An image of Madison blazed on the wall. She was curled up on the floor with her hands pressed tightly over her ears. Although the sound was muted, whatever she was listening to was clearly unbearable.
“You can help lessen her agony by answering one simple question.”
Aster braced for the worst. If it was about her brother again, she wasn’t sure she could help. Javen would always be her first priority, no matter what.
“Since we have all the couples gathered, I’m going to turn my focus to romance. As a reminder, if you choose to lie, Madison will pay. Take it away, Trena!”
Trena gazed dully at the camera and said, “Ryan, did you ever love Madison?”
Aster immediately dropped his hand. She didn’t want him to feel any sort of pressure coming from her. This had nothing to do with them. Whoever was behind this was trying to upset his fans.
Without hesitation, he said, “No, not really.”
“Did you ever cheat on Madison?”
This time he hesitated, but only for a handful of seconds, before he said, “Yes.”
“How many times?”
He took a breath, rubbed a hand across his jaw. “A couple—few times.”
“And was one of those times with Heather Rollins?”
Ryan closed his eyes and cursed under his breath. When he opened them again, he chanced a sideways glance at Aster, who urged him to go ahead. Staring directly into the camera, he said, “Yes.”
“How many times did you cheat with Heather Rollins?”
Ryan shook his head. “I don’t know. Once, twice maybe?” He shrugged. “It meant nothing, okay? Heather, if you’re watching, or somehow behind this, it meant nothing!”
“Did you tell her she was hot, beautiful, irresistible? Did you tell her she had a rockin’ bod and you liked screwing her more than you liked screwing Madison?”
“What the—?” Ryan looked pained. He glanced at Aster, his gaze pleading for forgiveness. “It was before you,” he whispered.
“Yes, yes, it was before Aster,” the voice cut in. “Just answer the question, please! Did you, or did you not, tell Heather Rollins that screwing Madison made you feel like a necrophiliac, because she was so cold and stiff it was like doing a dead person?”
Ryan emptied his lungs of air and said, “I never said that. I would never say a thing like that. I didn’t hate Madison. I just wasn’t in love with her. I don’t know where you’re getting this nonsense, but—”
“Relax.” The voice laughed. “Let the record show I was having a bit of fun. Let it also show that you went after Heather a few times, so you must’ve liked that first taste more than you’re willing to admit.”
Furious, Ryan swung toward the camera. “Let it also show that I didn’t go after her. She came after me. The only reason I went along was because Madison wasn’t all that into me and I guess I felt lonely. The only reason Heather went after me was because she wanted to possess whatever Madison had.”
The room grew silent, and Aster stared at the wall before her, watching as Trena’s image was replaced with one of Madison rising to her feet in a daze as the wall slid open before them.
FORTY-FOUR
HEARTBREAKER
The entire time it took to drive from his photo shoot in downtown LA to RED in West Hollywood, Mateo Luna went over the long list of reasons why he should turn the car around and head home instead.
And yet, he still found himself parking on the street and standing before the big red double doors, which from all appearances seemed to be locked.
He ventured toward the sidewalk and squinted up and down the boulevard. He could’ve sworn Heather said the shoot was taking place that night, and that she and Ira would be there.
While he resented her bargaining on his behalf by trading his appearance at RED for his little sister getting better care, he’d since cooled down enough to realize he had no choice but to go through with his end of the deal.
He hated the idea of being in debt to Ira Redman, but at least by agreeing to take part in the shoot (no matter how grudgingly), they could each walk away and call it even. Or at least he hoped that was the case.
He tried the door. He was right; it was locked. And if anyone was in there, they weren’t responding to his knocks.