Total pages in book: 148
Estimated words: 135517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
“I don’t think it was personal; they used something against her. It’s just what they do. These people are monsters. They have no human emotion whatsoever. They do it for money.” She shook her head and gazed off across the room.
“No, there’s got to be something bigger than that at play here. Do they do this with everyone?”
“I’m afraid so. It’s like some sort of cult.”
“What do you mean?”
“In a nutshell, it’s the price we pay for stardom. They want to own us in every way possible. Those of us who don’t toe the line will be dealt with in ways you can’t even imagine.”
“What about my diagnosis, was my doctor in on it as well?” She looked back at the screen and started scrolling furiously.
“Yes, most of the people we know are part of their sick organization.”
“But he said it was genetic.”
“Didn’t you ever wonder why no one else in your family suffers the same thing?”
“Anyway, I looked it up. It’s not only genetics but the environment as well as chemical restructuring of the brain.”
“What does that mean?” I was afraid she would ask that, and this part, believe it or not, was the worst.
“It means they fed you something that brought on your psychosis and manic episodes to make you think you were crazy. And then they attacked you in the press, knowing that you’d have a relapse. All the while, she was feeding you this thing to keep you off balance.”
“This sounds so farfetched. I always wondered how it could happen that way, just out of the blue, but I never imagined it could be something like this. I just thought the stress from the breakup had brought it on, and I was led to believe that it could’ve played a part, but this….”
“What about the cancer?”
“You were injected.” Now she turned in my arms to look at me with a look of disbelief on her face. That I could handle, but it was the tears that filled her eyes that unmanned me.
“Don’t cry, baby; we’ll take care of everything. I promise you.”
It had been hell hearing about all of this and not being able to go to her or do anything about it, but the guys had reassured me that it could be handled, that they had people on hand who could help her with what had been done to her. I’m no medical expert, but I’d learned to trust them and took their word for it.
“When you came in last night, it looked as if you were scanning the room, were you?” Now comes an even harder part. “Your house is bugged, and so was mine. How else would they be able to keep tabs on our every move? This bedroom was safe; I guess Rachel told them that no one uses this side of the house, so they figured it was safe. When we walk out of here, we’ll act as if everything is normal.”
“Don’t act in any way that you’re not accustomed to. Keep it light….”
“Are there cameras here as well? Or just listening devices.”
“Both!” Now she panicked and tried pulling away again.
“Doesn’t that mean that they know you’re here?”
“No, I found the location of the cameras as soon as I walked in with this.” I showed her the device on my watch that allowed me to scan for any device within range. It’s one of Tyler’s gadgets that allows me to turn things off the way they did in my house without anyone watching being the wiser.
“There’s one in the kitchen, which is where you hang out most of the time, but none up here. I guess they figured with Rachel here, they didn’t need too many cameras since she’s always around.”
“That’s true. Is that why you came today? Because she’s gone for a few days?”
“I arranged that, actually.”
“You?”
“Yes, I found out that the only person she really cares about is her ailing mother, who she spends a fortune on to keep in that care facility she lives in. That’s how they got to her in the first place. She needed the money to care for her mom. Anyway, I had them call her with a medical emergency….”
“You didn’t actually do anything to her mother, did you?”
“No, of course not, I’m not them. Her mother has a condition that needs constant care, so any little change is cause for alarm. She just caught a cold, is all, which worked out in our favor. Otherwise, I’d have had to come up with something, some other way to get her out of the way.”
“So, what do we do now?”
“I have a plan if you’ll trust me.” I searched her eyes when she looked at me and released the breath I was holding when she nodded her head silently.
***
*Janie*
Has anyone noticed that Janie Andrews has been looking a bit rough lately? Well, we here at SNY might have the answer. It’s just come to our attention that the young wife of one of our leading pop stars, and soon-to-be movie star, might be suffering from something she picked up while doodling the help. You heard it here first, folks.