I wrote her back.
Liam: I love you in our bed.Her return text made my heart clench a little more.
Shelby: I love you everywhere.God, she was brilliant.
The next week couldn’t go by quick enough.21LiamI yanked my T-shirt over my head, grabbed my duffle bag off the floor, and shoved my few personal items in it. I looked around the trailer to make sure I hadn’t left anything behind. Satisfied, I pulled the door open and went to find Mark. The location shoot I was involved with was done, and I was ready to go back to the hotel. I had an interview later in the afternoon and a flight home the next morning. I had a few days off, then the film I was working on would continue to shoot in LA, meaning I would be home.
I hated being away from home now. Being away from Shelby.
I clambered down the steps, surprised to see Mark headed my way, his face dark and scowling. My stomach tightened at his expression. “We need to go, Liam,” he informed me quietly. “Now.”
“Go where?”
“Back to LA. Everett booked a private plane. We’ll go to the hotel, get your stuff, and head to the airport.”
I grabbed his arm. “What happened?”
“Shelby. She’s been hurt. She needs you.”
Panic shot through me at his words, and my breath caught in my throat as I struggled to stay calm. “Screw the luggage,” I growled. “They can send it. Let’s go.”“Stay calm, Liam,” Mark muttered, grabbing my arm, hustling me onto the plane. I looked behind me one last time at the crowd of photographers at the gate. They were too far away for me to hear what they were yelling, but I knew something big had happened to cause all this mayhem.
“Why aren’t Everett or Cassidy answering their phones?” I snarled, throwing myself into one of the plush seats. “What the hell is going on? What happened to Shelby?”
“Fasten your seat belt. I’ll tell you once we’re in the air.”
I was about to tell Mark to fuck the hell off and tell me now, but I held my tongue. I wasn’t acting like myself due to worry about Shelby. Being an asshole to him wasn’t going to help the situation. Without saying another word, I buckled myself in and leaned my head against the headrest, drawing in deep breaths and wishing we had stopped at the hotel. I could use a Xanax right now. But since I didn’t have any on me, I concentrated on my breathing and tried to think about something calming.
Except, the one thing that made me calm was Shelby.
And she was hurt. How hurt, I didn’t know.
My pulse picked up, and my heart started racing.
“Mark?” I gasped, struggling for breath.
“Yeah?”
I swallowed heavily, trying to get the words out. “Is…is she going to be okay?”
“Yes. I need to get you to her, Liam. In one piece. Stay. Calm.”
I let out the pent-up air. “Okay.”As soon as the plane leveled off, I sat up. “Tell me. Now.”
Wordlessly, Mark handed me a copy of one of the daily rags. The one I loathed the most since they were notorious for printing more lies than truth, yet their sales were unbelievable. People ate up that bullshit.
I was horrified at the headline.
Shelby Carter’s Husband Breaks His Silence.
“I was dumped for a richer, younger man.
She used me. Now she’s using him.”Fuck.
Malcolm fucking Johnson had reappeared.
I scanned the article, my hands gripping the paper so tight, it started to tear. The article was full of lies and accusations. His version of the story was she left him to pursue me, wanting a younger, richer man. She was the one who made off with the money, leaving him high and dry. She played him. She’d played me. Used her brother’s connection to get to me and bided her time until I fell for her. He was ashamed to say how often he had caught her cheating with younger men in their marriage, but he had tried hard to make it work, because he loved her deeply. He called her a pathological liar and stated that she was desperately trying to hold on to her youth by being with younger men. He was shocked to discover, while he was away trying to come to grips with his pain, he was being divorced and cast aside.
I stopped reading and looked at Mark.
“This is total bullshit. We can prove all this is false. Tell me Everett has Samuels on it.”
Mark nodded.
“Shelby must be shattered,” I muttered. “No wonder Everett sent for me.”
“That’s not why.”
“What?”
“This hit the media this morning—Everett and Cassidy had no warning. Shelby had an eye doctor appointment this morning. When she came out of the building, she was surrounded.”
My stomach dropped.
“Ryan wasn’t there?”
“He was. There were too many of them, Liam. He tried. He’s injured as well.”