don’t add is, why would I go to the police when I want that man dead? I just don’t want Damion to go to jail for doing it. I can’t say that out loud, though. I’d sound too callous and cruel. I would sound like I’m becoming a West. Then again, maybe I’m just becoming my mother’s daughter.
I’m officially queasy.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Alana
“You’re sure?” Savage presses, watching me closely.
“What do I say? I was kidnapped, and I think it was West Senior who organized it all, but I have no proof? I think there is a point where I start to look crazy. I think it might pull the attention away from him and place it on me.”
“You’re a smart wench,” he replies. “It might.” He runs his hands down his thighs. “I brought Candace because there are a lot of similarities to what we went through, what she went through, to what you’re dealing with. I think you might find talking to her helpful. I’m going to leave and give you some time.” He pushes to his feet.
Candace, who’s been out of sight, walks him to the door, leaving me really no choice but to accept his plan for me and his wife to talk. I decide to head to the kitchen to finally snag my coffee, my mind remarkably blank. Almost as if my body is shielding me, protecting me from traveling back to the events of the night before. I wasn’t hurt, though, I tell myself as I fill my mug. I was fine. This was all a mental war game, constructed by a vicious man trying to break me. And he will not succeed. I’m fine. And I’m not done fighting.
Candace joins me in the kitchen and claims a seat at the kitchen island. “We were in love,” she says. “We met at a coffee shop, and we fell in love so very quickly. He was a surgeon, and my father was a general. It’s a long, emotional story, but he ended up in the Army, and thanks to my father, involved in a world he thought made him unsavory and bad for me. So, he left me. And destroyed me. And years later, when he came back, there were people who tried to use me to destroy him. I was kidnapped, too. It was a long road to happiness, but now we’re there.”
I blink, stunned by the similarities of our stories in so many ways. “How did you get through it? And shut down your enemies?”
“Painfully, because our fathers were—” She lifts a hand. “I still struggle to talk about it. But ultimately, I had to become bait, and Savage didn’t want to allow it to happen. And ultimately, he had to agree, and we caught the bad guys, got married, and lived happily ever after. I hope. It sure feels like I’m living my best life, though I worry about him. But Savage without Walker and the risks he takes would not be Savage.”
I ease onto a bar stool directly across from her. “Thank you for sharing that story. It offers me hope. I’ve loved Damion my entire life, and I mean that pretty darn literally. I need to know we can have our happily ever after.”
She reaches over and captures my hand. “You can. I promise. I know Savage is committed to helping anyway he can. The Walker team gets emotionally invested in those they help. You’re stuck with us all.”
A smile tugs on my lips. “Thank you, Candace.”
She smiles back, friendliness in the depths of her eyes. “And I love that you call Savage Little Bitch. He hates it. I love it.”
This draws a genuine laugh from me. “He loves you. I see it in how he looks at you.”
“As I’m sure Damion does you.” She softens her voice. “Alana, if you need to talk about last night, I’m here. It’s between us.”
I sigh heavily. “I appreciate that, I do, but there is nothing to talk about. I don’t remember much, and I don’t think anything happened. It was a head game, I think.” I go on to tell her about the wine cellar.
“He should have kissed you,” she murmurs, sipping from her coffee and smiling over the rim. “And you should have let him.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. We were very young. As much as I hate our separation, I think we were too young. And could you imagine how much that man would hate me if he found me in an embrace with his son that night?”
“The door was locked. He would never have caught you.” She sets her cup down. “Either way, that man has a reckoning coming.”
My cellphone rings, and I glance down to find Lana calling again. “That’s my assistant producer. She’s been calling like crazy. I need to take it.”
I answer the line, and Lana is beside herself. “I was worried when I couldn’t reach you.”
“I’m good. I’m fine.”
“Well, you have the studio’s attention. The press wants to talk to you so freaking badly that the studio wants to do a special interview with you. They want us to film today. You don’t have to say anything you don’t want to.”
This shouldn’t surprise me, but it does. I mean, it’s high-profile, but also connected to Damion’s father, who is incredibly powerful. “Aren’t they worried about being sued?”
“I didn’t ask. You shouldn’t either. I’m sending you over the contract. They’re paying big money for this. It’s insane how much. I can’t even say it out loud. Will you do it?”
She’s positively breathless, which tells me the money is life-changing to her. That’s the thing about showbiz. You can work really hard and make very little money. Cotton forms in my throat, thick and suffocating. My last “interview” led to my captivity, but I’ve done what I strived to do as well. I clearly punched his buttons. Desperate people do desperate things, and I believe I fall into that category, but so does Damion’s father.
“What time?”
