Redwood Page 25

  She almost welcomed the pain in her feet. Something she could focus on. Something that would eventually heal and return to normal.

  Perhaps the only part of her that would heal.

  I’m done with this.

  She’d known she would lose Gavin when she told him who she was. She’d always known her past sins would be unforgivable for someone like him who only saw things in black and white.

  He always wore the white hat, walked on the side of justice. That was why she’d avoided telling him, right? Because she’d known she would lose him.

  But she hadn’t known it would be so abrupt. That he wouldn’t give her a chance to explain. Wouldn’t ask for her side of the story—not that she had a good excuse to give.

  I’m done with this.

  And then he’d left. She’d so foolishly thought he might actually push forward, want to understand. She’d known ultimately it would probably be too much for him to accept, but somehow she’d thought he would at least hear her out.

  But he’d stood there in the bathroom staring at her with such derision. Like everything about her had sickened him. Like she’d done it today rather than two years ago. Like she hadn’t changed at all.

  If Gavin couldn’t see that she wasn’t Alexandra Adams anymore, how could she expect anyone else to?

  She had to leave Oak Creek. She couldn’t stomach the thought of seeing Gavin day after day with him looking at her like that.

  Like what, Lexi? Like you’re a liar and a criminal? Nothing but the truth.

  She wrapped her arms tighter around her middle, forcing herself to breathe. Survive this second. Survive the next one.

  This flight had cleaned out most of her cash reserves. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do or how long she had. Gavin didn’t strike her as the type to report a sighting of her to the media, but she’d been wrong before.

  She’d thought that if he couldn’t accept what she’d done, he’d still at least help her with the stalker. But he didn’t want anything to do with her at all.

  Coming up with a plan right now was beyond her. Surviving was all she could do. She’d been in this place before—alone, broke, terrified—but was she strong enough to survive it again?

  She had the fistful of pills the resort doctor had given her in case she changed her mind and needed them. If she took them all at once, would it be enough to make all the pain go away? Make it so she wouldn’t have to wake up and face it again?

  She was too exhausted to berate herself for that thought.

  Besides, with her luck, it probably wouldn’t be enough to do the job anyway. It would be labeled as one more attempt to get everyone’s attention focused on her.

  She dug her new phone out of her bag as they landed. She hadn’t given Gavin the number—probably would never need to now. She was going to have to call Mac and see if he could come get her at the airport. She didn’t have enough money to get to Oak Creek otherwise.

  She’d come full circle, hadn’t she? Back in Reddington City with no money to get the last few miles to Oak Creek.

  Except the town she’d come to love didn’t hold much welcome for her anymore. And she was in no shape to find someone’s wallet to lift.

  She shuffled off the plane, keeping her weight as much as possible on the outside of her feet and away from her heels and arches, which had taken the most abuse from the rocks. Only two cuts had been deep enough to require any stitches, but her feet still felt like big swollen blobs. She’d had to wear her tennis shoes loosened to their maximum points.

  She limped down the terminal, past baggage claim since she only had her carry-on bag. Mac would come for her. She didn’t need to tell him everything that had happened, just that she and Gavin had fought and things weren’t going to work out. She would test the waters and hopefully be able to stay in Oak Creek for a while to build her money back up.

  That would make it much easier than having to—

  “Is that her?”

  “Yes! Alexandra! Alexandra!”

  “That’s her, right?”

  Lexi threw her hand up in front of her face as lights and cameras started flashing around her.

  “Alexandra! What are you doing in Wyoming?”

  “Alexandra, did you lead authorities to believe it was you who died in the fire?”

  “Alexandra, where have you been since you got out of prison?”

  They’d found her. The press had found her.

  She said nothing, just kept her hand in front of her features, then dashed to the bathroom as quickly as her feet would allow. She didn’t stop until she got inside the stall and dropped her small bag to the ground.

  They’d found her. God, had she been wrong about Gavin? She hadn’t seen him since he’d left their hotel room yesterday, and she’d spent most of today sitting at the small island airport until it was time for her flight. Had he figured out she’d left San Amado and called the press to ambush her here?

  Gavin wouldn’t do that, right? She couldn’t reconcile the thought.

  I’m done with this.

  Maybe he’d figured out that calling the press would be the fastest way to get her out of Oak Creek. She pressed a fist against her stomach, which was filled with roiling, twisting despair. She didn’t know what to believe anymore. She sat down on the toilet. What was she going to do? They had her cornered here in the airport arrivals terminal. The only way out was through them.

  She held up her arm against the stall to steady herself as everything spun around her. What was she going to do?

  Her phone buzzed in her hand. Mac. She didn’t want to drag him into this, but he was all she had right now. Maybe he could help her figure out what to do.

  “Mac.” She could hardly recognize her own voice. “I need your help.”

  But it wasn’t Mac who responded. “That old man is pretty troublesome for someone his age.”

  Lexi recognized her aunt’s voice immediately. Her fingers tightened around the phone.

  “How did you get Mac’s phone, Cheryl? I thought you fled the country.”

  At least focusing on her aunt was bringing her back from the edge of that panic attack.

  “Nicholas and I made some arrangements that allowed us to return. You haven’t been the easiest person to reach, Alexandra. We’ve been trying to get in touch with you for weeks now.”

  “Fuck you.”

  The anger felt good. It chased away some of that shattering feeling inside. It would undoubtedly be back, but right this minute she didn’t have to contend with it.

  “That’s not very polite, Alexandra.”

  “I don’t give a rat’s ass if I’m impolite or if I’ve made your life inconvenient. The best thing that ever happened to me was getting rid of you and Nicholas.”

  Her aunt gave a martyr’s sigh. “That’s a pretty selfish point of view given how we took you in when your parents died.”

  Lexi’s laugh held no humor whatsoever. “Took me in, kept me emotionally and chemically dependent on you, then stole my money.”

  There was a moment of silence. “Nicholas was right. You’ve gotten more astute since we saw you last.”

  “I guess prison will do that to you. I don’t know why you have Mac’s phone, but put him on. I have nothing else to say to you. Nothing else you can take from me.”

  “Oh, I think we’ve found something.”

  Dread pooled in Lexi’s stomach. “What are you doing, Cheryl?” she whispered. “Let me talk to Mac.”

  “We’ve been trying to get you to help us out of our predicament since you got out of prison, Lexi. You haven’t been very cooperative.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “We tried to make it as easy for you as possible to go to the police and the press with your stalker story. To get back into the limelight and jumpstart your career.”

  “What?”

  “Oh dear. Did you actually think you had a real stalker this time? Oh no. That was Nicholas and me trying to get you back in the g
ame.”

  “You guys were my stalker?”

  “Well, we hired someone to do the actual physical stuff, but tracking you, keeping you running from place to place . . . yes, us.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “You don’t need to understand right now. What you need to do is go back out to where the press is waiting for you and give a statement.”

  “No.” Hell no. She was done doing what Nicholas and Cheryl told her to do.

  “Well, that’s up to you, but I’m afraid it’s your boss at that ridiculous bar who will pay the price if you resist. He’s kind of old.”

  She ground her teeth. “What are you doing, Cheryl?”

  “I’m fixing your screwups, as usual. Now, if you want the old man to be unharmed, you will go back out to the press and give a statement about how you’ve been hiding here in this godforsaken state.”

  She listened as Cheryl told her what to say—all of it horrible. But it didn’t matter as long as it meant they would let Mac go.

  Cheryl and Nicholas were her stalker? She’d never actually been in any real danger at all. It had all been a ploy. She’d cried wolf again without knowing it.

  She listened in silence as Cheryl finished. “Say all that, then get in the limousine waiting for you out front.”

  Lexi disconnected the call and shuffled out of the stall. She didn’t know what their end game was, but she wasn’t going to allow Mac to be a pawn. Never again was an innocent person going to get hurt because of Lexi’s choices.

  So she would play Nicholas and Cheryl’s game.

  She walked over to the sink and pulled out a paper towel. If she was going out there to face the press, she was going out as Alexandra Adams, not Lexi Johnson. She scrubbed her stage makeup off, all contours gone. No shadows, no angles to trick the eye. She reapplied some lipstick and mascara. For her, the makeup was very light, but it least it was obviously Alexandra staring back at her in the mirror.

  She forced a smirk on her lips, ignored the pain in her feet, and walked out. She had a role to play, and she would damned well do it.

  The press were all still waiting when she came back into the main corridor. There were more of them now.

  “Alexandra!” a dozen voices yelled at her at once. She pushed her sunglasses up onto her head and pasted a smile on her lips.

  “Have you been in Wyoming all this time?”

  “What was prison like?”

  “Why are you here?”

  The questions fired out at her rapidly, but she just smiled and left them to take her picture.

  “Alexandra, why did you run away a few minutes ago?”

  That was the question she was waiting for. “You guys bombard me after a three-hour commercial flight and want to know why I rushed into the bathroom to freshen up?”

  That got some chuckles and everyone to quiet down a little. It made sense to them that she would run because of vanity. That’s what she needed them to think.

  “I see you all found me here in my humble home of the past few months.”

  “Why Wyoming?”

  “Well, you might have heard I got into a little bit of trouble a couple of years ago.” She smiled as they chuckled. “I decided I needed to do a little soul-searching, and this seemed like a good place for it. I was staying in a little town called Oak Creek trying to get my head on straight.”

  She turned to look at some of the other reporters. “Ends up, Podunkville with all its backwardness is not for me. There’s nothing to like. The people are boring. There was nothing to do but sit around and watch the grass grow. There’s nothing for me here in Wyoming. It’s definitely time for me to get out of this state.”

  “Alexandra, are you afraid that you’re offending the people of Wyoming with that statement?”

  “All seven of them?” She cringed internally, but kept the charming smirk on her face. The people from Oak Creek were going to watch this and think the absolute worst of her. How could they not? “I’m not terribly worried about it. I’m going to take some time, ahem, here, and regroup. Make sure I’ve got my head on straight with some counseling.”

  “Did you fake your own death?”

  She rolled her eyes, even though she knew Nicholas and Cheryl had to have been the ones to lead the cops into thinking it was her. “I can’t take credit for that. Chalk one up to law enforcement incompetency.”

  “Why have you been hiding?” a male reporter yelled from the back.

  “I haven’t been hiding.” She’d totally been hiding. “I just heard Wyoming was beautiful and thought I should check it out.” She made a face. “Evidently not in the middle of winter.”

  “Are you still broke? Didn’t your aunt and uncle spend all your money?”

  “I’ve been in touch with my Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Nicholas.” She forced herself not to grimace at their names. “There were a few misunderstandings but we have reconciled, and I’ll be staying with them during my time off. They want me to take a year or two to handle my emotional issues too. Although definitely not in Wyoming.”

  More chuckles.

  “Do you think that people are ready to forgive you and welcome you back with open arms?”

  “I made a mistake. All I want to do is get my life back on track.”

  “Acting?”

  No. Never. She never wanted to set foot in front of the camera ever again. She wanted to go back to Oak Creek, the Eagle’s Nest, and stay there with Gavin. Her friends. Mac.

  “What else would I do?” She smiled. “I’ve got to go now, you guys. Quit stalking me or you know I’ll call the police and make a security team stay with me twenty-four seven.”

  More laughs. She turned away, exhausted. She’d done what Cheryl wanted—made it obvious she wouldn’t be around for a while. Made sure no one from Oak Creek would come looking for her.

  The reporters were yelling over each other again.

  “Alexandra, are you ever in touch with any of the cast or crew from Day’s End?”

  “Alexandra, what was prison like? Are you ever going to talk about that?”

  “Alexandra, isn’t there anything about Wyoming that you like? Will you miss any of it?”

  She stopped and looked back over her shoulder. “Redwoods. I’ll miss the redwoods.”

  The reporter who’d asked the questions gave her a weird look. “There are no redwoods in Wyoming.”

  “There’s at least one.” She turned away and slipped her sunglasses over her eyes. “That’s all the questions I have time for now.”

  She ignored their further inquiries and walked outside as quickly as she could on her injured feet to get into the waiting limousine.

  Both Cheryl and Nicholas were sitting there. Nicholas pressed a button on his phone to make a call as the car pulled away from the curb. “We’ve got her. Kill the old man. Make sure it looks like a heart attack.”

  “No!” Lexi lunged for Nicholas and his phone. “No! You said you wouldn’t hurt Mac if I cooperated.”

  Cheryl shook her head. She had a gun and it was pointed at Lexi. “Your chance to cooperate ended the moment you went off the grid to get away from us. Almost cost us everything.”

  Lexi wasn’t going to stay in here with them. She needed to get to Mac. Call someone who could get to his house and stop them from hurting him. She lunged for the car door. She didn’t care if she got shot or hurt. She had to try.

  Nicholas yanked her back. “I told you,” he said to Cheryl. “She’s not going to do what we say anymore.”

  Lexi fought. They weren’t going to shoot her. She was no good to them dead. She needed to get out of this car.

  She felt a sting in her arm.

  “Just because she won’t listen to us doesn’t mean we can’t make her do what we want.”

  Wooziness settled around her. That same feeling she’d always gotten when they’d given her the pills, but this time it came on much more quickly.

  Cheryl grabbed her chin, peering into her eyes. “That ought to calm
you down.”

  “No.” She reached for the door again but couldn’t seem to find the handle. Heaviness weighted her arms. “No. Don’t hurt Mac.”

  “Since when do you care about other people?” Nicholas asked.

  The world grayed around her.

  Cheryl pinched her chin. “Like I said, you almost cost us everything, and now you’re going to help us get it back.”

  35

  Gavin found Kendrick talking to Baby and his fiancée, Quinn, at one of the bars for the reception as Wavy went off in the other direction. Kendrick and Quinn were deep in a discussion about the nuances of literary analysis, from what Gavin caught.

  Considering the two of them had met when Quinn taught at Harvard and Kendrick attended as a student, Gavin wasn’t surprised.

  Baby didn’t seem to have much to contribute to the conversation—the man was a wizard when it came to all things engineering and mechanical, but not so much comparative literature. But he seemed quite content to play with his pretty fiancée’s hair and the skin of her shoulder exposed by her strapless dress.

  “Gavin.” Kendrick slapped him on the shoulder. “Haven’t seen you around much. You do know the booze is free for the wedding, right?”

  “I need your help.”

  All three of them recognized the gravity in Gavin’s voice.

  “What is it?” Kendrick asked. Baby stiffened, slipping a protective arm around Quinn’s waist and pulling her closer.

  Quinn looked around. “It’s Lexi, right? I haven’t seen her all day, and she wasn’t at the wedding. What’s going on?”

  Gavin kept his attention focused on Kendrick. “Remember how you told me you were willing to dig deeper into Lexi’s past if I needed you to? I need you to.”

  “Gavin—” Baby said.

  Gavin turned to his friend. He couldn’t blame Baby for warning Gavin off. Gavin had almost kept Baby and Quinn apart because he hadn’t been willing to take Quinn at face value. “This isn’t about me being suspicious. Lexi’s in trouble. Dangerous trouble, and we need to help her.” He turned back to Kendrick. “Do you know a Dashawn Cussler?”