The Lottery (23 page)

“Well, then, I thank you for my bail. I will return the money to
you of course, as soon as I get back to the studio.”

“The studio? That is the one place they will be lying in wait for
you. Out of the question. You are coming with me. My aero and driver are
waiting out front. These ladies will assist in getting you into the auto before
the press hounds can get their clutches on you. If anyone asks you a question,
the answer is ‘no comment’. Do you understand me?”

“Yes ma’am.” Karlyn felt like a five year old being scolded for
stealing a cookie from the cookie jar. “I will toe the line like a good little
girl.”

Venom oozed form Evangeline’s face. “You have created this mess,
and I am here to try to clean it up. I don’t care if you like it or not, but
you will do as I say and keep your mouth shut.”

Biting the inside of her lip, Karlyn looked the other woman
straight in the eye and nodded. So wanting to blast her for what she was saying
and doing, she ultimately felt that this battle could wait until she was out of
the building and in a safer location.

“Okay, let’s go. My guards will block you on both sides and walk
straight for the car.”

As soon as the door opened to the outside, Karlyn was amazed at
the crowd of reporters swarming around the stairs. Questions were screamed and
a cacophony of voices blasted her from every angle. Standing between the two
large women, she was nearly crushed by them as the crowd swarmed, pushing and
clawing to get a piece of her.

“Did you steal the ticket?” A microphone was pushed into her face
before one of the women was able to push it away, propelling her forward, and
closer to the car.

 
“Your bank IP is suddenly
very full…” Another microphone nearly smacked her in the face.

“Was he worth it?” A microphone came from behind her, almost choking
her as she moved forward.

“Has Bailey’s death impacted you?” The words whipped through her
like she was sucker punched. She stopped on the last step, frozen and unable to
move. The guards tried to push her onward, but Karlyn was rooted to the step. Turning
towards the voice she had heard, the question was repeated and a microphone was
pushed into her face.

“Has Bailey’s death impacted you in any way? Have you been in
contact with Ethan this morning to see how he is handling the news?”

Karlyn stood in shock, staring at the woman and the microphone
she held in her hand. Wetness pooled into her eyes, and her legs suddenly felt
like rubber. A camera was focused on her face, capturing her reaction for the
world to see. The guards pried her from the spot and pushed her into the
waiting car.

Once seated, Karlyn looked across the luxurious cabin at Ethan’s
grandmother.

“Bailey?”

Karlyn noted the wince in Evangeline’s face before the woman took
control of herself and looked like she was made from steel once again. “She had
an aneurism last night. It was a concern they had going into the surgery, and
unfortunately they did not catch it in time. She died about the same time you
were incarcerated.”

“Ethan…” Her heart broke into a million pieces and the tears she
had been holding onto precariously all morning broke free from their bonds. “Where
is Ethan?”

“I saw him at the hospital last night. He completely destroyed
the hospital room she was in, and I had to talk down the peace ambassadors to
prevent him from being in the same building I just got you out of. I paid for
the room to be repaired and he was released. He left the hospital soon after
and I have not seen him since.”

“I have to find him.”

“You will do nothing of the sort. The lottery committee is
investigating the matter, and you will be going to trial. He will more than
likely be put back into the lottery, as he spent a good deal of the money on
Bailey’s surgery and cannot repay them. Just stay away from my grandson.”

“You have absolutely no heart. Bailey was the last member of your
family who loved him, unconditionally. He has nothing left now, and does not
need to be alone.”

“And you think you can console him?” One elegantly manicured
eyebrow went up.

“Since you don’t have a caring bone in that body, who else would
do it?” Karlyn was angry, not just at the lack of compassion this woman had,
but for all the pain she had felt growing up with a mother who was so very much
like Evangeline. “He has given up all respect for himself as an individual to
save his sister’s life. He was forced to sell his very soul to the devil to
give her life, and now that has been taken away from him.”

Evangeline looked out of the window as the countryside streamed
by at two hundred miles per hour. Pursing her lips, she looked thoughtful.

“Are you just going to sit there and ignore me?”

“My son broke my heart.”

“Pardon?”

“I gave him everything, spoiled him rotten. Gave him every single
thing he ever wanted. He grew up to be a despicable man. He drank too much,
gambled too much, and even cheated on his wife from time to time, yet she loved
him so much she turned a blind eye. Why, I will never know. I saved him from
scrape after scrape, bailing him out of jail, covering his gambling expenses,
and trying to make right the wrongs I did as a mother.”

Evangeline sighed, looking out of the window wistfully. “One day,
I had just had enough of him. I told him that I was done bailing him out, and
that I refused to help him or his family ever again, hoping it would scare him
straight. Instead, he went behind his wife’s back and completely destroyed their
estate.

“It was no simple car accident that took Ethan’s mother and
father. A shark sent out a death squad to scare my son into paying his debts,
and evidently, according to my sources, it went a little further than planned. The
car swerved into ongoing traffic and the rest is history.

“My son and daughter-in-law had spoiled their children, Ethan
more so than Bailey, and Ethan was becoming a splitting image of my son, in
more ways than one. That accident broke my heart. I had put my foot down;
trying to fix the broken son I had, only to end up getting him killed. And then
I had two daily reminders of what was left behind.

“Ethan had been originally welcome in my home, but he was too
spoiled, too arrogant, and within two weeks he walked out, and I didn’t try to
stop him, told him he was not welcome to come back. Bailey assumed that meant I
was throwing him out. He was so like my son, in looks and actions, and seeing
him just made me angry every day at what I had lost. I kept Bailey while she
was in school, but she could not forgive me, and she left after graduation,
moving on to college. I offered to pay for her education, which she refused.

“I have watched out for them over the years, trying to help move
obstacles out of their way from behind the scenes, but never letting them know
of my involvement. Unfortunately, I could not fight off Ophelia, without
showing my hand, which is why I was angry that you may have been working with
her.”

“I am not working with Ophelia.”

“I know that. My investigators have gotten the whole story. Your
ticket was purchased by your college roommate, Samantha Figueroa. You are the
person you say you are. Which is why I have had you released and will get you
the best attorney I can afford. It’s the best I can do for him.”

“Have you considered being there for him now? I didn’t know him
in his youth; I can’t say what kind of man he was then. But now, he is a good
man who has lived through hell. He may protest it, he may push you away, but
trying to be there when he needs you, regardless if he admits he needs you, may
be a step in the right direction to fix this relationship.”

“I’m afraid it is probably too late for that.”

Silence filled the vehicle, a sense of despair emanating off
Evangeline. Karlyn sat staring out of the window, heartbroken, needing to be
with Ethan with every fiber of her being. The aerocar propelled them further,
finally entering the wide iron gates of the Spears estate. Traveling down a
wide swath of land, bordered by stunning weeping willows and lovely landscaping
surrounding a charming pond, she could not soak in the beauty encircling her.

As the vehicle approached the wide marble front steps of the
mansion, Karlyn caught a glimpse of something sitting on the stone. Her heart
leapt in her chest, as he came into view. And just as quickly, a deep cut
sadness filled her as she saw how broken he looked, with his head in his hands,
resting on his knees.

Before the vehicle had actually stopped, Karlyn opened the door
and rushed out. Nearly tripping before catching herself as she exited, she ran
towards Ethan, who looked as though he had slept on the streets all night. He
raised his head as she neared, his swollen eyes blank, lifeless.

Looking up at her as if awakening from a dream, he began to
stand, catching a glimpse over Karlyn’s shoulder at his grandmother. Karlyn
rushed forward to hug him to her, wrapping her arms around his torso, holding
on to him with all the love she could muster. The strong smell of alcohol
surrounded him, and made her sick.

Pushing her away, he looked down into her face. Anger stormed
within his eyes. Pushing harder, he moved away from Karlyn, looking between
himself and his grandmother.

“So you were working for my grandmother. Is that it? Is she the
one who got you the ticket? No way she could make my life any more of a hell,
so she needed to make it a sport? And to think, I had fallen…” Rage filled his
face as he grabbed her shoulders, shaking her slightly. “You bitch, how dare
you play with my life, my sis…my sister’s life?”

“Ethan, I was not working for your grandmother. Sam bought me the
ticket. You know that.” She worked to calm him, not knowing if it were possible
in his state.

“And suddenly my grandmother knows what is going on in our lives
and takes an interest. The morning after your very public arrest, and my
sister’s death, you arrive in luxury to her estate, a free woman? Bullshit. She
was behind this from the start, I can see that now. Once I came to her for
help, she found a way to break me.” He narrowed his eyes, as if the sight of
her was too much for him. “So who’s the whore now?”

Shock froze within her, her veins turning to ice. Her stomach
pitched, not sure if anything she said would get through to him. “Ethan, you
know that is not how things happened…”

“I am not stupid. That old cow does nothing without a cause. She
would have no reason to collect you from jail unless it served her own
purpose.”

Turning to Evangeline for support, she saw the older woman
watched the drama unfold, saying absolutely nothing. “Aren’t you going to say
anything?”

“Anything I say, he won’t believe Karlyn, especially in his
condition. He has never believed a word that has come out of my mouth.”

“Stay out of this, your heartless bitch.” Turning to look at his
grandmother, he snarled. Stalking towards the elder woman, he stopped mere
inches from her face. “You have wanted to break me my entire life. You did it. Are
you happy now? You gave me a taste of real life, with love and happiness and
you ripped it all away. Well, you got your wish. I’m done. I’m broken. I have
nothing left.”

“Ethan, I did not wish this on you. No matter what you think of
me, one day you will see the truth. I’m not the heartless bitch you think I am.
And I bailed your girlfriend out of jail to protect her, and you in some small
way.”

“Girlfriend?” Twisting his sights on Karlyn, his eyes ablaze with
angry light, he spit out more venom. “She is nothing to me, but some whore who
strung me along, and she was so good at it. She made me care, and made me a
better man, and then threw me away, just like every other woman out there.”

“I did not throw you away. I was taken into custody.”

“Just shut up. I don’t want to hear anymore of your lies.” With
that, he ran past the pair, pushing one of the guards and the driver out of the
way, loading himself into the pilot seat of the aerocar. The other guard, tried
to wrangle the wheel from him, but he pulled the vehicle to a hard right and
the force disconnected the two. Before they could stop him, he was speeding
away at top velocity, a cloud of dust left behind him.

Karlyn watched him go, hoping like hell he didn’t kill himself. And
her fear was that was exactly what he was trying to do.

Chapter Nineteen

Karlyn came down for breakfast two days later. After a day and a
half of moping in the room Evangeline had given her, she knew it was time to
wake up and work on getting her life back in order. She had hid out in the
room, as well, as investigators had picked up Ethan and returned him to his
grandmother. Karlyn had heard it all from the upstairs foyer.

Evangeline had had him cleaned up and locked in a guest room to
sober up.

Finding Evangeline in the bright, airy sunshine filled breakfast
room, she sat down beside her, looking over the plethora of small vid screens
covering half of the table. Most were covered in one or more news stories about
the whole drama, as if there was nothing more newsworthy than her debacle with
Ethan.

Lifting the first one to catch her eye, she inwardly groaned at
the picture of her being hauled out of the community center by the swarthy
peace ambassadors. The next picture showed the Lottery Commissioner questioning
Ethan through an office window. An inset picture showed an image of him and Bailey
in their younger days, standing on the porch of a beautiful columned home,
before Bailey had been sick. She was beautiful when she had met her in the
hospital, but before her illness, she had been breathtaking.

“Such a waste.”

Karlyn turned towards Evangeline. “What is a waste? The time all
these news people have put into covering this story?”