And I sent Aubrey an invitation through her booking email, the same one Rhett had used months before.
“A guest who lied,” the subject line read.
“We’d like to hear your side.”
She answered within an hour.
“I’ll be there,” she wrote.
“I have nothing to hide.”
I printed the email and put it in a folder.
On the morning of the premiere, I arrived at the studio at six.
Simone was already at the control board, testing levels.
“You sure about this?” she asked.
“No,” I said.
“But I’m ready.”
Aubrey arrived at nine, dressed like she was going to a job interview she expected to win.
She signed the release without reading it.
She sat in the guest chair and adjusted the microphone like she’d done it a thousand times.
“You know,” she said, “I almost feel sorry for you.”
“Save it,” I said.
“We’re live in five.”
The red light came on.
“Welcome back to the show,” I said into the microphone.
“This season, we’re talking about betrayal.
And today, my guest is a woman who came into my studio as a guest and left as something else.
Aubrey, thank you for being here.”
She smiled.
“Thanks for having me.”
I kept my voice steady.
“You told me you were here to talk about relationships.
But you had another agenda, didn’t you?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Then let me play something for you.”
I cued the audio.
Rhett’s voice filled the studio.
“We let her catch us,” he said.
“That’s the whole point.”
Aubrey’s face changed.
“Where did you get that?” she whispered.
“From my own archive,” I said.
“The file was labeled test levels.
It’s six weeks old.
And on it, you and my husband plan a scandal and call it a launch.”
She looked at the control room window.
I saw Rhett on the other side, his hand on the door.
Simone shook her head at him and pointed at the board.
“You signed a release,” I said.
“You agreed to be recorded.
So I’ll ask you plainly: did Rhett plan the kiss?”
Aubrey’s eyes filled.
“Yes,” she said.
“He planned it.
He said you’d catch us and lose it, and we’d have the audio for the new show.”
“And the files?”
I asked.
“The sponsor contracts, the guest list, the early recordings.
Those belong to my show.”
“I have copies,” she said.
“He gave them to me.
He said they were ours.”
I looked at the control room.
Rhett was pounding on the glass.
Simone stood between him and the board with her arms crossed, and she didn’t move.
“You’re live, Celina,” she said into my earpiece.
“Keep going.”
I turned back to Aubrey.
“Do you want to tell the audience what Rhett promised you?”
She wiped her eyes.
“He said we’d be partners,” she said.
“He said the show would be ours, and you’d be the story.”
I let that sit for a moment.
Then I said, “Thank you for your honesty.
The files will be returned to this studio by the end of the week.
My attorney will be in touch.”
I looked at the control room window.
Rhett was gone.
Simone gave me a small nod.
I turned back to the microphone.
“That’s our show for today,” I said.
“Next week, we’ll talk about what happens after the truth comes out.”
I took off my headphones and sat back in my chair.
On the screen in front of me, the listener count was climbing faster than it ever had in eight years.
I watched it for a moment.
Then I stood up to go find my daughter.
Chapter 9 – After the Waveform
The week after the live episode, Rhett moved his things out of the studio.
He didn’t say much.
I stood in the hallway and watched him carry boxes to his car, and I didn’t feel the way I thought I would.
I thought I would feel sad.
Instead, I felt like I was watching a storm move out to sea.
By the end of the month, the business was mine.
My attorney, Diane, handled the separation of the company, and the bank records showed exactly what Rhett had done with the money.
He had moved nearly sixty thousand dollars into an account tied to the new show.
The charges came in October.
Financial misconduct, they called it.
I didn’t press for more than the law allowed, but I didn’t stop it either.
Aubrey’s show never launched.
The files she had were returned to the studio by the end of that week, just as I had asked on air.
Her podcast, ‘The Other Woman,’ disappeared from the internet before it ever aired.
The last I heard, she had moved back to her hometown and taken a job at a local radio station.
