“She usually takes things very seriously. I’m surprised she’s not with this.”
“Dad and I have talked about it. Neither of us can figure that girl out when it comes to this.”
“When I met her, she wasn’t drinking. It was my drink that spilled.”
“When did you meet? I don’t think she’s been in New York for a while.”
“No, it was when I was out in LA and still married. Duncan loved to drag us out to clubs every single night. See and be seen.”
“Sounds tiring.”
“It was.” She dug into her food, and they were quiet for a while. Shay kept stealing little glances at him. God, he was gorgeous. It should be a crime to be that sexy. How was he not married? Some woman should have snapped him up by now.
“Shay, I have to ask you some questions. I’d like to wait until you’ve slept, but I have to give my bosses an update in a little over two hours.”
“Okay.” She set her food down and took a fortifying sip of her coffee.
Max sighed heavily. He really didn’t want to do this to her, but it was necessary. Usually, it was Viktor or Kade who did this part of the interview, but they’d both agreed he should since she seemed more comfortable with him. Damn Desi and her mouth.
“These are going to be uncomfortable questions.”
“Do I have to answer them?”
“If you want me to have all the information I need to keep you safe, then yes, you have to answer them.”
She curled up on the couch and tucked her knees against her chest. “Okay.”
“I have to know, could this stalker be an ex-boyfriend, someone you dated after your divorce?”
“I haven’t had a boyfriend since I split with Duncan.”
“Then someone who’s a booty call?”
He saw her face flame and wished he hadn’t been so crass, but fuck, this wasn’t what he usually did.
“No. There hasn’t been anyone since Duncan. After what he put me through, I couldn’t bring myself to go there again.”
“Can you tell me a little about that?”
“Do I have to?”
“Yes, Shay, you do.”
She got this haunted look in her eyes, and he saw her curl in on herself. It wasn’t a look he liked.
“Duncan was amazing in the beginning. He was so romantic, always doing little things for me, even when he was on location somewhere. I’d get flowers or gifts delivered to me on set.”
“While you were here in New York?”
“No, I didn’t come to New York until after we split. I was working on a soap out in Los Angeles. Once I left Duncan, I worked through my contract and then moved here. It only took a few weeks to find another job.”
Max nodded and gestured for her to continue.
“It wasn’t until we’d gotten married that he changed, and it wasn’t something I really noticed all at once. Little things like him deciding where we were going to have dinner, which clubs we were going to. Then it morphed into what I could and couldn’t wear, who I could talk to, when I was allowed to see my parents. He started telling me I was worthless, that no one else would have me. It went from verbal to physical rapidly.”
Max hated listening to this. It was part of why he didn’t want another role in the company. The thought of anyone hitting a woman or degrading them did something to him, brought out an anger his mother told him belonged to his biological father. He hated that part of himself. Hated feeling angry. It wasn’t who he was.
“How long did the physical abuse go on?”
“Longer than it should have. I was pregnant, and he shoved me down the stairs. I should have reported him then, but like he said, who would believe me? It was his word against mine, and his PR people had already spun it so it seemed like the miscarriage was my fault.”
“I’m so sorry, Shayna.”
A single tear escaped and trailed down her cheek. Against his better judgement, he brushed it away. Her skin was just as soft as he’d imagined. He moved closer and cupped her cheek.
She turned her face into his touch, and he let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. Not good. So very not good.
Pulling away, he eased back on the couch.
He needed to keep his hands to himself.
“Thank you.”
He nodded and picked up his coffee to have something to keep his hands occupied.
“Duncan seemed to be better after that. He went back to being the man I married. He was kind and considerate.”
“Until he wasn’t.”
“He came home about a month later, so high I was afraid he was on the verge of overdosing. I asked him what he was on, and he got so angry. He turned into the monster I’d grown to know, and he beat me. I blacked out. Desi came over the next day. We’d made lunch plans. Duncan didn’t know. He went out, and usually whenever something like this happened, I cancelled my plans, but I didn’t that day.”
“Part of you knew you needed help.”
“That’s what the therapist says anyway. I let Desi in. She took one look at me and flipped. Packed my bags then sat down to wait for Duncan to get back. She called her own security upstairs to wait with us.”
Max grinned. His little sister wasn’t stupid.
“She threatened to expose everything if he came near me. I begged her to not make me go to the police. It really would be his word against mine, despite any photos the hospital might take. I had lost so much, I didn’t want to lose what was left of my reputation. While Duncan may not have taken my threats seriously, he did Des’s. Her platform was bigger than his. He was a movie star, but she was a mega pop star with fans in the tens of millions. He let me go.”
“Could he still be harboring any feelings for you? Men like him don’t just let go.”
“He hasn’t contacted me once since that day. All divorce proceedings went through the lawyer. We both signed prenups, so there wasn’t a lot except for the house we bought while married. I let him have it. I wanted nothing from him.”
Max made a note to check into her husband’s movements over the last few months. Men like Duncan Kane considered women their property, and despite Desiree’s threats, Duncan might not have given up as easily as Shay thought. Men like him tended to sit and stew, let their anger build and build, and then act when it boiled over.
“Is there anyone you can think of, someone from back home in Virginia, who might be capable of this?”
“Honestly, no. I’m just a small-town girl at heart who grew up in rural Virginia. I keep my nose out of other people’s business, and I try to help as many people as I can. That’s how I was raised. People might call me a diva, but I’m not. I promise you, I’m not. I’ve just learned to protect myself, and I don’t let the outside see who I really am. I let them see who I want them to see.”
“That’s understandable, given what you’ve been through.”
She laughed, the sound as bitter as day-old coffee grounds. “Tell that to the public.”
“Fuck ’em.”
“What?” She glanced up, head tilted.
“Fuck ’em. They don’t know you, but they feel like they can judge you. It’s the same thing I tell Desi. Let them believe what they want and say fuck ’em to the assholes who want to judge you.”