a sound she hadn't heard before

twenty-six.

"Oh my god," Joe breathes when Taylor is done with the story. "Wow. Okay... so this is all a big deal."

"Yeah..." Taylor admits. She looks over to the couch, happy to see that Ayla still has her headphones on, blissfully unaware as she plays her games. "Ayla doesn't know any of it, and it needs to stay that way. She didn't even know who the guy was that showed up today."

"Alright..." Joe says. "So, what do we need to do now?"

"I'm going to speak with my publicist tonight, but right now, it's looking like the only way I can really get him out of my life completely would be to tell that story and ensure that he's in jail for the rest of his life. I can't risk anything else. If I tell that story, I have no doubts that he'll hold up on his threat."

"It's a far-fetched story, T. I know you wouldn't lie to me, but what if the court doesn't believe you?"

Taylor bites her lip. "I'm not sure."

"T," Blake says, "did he ever do anything else to you that could be shared? I know you don't like talking about that relationship. I know you had happy moments, but I know you had some that weren't as happy, too."

Taylor sighs. "He was drunk a lot. He's scary when he's drunk. We would go out to parties and then he would tell me I had to go home before I wanted to because he wanted to leave. We'd get home and he'd be upset with me, but I never knew why. He wasn't an alcoholic, but he probably has a binge-drinking problem. But he never really hit me or anything."

"What about verbally?"

"Oh my god," Taylor whispers under her breath.

"What?"

"I don't know if this would help or hurt my case... but one time, he scheduled me a doctor's appointment... a consultation on getting my tubes tied... without asking."

Blake gasps. "What?"

"He made me go. I tried to tell him, repeatedly, that I didn't want to, but he didn't listen. I had to tell the doctor in private that I didn't want it even a little bit... I got pregnant with Ayla only a few months later."

"Oh my god," Blake says. "T, I'm so sorry. That's emotionally traumatizing."

"It was really scary."

Joe bites his lip. "It might help us now, though. Don't you think the doctor still has that record?"

"What do you mean?"

"The common thread of all of these actions was that he didn't want kids. He tried to force an irreversible procedure on you, he kicked you out, and ultimately, he went far enough to try to destroy the child that was created. The other two things are just 'your word against his' situations, but with a doctor's appointment that's on record, where he tried to force that procedure on you..."

"Oh my god," Taylor says. "You might be onto something."

Blake nods. "And I was there at the party."

"You don't, by any chance, have security cameras in your backyard, do you?" Joe asks. "Like, from the day of the party?"

"Only by the pool. And I doubt the footage goes back that far anyway."

"Can you check with the company, T? A security camera could be really helpful. If I remember correctly, we weren't that far from the pool."

"I'll look into it," Taylor nods.

"Taylor, I think that, if we can piece enough things together, we can get rid of him for good," Joe says. "It's going to take time, and work. You'll have to be willing to talk about it. But if we can do this, then you and Ayla can live a life without ever worrying about him again."