Page 169 of Twisted Truth

And I do.

47

ELLA

Isit on the bed in my old bedroom in Asher’s penthouse, staring out the window, trying to get my bearings. I just finished up with the detectives a few minutes ago. Everything that happened last night after Asher showed up in that room is a blur. I vaguely remember him carrying me out of the hotel and the ride back to his penthouse. Alec was already waiting there when we arrived ready to treat me. He looked me over, gave me the all clear, and told me to ice my face and my bruised ribs. I showered to get the pepper spray remnants off my face and hands and then Asher carried me to his bed.

The police arrived first thing this morning, and my phone hasn’t stopped going off. Asher informed my mom, Maya, Zahra, and Lucy what happened, but I haven’t had a chance to call or text any of them back. Plus, there are alerts pinging on my phone every few minutes. People in the hotel heard the gunshot and then they saw Asher carrying me out of the hotel.

I can’t bring myself to look at the stories.

I have no doubt that everything I was trying to avoid is about to be front page news. I buried one story only for an even worse one to rear its ugly head. And I just don’t have it in meright now to deal with it. I don’t have it in me to deal with much of anything.

Footsteps sound outside the door and I sink into the mattress. With all that’s gone on, I haven’t really been able to process it all. But there’s one thing that I can’t let go of, no matter how much I hate myself for it, and I don’t know what to do about it.

The door creaks open. “There you are,” Asher says. “What are you doing up here?” He sits down on the bed behind me and wraps his arms around me.

“Please tell me you didn’t actually wire that asshole a million dollars,” I say, avoiding his question.

He chuckles. “I didn’t. We were in the car almost to the hotel when I got your call.”

“Good.”

“He’ll never hurt you again, Ella. I’ll make sure he serves the maximum amount of time for all of his charges.”

“Thank you. I just still can’t believe he did that. When we first started dating, he was like a completely different person. He was smart, funny, and charming. He was successful and driven. And most of all, he was good to me. He was everything I ever thought I could want in a man. And then slowly, as time went on, everything changed. When I broke up with him, I told him it was because he had changed. But now I realize I was wrong. He didn’t change, he showed me who he really is. The Kyle I’ve dealt with for the last year is the real Kyle. The Kyle I dated in the beginning was the farce. And now because of last night, I get to share that pain and humiliation with the world.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry that being with me puts you in that position. But you don’t worry about anything. Emily and Matthew are going to take care of everything. One bright spot is it seems the events of last night scared RTZ. They didn’t break their story.”

I let out a humorless laugh. “That’s not why they backedout. I made a deal with their editor and chief last night and killed the story myself.”

“What? How did you do that?”

“I threatened them with exposing the truth. And before you say anything, I know that I said I wouldn’t do that. I took a gamble that the threat of it would be enough, and it worked.”

“They really went along with it on just a threat? My family has never managed something like that.”

“Well, I explained how bad it would make their company look if they printed that story and propped up a man who assaulted his girlfriend. And then I promised him some future inside photos. He took the deal.”

“Well done, Ms. Hale,” Asher purrs into my neck.

I love the feel of it, but I make myself pull away from it.

“Are you okay?”

“No.”

“What do you need?” he asks.

My stomach drops. I know what I need, but I don’t want it, and I don’t want to say it. Finally, I let out a long breath and just get it over with. “I need space.”

Asher’s body stiffens behind me. “What do you mean?”

“This . . . is so much harder than I thought it would be. And the whiplash of it all is killing me. I can’t keep questioning where we stand and what we are to one another. It’s too much to take on top of the media. At least for the time being, I need to rely on myself, and keep to myself.”

“What do you mean by keep to yourself?”

“I need to go back to what we were in the beginning. You made it very clear yesterday that when push comes to shove, you’re my employer and I’m your employee. That’s why you hired me for this job.”