Shattering Zoella's Demons

  “Must I need something to visit you, son in-law?” Gabriella countered swiveling the seat of power slowly.

  She’d admired Kenny’s ability to be in control at all times. His strength and power clung to him like a cloak. It was an honor to her to introduce him to her friends as a son. She was sure Alexis would approve of him too. Her relationship with him was a marvel to her, considering the fact that Kenny remained Zoella’s confidant.

  “You only visit my office when you’re worried,” Kenny said quietly. “I’m guessing it’s not Jessica. She and I have been okay. So, who is it?”

  “Zoella,” Gabriella answered going straight to the point. Things were always better that way. “I want to talk to her.”

  “I can’t help you,” Kenny said his answer came fast, making Gabriella blink in surprise.

  “What do you mean by that?” Gabriella asked. “You’re her best friend. The person she tells everything. You must help me talk to her. Kenny, this is not a petty issue. I am genuinely concerned about my daughter.”

  “Then call Thaddeus. She’s in Athens,” Kenny said moving away from the worktable to sit on one of the arm chairs set in front of his desk.

  “You know how that man gets. He and I agree on nothing concerning Zoella,” Gabriella protested leaning forward on the desk.

  “I suppose then you’re going to be disappointed,” Kenny said. “Zoe and I haven’t spoken in a while. I saw her last the night we arrived in London, that is four months ago.”

  “But Kenny,” Gabriella said in shock, it worried her to hear that.

  “Don’t be alarmed. I’m sure she’s okay. Though I would have preferred she do it kindly, we seem to have broken up.”

  “That’s why you and Jess are having such a wonderful time.” Gabriella guessed not sure how she should feel about this.

  She’d seen them at the town house for dinner several times in the past two months. Their relationship seemed to be mending. A love that had seemed sour was rekindled. They were a picture of happiness.

  Lovely, Gabriella thought, now what?

  “I’m happy for both of you,” Gabriella said. “It is surprising Zoella has taken such a step. It’s obvious she was trying to give you an opportunity to fix your marriage. Otherwise she would have called on you. You do see that, right?”

  “What do you want from me?” Kenny asked meeting her unwavering gaze. “Have you ever seen a woman deliberately destroy her relationships so easily? I’ve been to Athens, I begged Thaddeus to let me see her. She didn’t call me even after that.”

  “You’re sulking.” Gabriella mused.

  “Oh yes I am. I thought our friendship was worth a whole lot more than she’s treating it.”

  “You’re smarter than that,” Gabriella said, getting up from her seat. Moving around the walnut desk, she pulled out a paper from her handbag and handed it to him. “Read this and tell me we don’t have a problem brewing in Athens right now.”

  Kenny took the paper and cursed under his breath when he saw the picture of Robbie and his ex-girlfriend Marjorie.

  “He’s rebounding.”

  “Yeah, good for him, what do you think Zoe is doing?” Gabriella asked. “I know her. She has invested everything in Robbie. This is destroying her. I know her well enough to understand that. This could be Paris again. I don’t want a repeat of that incident.”

  “You don’t think—,” Kenny started to say.

  “What happened in Paris?” Jessica interrupted him from the doorway.

  Gabriella and Kenny both looked up in surprise. They hadn’t heard her come in.

  “Jess, hi.” Kenny stood to greet her.

  Dropping the paper he held on the coffee table, he strode over to her and hugged her. She allowed it but she kept up her questioning.

  “It’s not the first time I’ve heard that statement. Danny stormed off during dinner about Paris,” Jessica said.

  Walking past Kenny, she placed her handbag on the coffee table and picked up the newspaper clipping Kenny had dropped there.

  “I can’t believe this.”

  “He’s trying to move on.” Kenny defended his friend.

  “Don’t,” Jessica said dropping the paper on the coffee table. “He should do it discreetly. He shouldn’t treat my sister this way. Now tell me why you’re all worried about an incident in Paris.”

  “What do you mean you don’t know about Paris?” Kenny asked his gaze on Jessica and the confused expression she wore.

  She wore a red dress that hugged her body to perfection. Her blond hair was growing longer. It was held in a neat pony tail today. She looked beautiful.

  “You were in Paris, Jess,” Kenny said.

  “Are you talking about the time I went to see Zoe?” Jessica asked. “Coz, all we did was argued. She was really messed up those days.”

  Kenny stared at his wife, and then turned to Gabriella. “You didn’t tell her?”

  Jessica turned to look at her mother. “Tell me what? What is it? I already said I don’t want to be in the dark anymore. Will someone please say something?”

  Kenny moved then, gripping Jessica’s arm to make sure she was looking at him. “Do you want to tell me that in six years you haven’t known what happened in Paris?”

  “Yes,” Jessica said with a nod, staring at her husband when he let her go.

  Gabriella hadn’t planned on this being such a difficult day. It was clearly bordering on epic if she was going to discuss Paris. Refusing to meet her daughter’s gaze, she headed for the bar area instead. Kenny wiped a hand down his face.

  “May be it is better if you don’t know,” Kenny said.

  “I agree.” Gabriella seconded, tossing back a shot of brandy.

  “No,” Jessica said firmly, to her husband she ordered. “Tell me now or I’m calling Danny and getting it from him.”

  Kenny stared at her, and then because he knew Jessica was relentless, he urged her to sit down in the arm chair he’d vacated.

  “Jessica.”

  “Kenny.”

  “This isn’t easy to say,” he started.

  “Just say it, you’re making me nervous.”

  Swallowing hard, Kenny looked over Jessica’s head at Gabriella. Her mother had poured another shot of brandy. She tossed it back and he sighed. He was obviously going to be the one to tell Jessica.

  “Kenny?” Jessica prompted him.

  Closing his eyes, Kenny crouched before his wife. Taking her hands, he squeezed them in his gently before he opened his eyes and met worried blue ones.

  “Zoe attempted suicide in Paris, Jess. She was found by her bodyguard in the tub bleeding to death.”

  For a moment, Jessica sat still trying to understand the words Kenny had just spoken. The enormity of what he was saying didn’t seem to make sense. And then it did. She gasped in shock, tears stung her eyes and she pushed Kenny away to stand up.

  Shaking her head, she asked, “What, W- How? God…”

  Gabriella came to where she stood and pressed a glass into her hands. She made sure Jessica tossed back the drink and watched as the girl winced when the brandy went down. Jessica could hardly breathe at the picture she was conjuring.

  Her sister, her little sister, no wonder Danny was so angry. What had he said?

  Pay attention to what’s happening, before I lose a sister.

  Why had he asked when she’d gone to Paris?

  Her gaze flew to Kenny’s. “Tell me why.”

  “Jess—

  “Tell me, Kenny, I need to know.”

  Gabriella saved him. “It was what I send you to tell her that triggered it.”

  Jessica’s eyes widened in horror, her heart squeezing in actual pain, she’d never have wanted to do that to her sister, never in her entire life. She shook her head in denial at the thought of the scene that had ensued that day. She hadn’t been nice. The tears came unheeded.

  Kenny hurried to embrace
her tightly, trying to offer comfort where no one but Zoe could.

  ****

  “I want to know what happened,” Jessica said when they were all calmer and seated in the comfortable chairs in Kenny’s office. He’d asked his secretary to bring in some coffee and they now sat each with a steaming cup.

  “Why do you want to torture yourself this way?” Kenny asked.

  “Regardless of popular opinion, I do love Zoe,” Jessica replied. “She’s been through so much, and I never helped her once. I want to know what happened.”

  “Jessica.” Gabriella started.

  “Don’t Mamma. You of all people should have told me. You shouldn’t have let me stay in the dark this long. How I’ve acted toward Zoe has greatly been dictated by what happened that day. I’ve been horrible,” Jessica said in horror. “I need to know. Why was Zoe living in Paris anyway?”

  Meeting Gabriella’s gaze, Kenny decided to tell her.

  “She moved there to try and pick up her life. She’d spent so much time being a recluse in Aledeus, that Thad and Athena worried she might not be able to enter normal society. So, Athena proposed living with her in Paris, where she could go to school finishing her music degree. Thaddeus agreed only if they had bodyguards with them.”

  Running a hand through his hair, not sure he wanted to remember the gory details.

  “She started playing her music in underground clubs. People loved it, and her popularity increased like wildfire. Athena was so excited that Zoe was beginning to live a little, so she started arranging the gigs for her. Athena handled it all, and soon it became huge, there were ticket sales, PR coverage, and everything that comes with a music career. Zoe started gaining some confidence, but only on stage.”

  “When it came to everyday life, she couldn’t handle the streets. Too many people scared her and she gets these anxiety attacks. Athena was hoping the increasing confidence would spill over to her everyday life. In all the excitement of the new Zoe, Athena allowed someone to do an article on her.”

  Gabriella closed her eyes remembering how upset she’d been that her daughter was not attending Oxford.

  “That’s when I went to Paris,” Jessica said quietly.

  She hadn’t been happy about it. Having to detour to Paris to talk to her errant sister had sounded so annoying. When she’d ended up having to go through four equally annoying bodyguards to talk to Zoe, she’d completely lost control.

  “I wasn’t nice. I yelled at her bitterly, and some of the things I said were uncalled for.”

  “I know,” Kenny said.

  “She told me.” He elaborated at her questioning frown.

  “I must have sounded like a bitch,” Jessica said guiltily. “I was angry.”

  “To someone else, it would have never been a problem. You were talking to her like you’d talk to Christy or anyone else out there,” Kenny said trying to explain, reaching over his arm chair to hers, he laced her fingers with his.

  Jessica shook her head and stared down at the hand holding hers.

  “I could have been nice about it. I am older. I remember telling her that she’d never be a Castille. Castilles valued their heritage and what it stood for, and she was shaming us all by choosing another path.”

  “I’d said that it was either college or she’d have to drop the Castille name.” Gabriella finished solemnly.

  Kenny winced at the words. Zoe had been devastated by them. She’d been hysterical when she’d called him.

  “Your message shook her. Music isn’t something she can stop. She needs it. She needed it then. Her last name was her identity; she needed that too considering what she’d been through. But with your message, she made the choice.”

  “She chose the music,” Jessica said. “So she dropped the name and became Zoella Mya.”

  “It was difficult. I can’t explain it,” Kenny said trying to put into words what kind of struggle Zoe had been going through wasn’t easy. “Things weren’t going so well and Thaddeus wanted to return her to Aledeus. But it would mean giving up the stage and Zoe wouldn’t allow it. To prove herself, she ended up going to a convenience store for shopping. She was trying to show that she could take care of herself. Athena and Thad had gone for a meeting so she sneaked past her bodyguards and went alone. On her way back, she ran into a group of rowdy boys who picked on her. It was harmless, but I imagine she saw it differently. When someone bumped into her and jostled her away, the fear came back in a rush. Suddenly, everyone on the street was the enemy. By the time she got home, she was sick with anxiety. Zoe literally gets nauseous. So she locked herself in the bathroom. Her bodyguard, Franco—

  “Do you mean the Franco Antonio she’s apparently seeing?” Jessica asked in surprise.

  “He is not her boyfriend. He is just a man who would do anything for her. He is the one who found her. He got worried when she didn’t come out of the bathroom, so he broke down the door and found her in the tub. Her wrists were slashed with a razor blade. Had he waited longer, he would never have been able to save her.”

  Kenny bent his head and closed his eyes at the memory of how lost Zoe had looked in that hospital bed.

  “It was the worst moment in my life,” Kenny said hoarsely. “I didn’t know what to say to help. I was so scared.”

  Jessica felt tears slide down her cheeks. She hadn’t been there. She hadn’t known.

  “What do you say? Live Zoe?” Kenny asked. “I felt as lost as she was. Since that day it’s been a struggle for the next day.”

  Gabriella stood up and paced to the windows her shoulders stiff. “Athena banned us from seeing Zoe. She stopped all communication with us. I just assumed she was being a bitch because she was marrying Thaddeus.”

  “Your condemning Zoe for her career was destroying her. It was a fight to keep Zoe alive. Do you know she was being forced to eat every day? No one wanted to stop and contemplate what those who weren’t there were thinking,” Kenny said. “Jess, you two had just argued and Gabby wanted the Castille name off the entertainment news. Would you have listened then?”

  Jessica moved from her seat and went to hug her husband. He wrapped his arms around her to steady himself. The memories were hard to remember. He had practically lived in the private hospital, alongside Athena and Thaddeus. He could still remember how scared Zoe had been when she realized how low she’d gotten.

  “Zoe must hate us,” Jessica said against Kenny’s chest. “I would.”

  “On the contrary,” Kenny said. “She cares so much about her family. I know you might not see it, but the rest of us do.”

  “We barely talk civilly to each other.” Gabriella pointed out. “Each time, I feel like I’m going into battle with her.”

  “You and Zoe have major issues to clear up,” Kenny commented. “I think there should probably be a bomb squad when you two talk.”

  Gabriella sobbed at that one, and shook her head at the window; there was nothing funny about that. It hurt her to know that she was not the one Zoe relied on when things got bad.

  “I must have sounded like an idiot, insisting time and again that—

  “No.” Kenny interrupted Jessica, rubbing her back. “It was tiresome, but justified. I made a promise to Zoe. No matter what, I’d never tell what she was going through. She didn’t want it to affect anyone’s life.”

  “Then why have you told us,” Gabriella asked turning to glance at Kenny.

  “Because—

  Kenny stopped and Jessica pulled back from him, her gaze studying his face. She cupped his jaw with her slender hand then stood up.

  “You are afraid it will happen again,” Jessica said quietly. “Was that why Uncle Thad got so upset with you when you mentioned Paris?”

  “I love Zoe very much, and this thing she is doing now is not normal. She needs her family. I can feel it,” Kenny said on a sigh.

  “But, Thaddeus has her. Are you sure?” Gabriella frowned
.

  “You’re the one who came to ask me what I’m doing about her. This is the best I can do for her. I don’t know what the problem is. It kills me not knowing, because I speculate a lot. What I do know is that the trouble brewing will need the Castilles to be reconciled with Zoe. There is no way Zoe would seclude herself this way for little problems.”

  “Then we will go to Athens,” Jessica said firmly, the truth was she wanted to see her sister again. She wanted to see for herself that Zoe was alright and that nothing would hurt her.

  “Love, you have to remember that she’s not asking for help. Things won’t change overnight,” Kenny said.

  “I’m willing to try,” Jessica said passionately.

  “Will you help?” Gabriella asked. “She listens to you.”

  Kenny groaned. “It won’t be easy. She won’t even call me.”

  “Nothing is ever easy,” Gabriella said with a smile. “I suggest you clear your schedules. The family is going on vacation to Athens. I’ll call Danny.”

  Gabriella reached for her bag on Kenny’s desk and pulled out a cell phone. “I’ll see you at the townhouse later, dinner is at seven o’clock.”

  She left the office in a hurry leaving Jessica and Kenny to stare at each other.

  “This will be a disaster.” Kenny sighed as he stood up.

  “Hey, stop that,” Jessica said moving to hug him. “I’m not going to let you worry about this.”

  “I’m telling you this won’t be easy,” Kenny said burying his face in to her shoulder.

  Jessica pulled back and made him look at her. Caressing his jaw, she said, “We’ll have you.”

  Leaning up on her tip toes she pressed a soft kiss to his lips. After a moment, he wrapped his arms around her waist and held her closer as he deepened the kiss.

  ****

  Chagrin falls, Ohio

  “No word. I’m sure the letter was delivered Julia. I do believe she’s ignoring it,” Sandra Carpenter said into the phone, her gaze on the calendar on her desk. “It’s only July, but it would be good to know if we’re in hot water or not.”

  “I guess I need to make that call now,” Julia Girgorio said warily.

  “Yes,” Sandra said. “It will make things easier.”

  “Alright,” Julia hung up after a few moments and sat staring at her living room for a moment.

  Outside the sun blazed in full summer. London was a full five hours ahead. It was around ten in the morning in Ohio, she wondered if she’d be disturbing Gabriella. Just thinking about it had her shaking a bit from nerves. It was almost a decade since she’d talked to her sister.