Nothing felt right. Nothing felt real. The world was distorted, a misshapen mess, and it would continue to be that way if I lost him. Nothing would ever be okay again. Tears blurred my vision and I just wanted to disappear. I wanted to hide away until this was all over and Radleigh was okay again.
He had to be okay. We’d gotten through so much, and we were just about to really start our life together. Fate wouldn’t be cruel enough to snatch it away. To snatch the man I loved away from me. To snatch the father my daughter adored.
But it snatched Will away from Freya. With no logical reason, fate swooped in and stole him away. It swooped in and took Bree’s parents too, when she was just a child. I couldn’t go through that. I wasn’t as strong as Freya or Bree. I wouldn’t survive it. I couldn’t.
I felt a couple of drops of water on the top of my head, and it took me a moment to realise Bryce was crying too.
“Leah, I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I promised I’d take care of him tonight and…”
I could feel him shuddering behind me as his words trailed off, and my stomach turned over. For a second I honestly thought I was going to be sick, or black out again, but waves of desperation for me to stay with him through this rolled from him and hit me right in the heart. Turning in his arms, I wrapped mine around him and held him tight.
“This is not your fault.” My words were so quiet. Again, they were stuttered out through my sobs and I had to keep my eyes closed because I didn’t want to see Radleigh’s blood all over his shirt.
“I saw her, Leah. I saw her at the club. I knew she was going to make trouble and I tried to get her to leave before Radleigh saw her but…”
“Who?” I interrupted. “Who did you see?”
“Jen. Jen did this.”
I shoved him back as vomit climbed up my throat and I rushed over to the bin because I couldn’t make it any further before it flew out of my mouth. The taste was vile, like cocktails and whatever the h
ell I’d eaten earlier. I couldn’t remember a damn thing, I just knew that I wasn’t going to stop until my insides were empty. A gentle hand on my back, and another holding my hair out of the way, reminded me where I was, but I couldn’t move until I was done. It didn’t matter that my friends saw me this way. Nothing would matter again until I knew Radleigh was okay.
If he was okay.
When I was sure there was nothing left inside me, I sank to the floor, my back against the bin, and wiped my mouth with the blanket that was somehow still around my shoulders. I was an undignified disaster.
“Do you need… anything?” Freya asked. I saw the fear in her eyes, and I knew she knew exactly what I felt. She’d been here before.
I shook my head.
After a moment, Bryce sat next to me.
“I don’t understand,” I said. “Why would she do this?”
“I didn’t hear everything that happened. While I was looking for him in the club, I lost sight of her, and after a while I spotted him pulling her outside. He was so mad at her. I could tell that from across the room. When I got outside I found them down a side street, and I could hear him yelling at her. She said she wanted to give him one last fling before he walked down the aisle.” He let out a bitter laugh. “Radleigh told her she had more chance of being picked in a Warriors’ starting line-up than him getting anywhere near her again. He told her he stood by what he’d said before, that he wasn’t interested in her and she should keep away from all of you.” He paused and shook his head. “It happened so fast. I don’t know what was going through her head, or why she had a knife, because she honestly seemed to think she was going to take him home tonight. If she thought that, there would have been no need to have a knife. But she pulled it out of her purse so fast and shoved it right in his stomach. She even looked surprised she’d done it. Almost like she didn’t really mean to, but, why have a knife in the first place? And then she dropped it and ran.”
I was lost for words, but thankfully, Freya wasn’t. “I don’t get it. She’s a bitch. A self-centred, two-faced bitch. But stabbing him? That’s more than just bitchy. She’s gonna lose everything over this.”
Maybe Bryce was wrong. Perhaps Jen’s previous actions weren’t just about getting her own way and she still loved Radleigh after all. Maybe she’d gotten desperate now the wedding was so close, and resorted to insane measures to try and stop it.
Maybe she decided if she couldn’t have him, nobody else could have him either.
“You don’t think she showed crazy tendencies by always knowing where he was?” Bryce asked. “By showing up at the training ground all the time? She might as well have had him fitted with a tracking chip.”
“But nobody thought she was dangerous. If anyone had thought that, Leah and Radleigh would have hired a lot more security and taken out a restraining order. This was way out of the blue.”
“It was unexpected, but not completely. That woman is an extreme example of what happens when you always let your kids get their own way. She’s always been spoiled. Hearing the word ‘no’ must have sent her over the edge.”
“She’s never done anything like this before, though.”
“She’s never been in a situation where she couldn’t win before, either.”
“Right. Because ending up in jail is a much better situation than being a single mom.”
“Has she been arrested?” I asked, quietly.
“I don’t know,” Bryce said. “I’m kinda surprised the police aren’t here already, asking questions.”