“So you had an affair?”

Tyler nodded. “Yes, I did. It was brief—a few months at most. I broke it off. And that’s when things got… crazy.”

“Crazy, what do you mean?”

“You saw the movie that came out a few years ago, with Glenn Close and Michael Douglas?”

“Fatal Attraction?”

“Yeah, that’s it.” Tyler nodded, looking out at the audience. The man was a great actor. The look of helpless guilt and regret on his face was textbook. The whole audience was quiet, listening, and even sitting in the green room watching it unfold on the screen, I could feel the tide of public opinion turning. They’re going to blame it on Dale’s mother, I thought. And she wasn’t even there to defend herself. I was starting to feel nauseous.

“Sidney, she was insane.” Tyler looked like he was on the verge of tears. “I did a horrible thing. I know that. And I apologized to my wife and have spent every day since trying to make it up to her. But Stacy Diamond—I guess she’s Stacy Spencer now, she took her maiden name after the divorce.”

“Divorce? Did her husband find out?” Sidney Clare asked the question the whole audience wanted to know.

“I told him myself.”

What?

The camera panned to John, who looked sad, but otherwise gave no reaction.

“I had to,” Tyler went on. “His wife was crazy. I mean, she made Glenn Close look sane. She threatened my wife, my family. She was obsessed with me. So I went to John and told him what was going on. And he got her the help she needed.”

“And that was the end of it?”

“I thought so.” Tyler sighed. “John and I… he’s just a great guy. He forgave me, if you can believe that. We continued to remain friends. But things were never quite the same. He knew his wife was mentally ill but he did everything he could throughout his marriage to keep it from his children and I don’t blame him. She was in therapy for a while and then they put her on medication. For a long time it worked.”

Tyler paused and they panned to the audience again, all leaning forward, listening.

“Then she stopped taking her medication. And the obsession came back,” Tyler said. He had a flair for the dramatic, that was for sure. “She was relentless. She wouldn’t leave me alone. She pursued me endlessly. I didn’t know what to do. For years, things had been fine. Now our kids were older, they were friends. It was a delicate situation.”

“Did you have sex with her again, Tyler?”

“Once.” He lowered his head. “My wife was out at the store. All our kids were playing in the pool. John wasn’t there that day. I believe he had to work. She came into my room while I was changing into my suit…”

I gaped at the screen. It was the story Dale had told me—how he’d found out his mother was having an affair. He’d walked in on them that day.

This was all planned, I realized. Perfectly orchestrated. John had told Chrissy he was going to “call Tyler and fix it,” and here it was happening, live on national television. Dale wasn’t going to be seen as a young kid trying to ride his father’s coat tails into fame and fortune. After this, he would be seen as a victim. Tyler was taking the fall, but it would be Dale’s mother everyone would blame.

Just like Fatal Attraction. I shivered. Once Glenn Close started boiling bunnies, everyone had sympathy for poor Michael Douglas, who had done nothing except give into his basic, animal instincts after all. Poor man.

“She cornered me. I didn’t want to. But I was afraid of what she might do or say. So I… we did. We had sex.”

“Just that one time.”

“Yes.” Tyler agreed. “Unfortunately, Dale came into the room… during…”

“He discovered you and his mother having sex?”

“Yes.” Tyler cleared his throat. “I tried to talk to him later but he wouldn’t have anything to do with me.”

“I don’t blame him,” Sidney Clare snapped.

Tyler didn’t take the bait. He hung his head.

“I don’t either.”

The camera focused on Sidney Clare’s face.

“When we come back, find out what Tyler Vincent did to try and protect his family from an obsessed fan.”

Protect his family? They made him sound like a boy scout. And obsessed fan? She was a woman he was involved with for years! They’d been lovers before Dale was born. Tyler even admitted as much.

The screen showed commercials, just like the viewers at home saw. But I knew, down the hall, all of this was happening live. And Dale was walking right into the trap. I sprang from the sofa and rushed out the door. The hallways were numerous but there was a red arrow with “studio” painted on each wall, showing the direction.

I followed the arrows, coming out to a backstage area where crew was hurrying around, getting things done. I was familiar enough with a crew to know they probably wouldn’t even pay attention to me—until I walked out on the stage.

But Dale beat me to it.

He was on the other side, in the wings, just like me, but I didn’t see him until he stalked out onto the stage. Tyler didn’t see him coming. Dale could have stabbed him in the back and he wouldn’t have known it until the knife was between his shoulder blades. But Sidney Clare saw him coming. Her eyes widened as Dale approached.

“Uh… Tyler…” She had a mic on so everyone heard it. The audience gasped as Dale faced his father. Tyler stood the minute Dale came around that side of the sofa. They stood there talking, but Tyler had muffled his mic. I couldn’t hear anything. And neither could the audience.

“We’re live in twenty seconds.” The announcement over the PA startled me.

“Sit down!” Sidney Clare stood, trying to get Tyler to take his seat again, but he and Dale were still in a heated argument. “This is a live show! Sit down now!”

She was half their size but she got her way. Tyler finally relented. Dale stood for a moment, glanced at the camera, and then took a seat on the couch with Tyler—as far away as he could get.

“Welcome back.” Sidney Clare smiled, looking as poised as ever. “Today I have with me…”

Sidney recapped things for viewers just tuning in, also introducing Dale, who was brooding on the other end of the sofa.

“So Dale. “Sidney leaned in, just like she had with Tyler, using that same, kind, soft voice that meant, tell me everything, I’m your friend. “How do you feel about everything you’ve heard so far.”

“It’s bullshit,” he snapped. “This man is a liar and a coward. I don’t like him, I never have, and I’ve spent most of my life trying not to be like him. I’m ashamed that he’s my father. I wish he wasn’t. But wishing doesn’t make things true.”

I knew, somewhere, Greg Richer was having a heart attack. He’d set this whole thing up, I was sure of it, to clear Dale’s name and dissociate him from Tyler as much as possible. This was television—they could make everyone believe a lie. It was easy.

“How do you know, Dale?” Sidney Clare asked gently.

“What?” Dale glared at her. “How do I know he’s my father? My mother told me so. She told me everything. The affair started before me and my sister were even born.”

“Your sister?” Sidney Clare prompted. I glanced at the screen overhead and sure enough, the camera was on Chrissy. They planned it all.

And now Dale was ruining all their plans, simply because he couldn’t stand by and watch Tyler sitting up there and telling more lies, denying everything Dale knew to be true. If Dale had just kept his mouth shut and gone along with it, the world would have believed Tyler Vincent. He was a consummate actor, a master manipulator.

I could hear Greg in my head. What are you doing, Dale? What the hell are you doing?

But there was no way to stop him. Dale was going to tell the truth and force Tyler to tell it too. Finally, a lifetime of secrets would be over. I knew he was putting his career in jeopardy. I knew he was risking the tide of public opinion turning against him, seeing him as a young moocher, trying to take the shortcut to become some sort of rock star. I knew, if the execs at MTV got wind of it and decided to take back Black Diamond’s win at the Battle of the Bands two years ago, it would mar Dale’s career as a musician for the rest of his life. The consequences of telling the truth now were huge.

And I couldn’t have been more proud of him for walking out there and doing it.

“So tell me again, how do you know this man’s your father?”

“My mother,” Dale said simply. “She told me herself. She even left my father for him.”

“Dale, listen to me.” Sidney Clare leaned forward. “I understand that’s the truth you’ve lived with. But what if what Tyler says is true?”

“It isn’t.” Dale shook his head, adamant. “My dad—John Diamond—he’s the best man I know. If I could a pick a father out of all the men I’ve known in my life, it would be John Diamond. I’m proud to have his name. And I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to be raised by him.”

I felt my eyes stinging with tears. The camera showed John, eyes glistening. Next to him, Debra took his hand. Chrissy was on his other side, tears sliding down her face as she leaned her cheek against his shoulder.

“But the truth is, John can’t have kids.” Dale sighed. “My parents had problems having kids early in their marriage. They had all the usual tests. My dad has a low sperm count.”

The audience gasped. I blinked in surprise, looking from the Dale on stage to the Dale on screen. He’d never told me that. No wonder he was so sure that Tyler was his real father?

“My mother showed me the lab results when I didn’t want to believe her—when she told me Tyler was my father,” Dale said. “She never told my dad—John. Damn it, he’s my dad. He’s the man I’ve called dad all my life and I’m not going to stop now.”

“Of course not,” Sidney Clare soothed.

I wanted to run out there on stage and put my arms around him. He was so brave.

“So John, the man who raised you—he didn’t know any of this?” she prompted.

“My mother didn’t want him to know about Tyler,” Dale said. “And neither did I. When I found out my younger sister knew, I swore her to secrecy. When they divorced, I thought it would finally come out, but it didn’t. No one talked about it.”

“So you were protecting John?” Sidney asked.

“Yeah.” He looked out into the audience, finding his dad, their eyes locked. “That’s what you do for people you love.”

Now I was really crying, tears just streaming down my face.

“You’re right, son.” Tyler put a hand on Dale’s shoulder. “That’s exactly what people do when they love someone. No one likes to watch someone they love in pain.”

Tyler calling Dale “son.” I felt a lump rising in my throat. Was he saying that he was there, trying to protect Dale?