“‘This call is being recorded for quality assurance,’” he declares in his best telemarketer impression, tapping the PLAY function on his phone.
When everybody hears the standard “Thank you for calling!” greeting from our cell phone provider, a plethora of confused looks are exchanged, save for Blythe.
Her eyes widen, hearing her voice request in perfect clarity to have a number blocked onmyline. And sure enough, the number read is none other than Jase’s.
CHAPTER 41
BIRD SET FREE
PRESENT
“What the hell?”
It’s the only statement anybody mutters for the next minute as everyone’s eyes bounce between Blythe, Jase, and me.
While Jase looks fit to bury my stepmother in a shallow grave, I offer her nothing but my biggest, sweetest smile. “Funny, isn’t it? Ever since you had me enrolled in Colton for middle school and separated me from my friends, I couldn’t make any new ones to save my life. Sure, there were people I initially connected with. We’d call and text each other and hang out at school, but all the while, you just kept harping on about how socially awkward I was. So, of course, I’d tell you and Dad when I thought I had made a new friend, but not long after, they’d ghost me. When this happened again and again and again, who could blame me for thinking you were right? I couldn’t keep anyone around for more than a week or two. Not Beth, not Diane, not Sidney, not Angela, not Kelly.” I consult the list on my phone that Jase forwarded to me earlier. “It’s the damnedest thing, though, because every last one of their phone numbers just so happened to be blocked via the account holder’s request. Not only that, but there’s also a handful of numbers here associated with businesses where I had been trying to getjobs over the years. If that wasn’t odd enough, you wouldn’t believe what several of these girls’ mothers told me when I contacted them earlier today.”
Blythe doesn’t dare to move. Hell, I’m not even sure if she’s breathing. All she’s capable of is letting the blood drain from her face until she’s paler than the marble tiles under her feet.
“Turns out you took the liberty of reaching out to them years ago to quote-unquote ‘warn’ them about me,” I say, pulling up the other document. “According to you, I was far too ‘mentally unfit to be trusted alone’ with their daughters, that I had ‘crippling anxiety’ which could make me ‘lash out’ if I weren’t treated in a very specific way.” I wiggle the device in my hand. “I made sure to save the audio recordings of my conversations with them as well, in case you need your memory jogged.”
“But why?” My dad’s voice comes out weak, the question not directed at anyone in particular, and Jase isn’t in the mood to deal with his shit.
“You’re joking, right? Anyone with a functioning eyeball and a lick of common sense can see how much your wife despises Ali.” He turns his attention to Blythe, the muscles in his jaw ticking. “I can assume Sienna came crying to you four years ago with a sob story about how Ali was trying to sabotage her relationship with me or some bullshit, but Sienna didn’t even need to do that, did she? All she needed to tell you was that Ali was happy for you to intervene.”
Dad doesn’t move away from my stepmom, but he also won’t look at her. He won’t look at anybody, his gaze falling to a nondescript section of the floor. His balance wavers, and for a second, I’m afraid he might pass out.
And all Blythe can offer is, “Anybody these days can fake audio recordings of your voice, and Diane Demarco’s mother is still furious that I beat her in the election for the Van AllenSociety Board president. God only knows what other kinds of vendettas these mothers have against me.”
The woman refuses to go down without a fight. I’ll give her that much.
Sadly for her, she took things one step too far, and no excuse can spare her. Not this time.
I saunter over to my stepmom, and I can see her battle armor slipping on in front of me. Blythe crosses her arms over her chest, straightens her spine to within an inch of its life, and does everything she can to leer down at me. The look could reduce a lesser person to a heap on the floor, as if being in her mere presence is an honor you haven’t yet earned.
But it’s bullshit.
All of it.
She’s nothing more than a paper tiger, and if she doesn’t know it, she’s about to.
“When you forced me to accept Mr. Easton’s hush payment, I told you I’d never touch so much as a penny of it, and I meant it. I saw it as nothing more than blood money. But then yesterday, I got to thinking,” I say, gesturing between her and my dad. “Seeing as how I don’t want anything from either of you two assholes ever again, that would put me in a bit of a financial pickle. I mean, a girl’s gotta pay for college somehow, right? And come to think of it, between all of the shit Trent and Sienna put me through and then having my own so-called parents turn their backs on me, I’d say I earned every single cent that was paid to me.
“Now, granted, I hadn’t looked at the account since it was first set up with Easton’s deposit, but the available balance in there just didn’t look right when I logged in yesterday. Even after factoring in things like taxes, the account was still a little lighter than it should have been. And given that no one’s touched it since last year’s tax season, I was a bit surprised to seeother activity on the account, particularly the two checks I had apparently written.”
With every sentence, Blythe’s jaw clenches tighter and tighter, and I’m pretty sure she’s cracked half her veneers with that last one.
I hold up my phone to show her and my dad the screen grab from the banking app. “It’s the damnedest thing. It says here thatIpaid for my first and second semesters of college, from this very account. And I do say ‘apparently’ because although they look pretty damn close to my actual signature, the ones forged on each of the checks still aren’t perfect. Even funnier, the only two other people who ever had access to the account at some point are you two.”
My dad finally turns to look at Blythe, demanding to know what the hell I’m talking about, but she doesn’t move. She doesn’t say or do anything other than sear her eyes into mine, like she’s hoping they can laser a hole through my head.
“I spent a good hour yesterday trying to figure out thewhybehind all of this,” I say, slipping my cell back into my clutch. “Pure hatred? Could you really loathe me so much that you just couldn’t stomach the thought of wasting that kind of money on me? Or maybe you were short on dramatic irony and found some twisted pleasure in knowing that the Eastons were the ones funding my education. Or maybe you’re just so overconfident that you didn’t believe I’d ever find out, that I’d spend how many more years coming back here, kowtowing to your every whim. And the whole time, I’d be clueless that all of it was unnecessary becauseIwas already paying for everything anyway.” I shrug. “And then I realized…I don’t care. I don’t care why you did any of it. All that matters is that you did.”
“And what are you going to do? Report that someone used your identity to pay foryouto go to college?” Blythe dares toscoff. “Good luck with that. All you’ll be doing is wasting your time and money on legal fees.”
“Oh, she won’t have to waste anything,” Jase happily interjects. “I’m a petty motherfucker, and I’ve got all the time in the world.”
He begins circling around her and my dad, and I swear I can see the hair on Blythe’s arms stand on end.
