Jilted (25 page)

“And your father let her?” Skylar asked incredulously.

“She wasn’t that blatant about it. What she’d do is invite them over for dinner and tell my father the man was just a friend. Usually after that my father would shower my mother with gifts. I know I’m making my father sound pathetic and weak but generally he was a strong-willed man who had a monster reputation in the courtroom, but my mother was his kryptonite. She had his balls in a vice. I began to hate for her that and I resented my father for allowing it to happen. My relationship with my father became strained and when I went away to college I rarely went home. But apparently in that time, things got worse. According to my siblings they fought a lot and my mother would go off for weeks at a time.”

“Your poor father. He must have been in Hell having to deal with your mother’s infidelity.”

“It was. I think with each new affair, he died a little bit inside. It hurt me to see him hurting and one day I couldn’t take it anymore. I confronted my mother and basically unloaded on her. She was unrepentant but later my father came to me and ripped me a new one. He’d never raised his voice at me until that point. He told me to never speak to my mother that way again. Apparently what happened was, my mother had run to him shortly after that confrontation all teary-eyed and made it seem like I had called her every name in the book. I was actually quite restrained for how I’d really felt.”

“How old were you then?”

I was about 18, still a freshman in college. That argument was pretty bad. I called my father a pathetic old fool, and I could see the heartbreak in his eyes. His exact words were, ‘I know, but I love her.’ When he said that, it really did something to me. Our relationship was never the same after that. I still cared about him because he was my father but it was hard to respect him and I think he knew that. The summer before I started law school, I refused to go home. I chose to go to Mexico for a few weeks with some friends. My dad wanted to see me but I refused to go home, so he showed up at the villa I was renting with some friends. It was so strange that he’d just come out of the blue like that. He offered to take me to dinner and I figured I owed it to him because he’d traveled all that way. That night it was like old times. We laughed and talked for hours. All the hard feelings between us were gone. He was just my Dad again. I hugged him goodbye when he left. And he told me he loved me. That was the last time I saw him alive.” Ashley wiped away the tear trailing down his cheek.

Skylar’s heart went out to him. She could literally feel his pain. “I’m so sorry. How…how did he die?”

“Car accident. He apparently lost control of his vehicle and slammed into a brick wall. At least that’s what the coroner’s report said.”

“You don’t believe that?”

“Oh, there was a car crash but it was no accident. There were no drugs or alcohol in his system, no indication that the vehicle malfunctioned, and there were no skid marks on the road. She did that to him. He couldn’t take it anymore, so instead of living with the shame and the pain of my mother’s constant infidelity he ended his life. And it destroyed me to see my mother carrying on at the funeral as if she’d lost the love of her life. I had to stand next to her and pretend that she didn’t murder my father. No, she didn’t hold a gun to his head but she might as well have. What I took away from that was to never be that weak and not to let anyone rule my heart to the point where I lost my soul. “

Tears streamed down Skylar’s face. Her heart broke for Ashley’s father. It must not have been easy for his siblings either. She’d thought Katherine Hollingsworth sucked before this tale but now she was certain the woman was the Devil. “Oh, Ashley.” She inched closer to him and placed her arm over his shoulder.

“I’m not telling you this to gain your sympathy. I just wanted to give you some insight to how this pertains to you and me. So as I was saying. I didn’t let anyone in besides Owen and Colleen. I looked out for them mainly to blunt some of my mother’s influence over them, but also because my father would have wanted me to. I remained cordial to my mother because despite everything she did my father loved her, and as much as I would love to turn my back on her sometimes, I know he never would have.”

“It’s like your family became your burden.”

“My mother yes, Colleen and Owen, not so much until the last few years. But this is where you come in. I’d date around a lot and I was content to just live a bachelor lifestyle and enjoy myself. But then I met you. It was love at first sight. I understood how my father felt. I would do anything for you. You consumed my thoughts and dreams. You were my obsession. My days seemed brighter with just a smile from you. I loved you so much. I dreamed of you carrying my children and us growing old together.” Ashley stood abruptly and began to pace the length of the porch.

Skylar’s heart fluttered. Here it was. Finally she’d learn what was going through his head on that day. “So what happened, Ashley?” she softly prompted.

“A couple weeks before the wedding, I got those pictures. The ones I showed you.”

“Not this again! They were fake.”

He shook his head. “No, they weren’t. They were real. But please…I’m not blaming you, just let me finish.”

Skylar had to bite her bottom lip to keep herself from arguing with him.

“I got those pictures, but that wasn’t all I received. They came with a DVD of you and that man from the pictures. Then he showed up at my office and told me all these things that only someone who was intimate with you would know. He even knew how you’d cut your finger at the diner. I took that damn DVD to a professional service to see if it was spliced together, because I didn’t want to believe it was you unless I had irrefutable proof. But even in the face of all this evidence, I still loved you—couldn’t stop and I still wanted to be with you. I told myself I could go through with the wedding, but in the back of my mind I kept thinking about my father and how painful it was to go through life living with someone like my mother. On the day of our wedding you looked so beautiful and I ready to take you for better or for worse, but then I remembered that last dinner I had with my father. I also recall how he must have felt when he took his own life because he could no longer deal with my mother’s infidelity. The way you looked at me on our wedding day…there was so much love in your face. You looked at me as if I was only man in the room, but because of that package and the visit I believed it was just an act. I’m sure my mother used to look at my father that way too before he slipped the ring on her finger. When I saw you, I saw her. I convinced myself that you were the worse person in the world and I didn’t want to be played for the fool that my father was.

“I hurt you because I was hurt, but even as I said those horrible things to you, I still loved you. I just didn’t have the strength to wait around for you to cheat on me over and over again. But maybe I should have married you anyway because my life hasn’t been any better without you. My relationship with my siblings is in the dumps, I missed out on my children, and I have one failed marriage under my belt. I can’t even remember the name of the woman I was last with. I’ve been miserable, but through it all I never stopped loving you, even when I convinced myself that I hated you. And then when I saw you with Jeremy, I told myself that I was warning you off from Jeremy because of the kind of person you were. But the truth is I was jealous. I couldn’t stand seeing you with anyone else. I was horrible to you and I can never take back what I did. But I’m sorry down to the depth of my being.”

Skylar didn’t know what to say. She would have been cold-hearted if Ashley’s story didn’t touch her in some way. It must have been horrible for him to grow up in such an environment that his mother had created. An experience like that would have probably warped anyone. She doubted she could have a healthy view of relationships if she’d grown up in a household with only Ashley’s parents to model from. “Ashley, I’m so sorry you went through that. But you keep bringing up these pictures and now a DVD and a mysterious man. I’m telling you it’s just not possible.”

“Tonight, my sister came by my place to ask me for money. We got into an argument and she let it slip that she set the thing up. Your drink was drugged and someone photographed you and him in bed and recorded it.”

Skylar gasped as she brought her hand to her chest. This couldn’t mean what she thought it did. “I don’t understand how this could have happened. I mean I’ve never hung out with your sister socially. How would she…I don’t get it. I mean, if what you’re saying is true, then…I was raped.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Skylar couldn’t eat or sleep. All she could think about was that tape. Once she was able to wrap her head around what Ashley had told her, she couldn’t process any more information. Ashely left afterwards. She had lain awake in bed all night. It was a struggle to keep up with the children that day. She was basically on autopilot. By the middle of the afternoon, she couldn’t take it anymore. She needed answers, so she asked her mother to watch the children while she ran some errands. But there was only one task she had in mind.

Skylar drove the half-hour distance to Ashley’s penthouse apartment building. She hadn’t been here in years. The last time she came here, he’d kicked her out. This time, she wouldn’t be turned away. Not until she had answers. Once parked, she walked to the building. Her nerves were nearly shattered by the time she made it to the reception desk.

“May I help you, ma’am?” The security guard manning the desk asked.

“Yes, I’d like to see Mr. Ashley Hollingsworth.”

“I’ll buzz him to see if he’s available. May I tell him who you are?”

“Skylar.”

It occurred to her that he might not be home. She should have called but her thoughts were all over the place and she couldn’t think straight.

Only a few minutes passed when the security guard gestured to the elevator. “You can go on up.”

“Thank you.”

Her hands shook the entire time she rode the elevator to his floor. Ashley was waiting in the hallway as she walked toward his apartment.

“Skylar. I’m surprised to see you.”

“I need to see it.”

He frowned. “What?”

“I need to see these pictures again. And this DVD. I have to see for myself. This is the reason you broke my heart. But it’s so much more than just that. Someone was paid to violate me, and I didn’t even know it. I want to see it,” she demanded.

“Okay, but…are you sure you’re up to it?”

“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.”

“Please come in.” He held the door open for her and she walked inside.

Skylar hadn’t been in his place for a long time. Everything was almost exactly the same save a few different paintings on the wall.

“Can I offer you something to drink? To eat?”

She shook her head. “No. I don’t think I could keep it down even if I wanted to.”

Ashley ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. “I’m sorry that what I told you caused you so much distress.”

“How exactly was I supposed to feel? All these years I thought you used fake pictures to get out of marrying me. It briefly crossed my mind that someone else had sent them but I figured they were doctored. I never dwelled on who it could be because I figured it was someone from your family. They hated me. But what I didn’t think was that they would actually pay another person to do something to me without my consent. I feel sick to my stomach. I haven’t been able to think of anything else. I have to see for myself.”

“Are you sure?” he asked again.”

“Just show me.”

“Okay. Please have a seat. I kept the envelope. It’s in my office.”

“I’m too wired to sit.”

“All right. I’ll be back in a minute.”

Skylar paced the floor, going back and forth several times. It seemed like he was taking forever but she was sure not much time had passed. Ashley finally returned with a large manila envelope in hand. “Here. Go ahead and look through it.” He handed the item to her.

Skylar reached inside and pulled out several pictures. When Ashley had shown her these before, Skylar had barely spared them a glance because she knew in her heart she was innocent, but now that she got a good look at them, she could see why Ashley believed what he did. It was definitely her, and it looked like she was in a passionate embrace with this stranger. Though the covers were pulled up to their waists, her top was off. This man’s naked chest was pressed against her bare breasts.

As she analyzed them further, it was clear something wasn’t quite right. In a few of them she appeared to be asleep, yet the poses were still provocative. Knowing what she knew now, it was obvious someone had posed her. It disgusted her to think what might have been going on beneath those covers.

Once she was done examining the pictures, she pulled out the DVD and handed it to Ashley. “Play it.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I said play it!”

“Okay.”

Ashley took a seat next to her once he set it up. When the picture started it was her and that mystery man. He was doing most of the work and every so often she would moan. That stranger kissed her on the mouth, the neck, face and her breasts. Skylar couldn’t watch anymore. “Turn it off.”

Ashley quickly rushed to the DVD player and shut it off. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

“Don’t apologize. I asked to see it.”

“There were two voices at the end of the recording, one of those voices belonged to my sister and the other sounded familiar but I’m assuming it must have been one of my sister’s friends. She unfortunately attracts a bunch of hangers-on because Colleen pays for everything. She probably paid the friend to help set this all up. Look, I can’t begin to imagine how you feel. But if you want to press charges against Colleen, I won’t stand in your way. What she did to you was unforgivable and she has to pay the consequences.”

“I can’t think about that right now. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the concept of someone hating me so much that they would pay someone to do this. And I still can’t figure out when this would have taken place. I’ve never hung out with your sister socially. There’s something I’m missing here.”