The Match (Wilde, #2)(86)

“Peter looked like us for one thing,” Silas said. “Better looking. No doubt about it. I bet his real mom was hot.”

“Silas!”

“What? I’m trying to have fun with this because otherwise…” Silas stopped. “My whole childhood feels like a lie now.” He turned his gaze toward Wilde. “You asked me before if I ever suspected. No. But now that I think about it, something wasn’t quite right. I guess that’s true of all families. I haven’t met one that wasn’t messed up in one way or the other. But now, I mean, what the hell, Vicky? Why did we move? I guess Mom would have been ashamed. There’d have been whispers. Our parents were pretty religious.” Silas spread his hands. “So who is going to ask the million-dollar question?”

No one spoke.

“Okay,” Silas said, “I’ll do it: Who was Peter’s mother?”

“She,” Vicky added, turning to Wilde, “has to be the connection to you.”

“Wait,” Silas said. He faced his sister. “Did Peter know that he was adopted?”

“Yes.”

“When he was a kid?”

“No.” Vicky explained how Peter learned the truth via Love Is a Battlefield.

“I don’t get it,” Silas said. “Peter learns he’s adopted. He puts his name in DNA sites. He stays anonymous because, I don’t know, he’s a big fancy star and people are lunatics with big fancy stars. You are a match, Wilde. He reaches out to you. Anonymously. Okay, I get that. But what about me? I matched him as a half brother. I wrote to him. I put my name.”

“So he knew it was you,” Vicky said.

“Right. So why wouldn’t he reach out and tell me? Why would he close down his account and never reply?”

Vicky looked older now, wearied and pained. “I think it was all just too much for him.”

“What do you mean?”

“Everything was taken away from him. His family was a lie. His life with Jenn was a lie. He’d been betrayed by Marnie and the fans he loved. The abuse he took. The betrayals from all sides. They added up. Peter was a gentle soul. You know this. It was all too much for him.”

Silence.

“You think he killed himself,” Silas said.

“Don’t you?”

“Yeah,” Silas said. “I guess I do.”

Vicky turned to Wilde. “You promised to tell us more about what Marnie did to him,” she said, her tone tinged with both sadness and anger. “All we know are the rumors, that Marnie lied about Peter, that he never roofied her or sent her photos. Did she lie, Wilde?”

“Yes.”

“Why? Why on earth would Marnie lie?”

Wilde debated going into the long rationale Marnie had offered up about meeting another woman who claimed it really happened to her, but that didn’t feel right. He simplified it instead: “It was what you told me the first time we met,” Wilde said. “Some people will do anything to be famous.”

“My God,” Vicky said. “What’s wrong with people?”

Silas just stood there. His face reddened.

“So that’s it?” Vicky asked. “Marnie lied about Peter. Jenn believed her. They ruined his life. Then you add on about his being adopted and…”

“There’s another theory out there,” Wilde said.

“Out where?” Silas asked.

“Fan boards, I guess. I should warn you. You won’t like it.”

“We’re listening,” Silas said.

Wilde turned to Vicky. “How much had Peter’s popularity dropped recently? I mean, the last year, say. Before Marnie went on that podcast.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I can see his Instagram posts,” Wilde continued. “The likes in the last year—they were way down, maybe ten or fifteen percent of what they used to be. A friend ran a social media marketing report for me. Anyone can do that. There are free sites, but I paid ten dollars for a more extensive one. On all the major platforms, Peter’s numbers had plummeted.”

“That’s normal,” Vicky said, taking a step back. “I told you that too. I still don’t see what you’re suggesting.”

“I’m not suggesting anything,” Wilde said. “Some of the fans are posting a theory.”

“What theory?”

“That Peter is behind it all.”

Silas’s mouth dropped open. Vicky looked as though Wilde had slapped her across the face. “That’s insane.”

“What,” Silas said, “you mean, like, he told Marnie to lie about him?”

“Something like that.”

“And say he roofied her?” Vicky added. “Are you listening to yourself? Peter is hated now. He’s been completely canceled.”

“Peter may have miscalculated,” Wilde said. “That’s the theory anyway. You know how reality shows operate. Controversy sells. Peter may have been tired of his nice-guy image. It’s almost like when the hero pro wrestler suddenly turns into the villain.”

“This is crazy,” Vicky said, waving her hands in the air. “You didn’t see him. The heartbreak. The depression. He’d never do something like that.”