“Daphne’s been uncontrollable,” Snoopy—no, Carmela—admitted. “She has a doctor that gave me ‘headache medicine’ for her.” She used air quotes and rolled her eyes. “Except I can guess that it’s not really for headaches. Here’s the thing, though. Up until last week, she was living on that shit. Now, though? She doesn’t ask for them at all. Which tells me that she’s got a new supply of something fun and it’s making her nuts.” She shook her head. “The other day . . . she . . . well, I think she grabbed Kylie’s phone. Poked through it. Threw some shit at her. Kylie’s fine, though. It was just two stitches—”
“What?” he blurted. Stitches?
“—and they said the concussion wasn’t bad—”
“What?” A concussion? Was everyone out of their minds? His horror at the thought of Daphne seeing their private pictures and texts paled at the thought of Daphne attacking Kylie. He suspected she’d be jealous if she found out about them, but he never imagined that she would hurt Kylie.
Helpless outrage blasted through him. While his wife, his woman, was being attacked, he was overseas at a conference. He felt like a self-important asshole. He’d let her get hurt because of him.
Was this why she was trying to annul their marriage?
He pointed at the door, nearly shaking with rage. “If you don’t let me in here, God help me—”
Carmela shook her head. “No, I’m letting you in. The label might lose their temper with me but I don’t have anything to risk. I just hate seeing what they’re doing. And you’re not the only one tired of Daphne’s bullshit.”
With that, she ran her pass through the cardswiper on the back of the door and gestured for Cade to enter.
Cade surged his way into the building, slamming down the hall. The need to see Kylie—to know if she was all right, or if she was hurt worse than he’d been told—roared through him with an intensity that was shocking. For once, Cade was in danger of losing his cool. For once, he was about to lose his mind with rage. For once, he couldn’t be the calm, easygoing guy.
His wife was threatened, and that meant all bets were off the table.
Then, he turned a corner and the room opened up. There was Kylie, her back to him as she faced a makeup mirror. Daphne was nowhere to be seen, and the room was deathly quiet, all lightness and sense of fun that normally pervaded the staff area completely gone.
“Kylie,” he said, approaching her.
She turned, and he saw the enormous bruise on her forehead, the butterfly bandage covering the stitches. She was pale despite her makeup, and her expression was one of hesitancy. And the sight of her broke his heart. His loving, sweet, open Kylie looking as if she was frightened? Her spirit trampled? It filled him with even more anger.
Kylie hesitated at the sight of him, and that hurt even more. As if she shouldn’t approach him. As if he was off-limits to her.
He opened his arms and waited, seeing how she would react. To see if she’d come to him or if she was already too far out of his reach.
She gazed at him for a long moment, clearly deciding.
Then her face crumpled and she flung herself in his arms, weeping.
Relief burst through him, and he stroked her hair, her back. “I’ve got you, sweetheart,” he told her. “I’ve got you.”
EIGHTEEN
It felt incredible to have Kylie in his arms. It didn’t matter that she’d sent him annulment papers. It didn’t matter that she’d hesitated.
The moment she fell into his arms and clung to him? He knew they were still good. He knew she still needed him just as much as he needed her.
“Love, don’t cry,” he murmured. He cupped her face in his hands and studied the ugly bruise on her forehead. It was purple and yellow at the edges, a sign that it had looked worse at one point and was now starting to fade. Just thinking about that made him even more furious than before. He forced himself to remain calm. “I’m here. I’ll take care of you.”
But she shook her head, and fresh tears poured forth. “I c-can’t have you, Cade.”
“Why not? Who’s stopping us?”
She bit her lip, and for a moment she looked so sad that he thought she was going to burst into fresh tears. It was breaking his damn heart.
“Tell me,” he said softly. “Trust me.”
Kylie looked pained. Then she glanced around, her fingers curling against his shirt as if she were loath to let him go. “Cade. I’m . . . I’m supposed to tell you that you can’t choose me. You have to choose Daphne, okay?” She gave a pitiful sniff. “You and I aren’t supposed to happen.”
Not the Daphne stuff again? Cade’s temper flared once more. “Is that what this is about? About Daphne being a spoiled brat?”
Kylie was silent, averting her gaze. But he knew the answer, just from that small motion.
“Did someone find out about us, Kylie? Is that why the sudden annulment? The silent treatment? They’re pressuring you to end it with me because Daphne doesn’t like it?” he guessed.
A new tear rolled down Kylie’s cheek. “I’m not allowed to say anything,” she whispered. “It’s in my contract.”
And that banked fury just kept growing. “So that’s what this is, then. It’s not you deciding to break up with me, it’s Daphne deciding that even if she doesn’t want her toy, she doesn’t want anyone else to have it, either.”
The look Kylie gave him was pure misery and heartbreak. “I’m stuck,” she admitted. “And I don’t know what to do.”
He cupped her gorgeous, beloved face. “Then you let me handle it,” he told her in a soft voice, and kissed her sweet mouth. “You let your husband take care of you.” The fact that she still looked skeptical after those words broke his damn heart. “You want me to choose Daphne over you? It’s never going to happen. Not now. Not ever. And you know why?”
“Why?” Kylie’s voice was soft.
“Because she’s not one half the person you are.” At Kylie’s wince, he realized she probably thought of that as a size comment, and he continued on, determined to make her believe him. “When I was younger, I was in love with Daphne. She was bold, and brilliant, and could light a room up with her smile. When people said she was going to be a star, I believed them, because no one could meet Daphne and not fall in love with her. She was the most charming person I’d ever met, and I was madly in love with her. Ever since I was a broke fifteen-year-old kid from the wrong side of the tracks, I waited for Daphne to notice that I loved her and for her to love me back. Half my damn life.” His mouth curved into a wry smile. “Fifteen years wasted. You know why?”
This time, Kylie was silent.
“Because while I was busy working to become someone worthy of her, she became someone else. Someone mean. Someone who calls her staff stupid, hurtful nicknames because she can’t be bothered to learn their real names. Someone who thinks about no one but herself. Someone spoiled and petulant and selfish. Someone that lashed out at people just to get attention. And I thought to myself, it’s all right. It’s a phase. She’ll grow out of it at some point, and then we can be together.”
Kylie closed her eyes. Her makeup, normally perfect, was smeared around the corners of her eyes and threatened to run down her cheeks. She’d never looked more beautiful to him.
“And then, that night that Daphne’s tour started, I realized she was never going to grow out of it. That it was who she was now, and I was the blind one. And you know how I realized this? Because I met someone else. Someone who was thoughtful enough to see my pain and tried to keep me company, even though she didn’t know me. Someone who drove me home to make sure that I wouldn’t get hurt, because she cared what happened to me. Someone who gave herself so sweetly when I asked and wanted nothing in return.” His fingers caressed her soft cheek, cupped her jaw. Forced her to look up at him. “And I realized that I’d been chasing the wrong kind of person all my life.” He watched her lip tremble, her eyes close. And he kept speaking, because he needed to get it all out, needed to make her understand. “I
thought I wanted a selfish brat because I remembered who she was once upon a time, and that under the glamorous shell, maybe she was still the same person. I forgot that people change, and maybe I did, too. Because even though I was supposed to be obsessed with her, I kept thinking about Kylie. And Kylie’s kisses, and the way Kylie always made me smile even when I wanted to be melancholy. How even when Kylie gave in to my bullying, she was never cruel or awful. She was always kind, and giving, and loving. And I find myself wondering what I would do if Kylie ever left me. And you know what I would do?”
“What?” Her voice was so soft, so small. So full of hope.
“I’d wait all my life for her to come back to me.” He took her hand, kissed the palm. “I wasted fifteen years on someone that wasn’t worth it. I can wait a lifetime for someone that is.”
“Oh, Cade,” Kylie said, tremulous.
“I love you, Kylie. I know the timing is terrible. I know I haven’t been fair to you through things, but I love you. Not Daphne. Never Daphne. I love you because you’re everything that she’s not. You’re the one I want in my life. You’re the one I wake up wanting to see. You’re the one I want in my bed every morning, and in my arms every night. And I certainly don’t want an annulment.”
For some reason, that made Kylie pull her hand free of his. Her face fell again. “I don’t want an annulment, either. But my contract—”
“Are they holding you by your contract?” That blistering rage exploded through Cade’s mind again. It wasn’t Kylie that was the problem, then. It was Daphne. Always Daphne. “Goddamn that spoiled brat. She’s the most miserable person I’ve ever met. I don’t think she wants anyone to be happy if she’s not. You don’t worry about Daphne, love. I’ll handle her.”
“No need,” said a curiously flat voice behind them. “The spoiled brat heard everything.”
Kylie tensed in Cade’s arms.
No. He wouldn’t let her bully them any longer. Not with her actions, not with her words. He kept Kylie locked in his arms and turned, looking over his shoulder at Daphne. She was in her opening number costume, a spangly flapper dress designed to look a bit like the blue waves of the ocean, and her wig was a bright platinum. Underneath the thick, bouncy curls, though, her small face was sickly, her eyes hollow. Her twig-like arms hugged her torso, and Cade realized she was thinner than he’d ever seen her.
“Maybe I am a spoiled brat,” Daphne said. “Maybe I am mean. And selfish. Or maybe I just need to know that no matter how awful I am, someone’s going to be there for me.” Her glitter-painted mouth quivered. “I . . . guess I was wrong about that, huh?”
She turned and stalked away, slamming through the double doors and heading for her private suite backstage.
Silence fell.
“Yo, should we go after her?” One of the dancers asked. “She’s supposed to be onstage in five minutes.”
“I’m not going after her,” Carmela said. “I don’t want a vase to my forehead like Kylie there.”
Cade didn’t blame her. “Everyone just leave her alone. Let her work off her sulk.” He didn’t care what Daphne did at this point. The livid bruise on Kylie’s forehead—Kylie, who was nothing but kind and caring—had destroyed any sort of tenderness he might have felt for Daphne. Daphne had attacked an employee, and she should have been sued. Instead, they were pressuring poor Kylie to dump him to make Daphne happy. The ugliness of it galled him.
So did Kylie’s next words. “You should go after her, Cade.”
He looked at her incredulously, then shook his head. “I came here today for you and only you.”
“I know,” Kylie said softly. “But you haven’t seen the way Daphne’s been for the last week. She’s crumbling, Cade. She’s an utter mess and no one knows what to do.”
“No. She had her chance. She could have apologized to you. She could have tried to make things better. Instead, she’s letting her goons pressure you. I refuse to give in to her bullying.”
But Kylie shook her head and clutched at his jacket. “It’s not about bullying right now. Cade, I love you with all my heart, but I still think you should go after her, all right? She’s not in her right mind lately.”
“That much is obvious,” he said, and brushed a thumb over Kylie’s brow, just below the livid bruise. The sight of it made him furious.
“Exactly,” Kylie said, her big eyes pleading. “It’s not about sense any longer. It’s not about who wants who. I’m just . . . I worry that she’s going to hurt herself, all right? She’s been raging unchecked and you were the only one she even halfway cared about. Now that she doesn’t have you, I don’t know what she’s going to do. Just . . . go talk to her, okay?”
He hesitated. Then sighed. Cupping Kylie’s chin, he gave her a soft kiss. “This is why I love you, Kylie Daniels. Because you have a soft heart despite everything.”
“I love you, too,” she whispered. “So much. Even though I’m not supposed to.”
“That’s bullshit. You are supposed to. I don’t give a shit what the label says or what they think they can force you to do. Whatever it is they think they have over you, I’ll handle it. Do you trust me to?”
Slowly, she nodded. “We’ll talk about it later. For now—”
“Yes, for now, I’ll see Daphne. For you.” Cade gave Kylie another quick kiss, then turned and headed for the hall that Daphne had disappeared down. He noticed that no one in Daphne’s staff volunteered to accompany him as he went, which told him volumes. Whatever loyalty or affection Daphne might have had from her people was long gone. Sad that she should have been on top of the world at the moment and now she had no one who cared for her.
The hall was empty except for a lone security guard at the end of the hall. It was obvious which one was Daphne’s door. Cade headed toward the door, grimly determined.
The security guard gave him a carefully blank look as Cade approached.
“I’m here to see Daphne,” Cade told him, stating the obvious. “She needs to go up on stage and her assistants are worried she’s going to hurt herself.”
“I’m . . . not supposed to let anyone in,” the man said slowly.
“Well,” Cade said, pulling out his wallet. He peeled a few hundreds out of his pocket and held them out to the man. “I’m sure that’s a good rule when she has rabid fans. But I’m not a fan. I’m a concerned friend. So we can do this two ways. We can either pretend I’ve overpowered you and pushed my way inside, or you can take this money and the knowledge that you’ll have a job with me if Daphne should fire you. Either way, I’m getting in that door. You just let me know which one you decide, all right?”
The security guard hesitated, then grabbed the crisp bills from Cade’s hand and stuffed them into his pocket. “I’m not paid enough for this shit, man. Eighty-fifty an hour doesn’t cut it when you have to put up with this crap.” He shook his head and stepped aside. “I’m going on a bathroom break.”
“Thank you,” Cade murmured, and tried Daphne’s door. It was locked. He knocked as the security guard strolled away. “Daphne? Let me in. It’s Cade.”
Silence.
A hint of worry began to cloud his thoughts. What if Kylie was right and she tried to hurt herself? She’d overdosed before in front of him. “Daphne?” he asked, knocking again, this time more urgent. “Let me in. I’m serious. You need to get up on stage. There are two thousand fans out there waiting for you.”
No response.
He considered the door. It was made of heavy industrial metal—there’d be no heroic breaking down of this door. Realizing that, he pulled out his wallet and shoved his black card into the doorjamb, trying to push against the lock. They made this stuff look so easy in the movies.
Five minutes later, his card was scratched to hell, but the door fell open. Cade pushed inside, scanning the room for Daphne.
At the far end of the room, on a bright red old-fashioned sofa, Daphne’s small form was curled up. He headed toward her. “Daph?”
No response. H
e sprinted the rest of the way across the room and rolled her onto her back. Her eyes were rolled back in her head, three empty pill bottles near her cheek. One pill was still stuck to the corner of her mouth, and drool pooled down her face.
Fuck. Kylie had been right. He shoved the pill bottles into his pockets and scooped Daphne’s frail form into his arms. “Hang on, Daphne.”
Cade carried her into the backstage area so they could call 911.
NINETEEN
Guilt was an extremely unpleasant companion, Kylie decided.
She sat next to Cade in the emergency waiting room at the hospital. Out of the rest of the staff, only Carmela and Daphne’s manager had shown up out of loyalty to Daphne. The rest were calling contacts and pulling strings, because as soon as word got out that Daphne Petty’s North American tour was canceled, they’d be out of jobs and it would be time to scramble once more.
Cade was quiet, a book in his lap, and he was scribbling notes on a piece of scrap paper. She rubbed his shoulder absently, being there for him while not trying to hog his attention. Weirdly enough, she felt . . . guilty about being here with him. That she shouldn’t be so giddy to have him at her side while Daphne’s stomach was being pumped in an effort to save her life. It almost felt like Kylie was profiting off of Daphne’s troubles. After all, she was getting the guy, right? And Daphne was getting . . . her career destroyed.
Something about this didn’t strike her as right.
A doctor emerged, and Cade jumped to his feet at the same time Daphne’s manager did.
“She’s sleeping,” the doctor told them. “We’ll keep her in intensive care for the next few hours, but she’s in no danger.”
Kylie watched as Cade’s shoulders slumped in relief. Daphne’s manager simply nodded and began to dial on his phone. Cade watched the man, and she could see his lip curling in obvious disgust. He shook his head and then sat back down next to Kylie, burying his face in her neck.