Chapter 24: Chapter 24

SHAY

^MONDAY, JANUARY 9^

Standing in front of the tall tower, Shay gripped her bag tighter ~then~ and allowed her feet to move forward. Pushing past the doors, she made her way to the elevator.

She knew where his office was, so she’d made an appointment to meet with him there. She needed to know why. She needed answers.

Since the night at his apartment, she’d blocked Ethan out of her life. She didn’t want to have anything to do with him, but she knew he’d tried reaching out to her.

Billie had called a few times, letting her know that Ethan had dropped by looking for her, but Shay hadn’t told her about the bet.

Her father and brothers had a working relationship with Ethan, and she knew how to separate the personal from the professional. She was better than that.

Seeing her father just a few days ago was bittersweet. He wasn’t disappointed that she’d lost her virginity—he knew someday she would and he understood—but he ~was~ upset about the videos.

He’d seen bits and parts of her all over the internet, and although he didn’t blame her, he was understandably distraught by it.

She’d also spoken to her brothers, assuring them she was fine and just needed some space. Then she’d lied and told them she was out of town. She didn’t want to see them yet.

Needing time to work through her thoughts, she’d handed over her socials to Dario, doubling his salary. She trusted him. Only Dario and Billie knew where she was staying and she planned to keep it that way, at least for now.

The news of her sex tape was still on many people’s lips, and she still received stares and whispers whenever she was recognized.

She never went out without her sunglasses and hat, trying to be as incognito as possible, and she was using her uncle’s driver to chauffeur her around until everything died down.

Her confession tape, the one she recorded the first night back in her apartment, had gone viral. And the next day, many news outlets issued an apology to her. Yes, some continued to bash her, but many owned their mistake.

Gossip channels were still talking about her, some praising her bravery while others condemning her to hell. However, there were groups of women that were banding together in solidarity to support her.

She was thankful for them, and she decided that after today, she’d like to meet some of them. After suffering such a public embarrassment, she needed people’s support more than anything.

“I’m here to see Mr. Price. My appointment should be under Haze Industries,” Shay said as she approached the receptionist on his floor.

As soon as she said her last name, she noticed eyes darting her way. She kept a straight face, trying to not let it affect her.

“Yes, he’s expecting you.” The woman got up and led her to his office.

Reaching into her purse, Shay pressed the record button on her phone.

~Knock knock~.

“Come in,” she heard as the receptionist opened the door wider, revealing a man sitting behind his desk wearing a serious expression.

“Asher,” she said, her voice cold as she stepped into the room.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, looking surprised.

Ignoring his question, she placed her bag down as she took a seat. The door behind her clicked shut. Crossing her legs in front of her, Shay removed her sunglasses. She needed to stare him in the eye as she spoke.

“What do you want, Shay?” Asher asked in an unfriendly tone.

“The truth,” she demanded.

His expression froze for a moment before he started laughing hysterically.

He wasn’t bad-looking. In fact, she knew most women would find him handsome. And with the money he had, lots of women would be after him. ~She~ certainly was. But not for those reasons.

“And what do you think is the truth?” he asked smugly, clasping his hands together on his desk as he eyed her. She could see his ego flaring.

“I know more than you think,” she challenged, not afraid of him.

Amused by her response, he leaned back in his seat and waited for her to continue. She studied him, assessing his face and demeanor.

“Enlighten me,” he said.

Chuckling, she rolled her eyes. “~Bitch~,” she finished for him.

“Yeah, that’s what you are,” he said slyly. “I bet you’re wet right now. I bet that I’m a better fuck than Ethan was.”

She rolled her eyes again. She knew he was a slime the moment she met him. “Cut the bullshit, Asher. I want to know why—why you made that bet, and why you targeted me.”

“Did Ethan tell you about the bet?” he asked, amused by her reaction.

“Why do you hate me? Tell me the truth,” she demanded, and his expression completely changed. She knew she’d struck a nerve—and knew exactly what that nerve was.

“You ruined my life,” he said, carefully picking his words.

Shay stayed silent, listening to what else he had to say for himself.

“Remember Maddison?” he asked, and the pain in his expression said it all.

When she didn’t react to his words, he stood up and, turning his back on her, walked to the giant window overlooking New York City.

“Maddison was the love of my life…” He paused and sighed.

Shay knew exactly who he was talking about and what he meant. Hiring a private investigator had been the best choice she’d ever made. But she still needed to confront him. It was the only way that she could move on.

She couldn’t be bullied into silence. That wasn’t her.

“She was on her way back home, and she got into an accident—” He grabbed a piece of his decorative furniture and flung it across the room in a fit of rage. “You killed her, and you didn’t even pay for it!”

Shay maintained her composure, trying her best not to flinch. She couldn’t show fear, even though her heart was racing.

“You become a freaking influencer on Instagram! My girlfriend lost her life and ~you~ gained followers!” he screamed at her, slamming his palms on the table. “You didn’t lose your life you fucking cunt, but you ruined mine!”

He stormed toward her and reached for her throat, wrapping his fingers around it and holding her by the neck, forcing her to look up at him. Shay tried to even out her breathing.

His eyes were red, filled with rage and tears.

“Why didn’t you come to the trial?” Shay asked, her voice husky from being squeezed. She stood up carefully, allowing his hand to remain on her neck, so she could meet his eyes in a more comfortable position.

“What’s the point?” he yelled, right in her face. “She’s dead! I had faith in our justice system, but they failed me!”

“So you ruined my entire life, taped me and your best friend having sex, and ruined my name because you wanted revenge,” Shay said, tears starting to roll down her cheeks.

“I wanted you to suffer,” he spat.

“You made a mistake. If you’d come, you’d know why it ended with a mistrial.”

His face filled with confusion, and he let go of her neck.

Shay took a step to the side, creating some distance between them, then went to her bag. Grabbing the file and the thumb drive she brought with her, she tossed them on his desk.

Ash rushed over and opened the file.

“I wasn’t driving that night,” she began as he went through the file, looking at the pictures inside. “It was my twin, Sky. She fled the scene, so I took the blame. I told the police that I was behind the wheel.

“She ran because she was scared, but there was proof that she was behind the wheel. She’s my twin, but we have different colored hair.

“If you look at the pictures captured from the Tesla that Maddison drove,” she explained calmly, “you’ll see that there were two passengers in my car. I was sitting in the passenger seat.

“You can compare the clothes of the driver to the clothes in the picture they arrested me in.”

She hated talking about that night, but at this point she had no choice. “In the arrest report, it clearly states that I was the only person in my car and no one else. I took the fall for my sister, who left me there and ran away.

“I took the fall because my sister is mentally ill.” She began to cry. “I ruined my life for my twin sister! A sister that I haven’t even seen since the accident!”

She could feel the pain building up inside her as he continued to look through the photos.

“But that wasn’t the only footage from that night,” she continued. “Traffic cams also proved I wasn’t behind the wheel, proved that I took the blame for my sister.”

She started to pace around his office. “I was a freaking ~med student~. I wanted to be a doctor! I wanted to graduate along with my classmates and heal people just like my father and brother!”

She threw up her hands in defeat. “But my life was ruined that night too! Once my mugshot was released, I couldn’t go back to school, and there was no way I would be able to practice medicine.

“Telling the police I was behind the wheel was a huge mistake. My sister took the first flight out of the country and disappeared for months. Then my mother found her and put her in psychiatric care in Sweden. She’s still there.

“There’s still a warrant out for her arrest, but instead of being charged with vehicular manslaughter, now it’s for a hit and run,” Shay explained, scrunching up her face.

“If you read the toxicology report, Maddison was high and drunk. She OD’d on E, thus crashing into us. The thumb drive contains the copy of the footage taken from the dashcam of her Tesla.

“You can hear her singing, then silence for about five minutes while the car swerves left and right before crashing into ours. You can clearly see Sky and myself in the car screaming.

“According to the toxicology report, Maddison died from OD’ing, not from the crash.”

Asher slowly took a seat, still digesting all the evidence in front of him.

“You ruined my chance at a better life,” she continued. “You ruined my name, made me a joke, published my most vulnerable self. All I did was take the fall for my sister.

“And when the judge reviewed the evidence, the case was thrown out and I was slapped with a fine. But I never got the life I wanted back. I never got to live my dreams. I had to rebuild everything from scratch.

“You couldn’t even be bothered to show up at the trial. You made your own assumptions without knowing any of the facts.”

Shay paused to wipe her eyes, then leaned forward and rested her palms on the edge of the table.

“You ruined my life for your pleasure,” she said coldly. “I thought Ethan truly loved me. Well, I hope that you and Kourtney are happy together, because all three of you are dead to me.”

Turning around, she grabbed her bag and stormed out of his office.

The private investigator had found out everything. Including the fact that Kourtney wasn’t really her friend.

Asher had sold a copy of the sex tape for a few hundred thousand to a gossip channel and sold the original video to a porn website, leaking all her personal information in the process.

And Kourtney had helped Asher set her up. That was how Asher knew where they were going to be that day. Apparently Kourtney was in love with Asher, and they’d been seeing each other for a while in secret.

When Shay found out Asher was connected to Maddison, everything finally made sense. But it still didn’t give him the right to ruin her life. It didn’t give him the right to use her.

And although she still didn’t know if Ethan had been in on it, she was done.

Taking her phone out of her bag, she stopped recording. She knew exactly what to do with the evidence.

She reached for her neck, feeling the soreness from him choking her earlier. She knew it must’ve left a mark.

Keeping her head held high, she exited the building and instantly spotted her car. She got in the passenger side before passing her phone to Dario.