After Bayli had spoken, both Rory and Christian had taken a hearty whiff of air and there it was—the faint scent of Chanel No. 5 clinging to the fabrics as it always did following Lily’s departure.
Christian appeared to put a good deal of effort into keeping his jaw from clenching and his tone from being downright lethal. “She didn’t have lunch with you, Bayli?”
“No.”
“She had no reason to be here at all,” Rory pointed out, not bothering to couch his own anger in a calmer demeanor the way Christian had. “Her assignment was keeping all the logistics flowing with the production crew. That was the reason you brought her along. Not to hang out with Bayli.”
“I’m well aware of that,” Christian said.
“I never saw her here,” Bayli interjected.
“That’s because she’s clearly working behind the scenes to scare you off. Think about it,” Rory urged. “She has access to your home address. She’s seen you wear the bracelet that was destroyed. She knew you were spending time at Christian’s apartment—”
“She seemed genuinely surprised when she learned I’d been spending nights there,” Bayli reminded him.
“That’s what she wanted you to think.” Rory got rolling again. This time, his irritation was directed at Christian. “Why the hell did you need to bring her along?”
“I don’t want to lose her at the office.”
“She’s behind all of this, Christian!”
“You don’t know that for a fact,” Christian said as he stood and got in Rory’s face. “So just bring it down a few notches and we can figure out what’s really going on.”
“Seems pretty cut-and-dried to me.” Rory’s fury built, fueled by the very real and distressing fact that Bayli looked like hell, had actually been to hell, and it could have been so much worse. What if they hadn’t found her for another couple of hours? “Lily was a bit too eager beaver to jump in and help with the show in Bayli’s absence. An absence she orchestrated.”
“She wanted to take my place?”
“Yes,” Rory told Bayli. “And prior to all this, she was pissed at Christian for some time for not getting the chance to audition when we decided to change the platform for the show.”
“Look, I understand that you’re upset, Rory,” Christian said, “but—”
“You brought her along to placate her, Christian. But it’s your goddamn assistant that almost killed my girlfriend!”
“Your girlfriend?” Christian demanded as his gaze narrowed, his eyes turned even icier, and his chest pressed to Rory’s.
“Our girlfriend,” Rory corrected. Though he didn’t back down.
“Please,” Bayli admonished. “Don’t fight. That won’t solve anything.”
That she didn’t move from the bed to intervene spoke volumes. She was still suffering from the heatstroke.
“Goddamn it!” Rory exploded again.
“Stop!” she shouted, albeit raspingly. “Stop arguing with each other before you say more you’ll regret later on. I’ll live, okay? And, sure, our accusatory fingers can currently be pointed at Lily, but that just might be too easy. The comments on the video and the angry e-mails I received all came aro
und the same time as the spiders, with similar messaging. And none of that was from Lily. Some guy in Japan found the means to get to me in New York, so apparently I was wrong when I said he couldn’t reach me here in Mexico.”
“You really think it’s your online stalker wreaking all this havoc?” Christian asked, his tone still holding a razor-sharp vibe, though he spoke more softly to her.
Meanwhile, Rory was still sufficiently riled.
She said, “Chances are very good. His entire campaign has been to keep me away from Rory. Having me ‘accidentally’ locked out so I couldn’t make it to the taping of the show plays right into that.”
“But shutting off the water?” Rory shook his head. “That’s downright dangerous, Bayli. Potentially deadly.”
A shudder ran through her. “Yes.” She reached for the FIJI and took a few more sips. Then said, “I need to get into the tub. And then I have to call Scarlet.”
“You think she can help?” Christian asked.