by C. C. Snow
“Did I ever tell you about Tom Wexler, Elle?”
Bewildered by his conversational tone and the tangential topic, I shook my head and rubbed my damp hands on my pants. I winced as the paper cut on my pinky throbbed at the rough texture of my denim.
“He started at the company when my father was CEO. He was a loyal employee for many years and then when my brother took over, Jake promoted him to head our international division.” He paused. “Do you know where he is right now, Elle?” His eyes drilled into me, iridescent with suppressed emotion.
I shook my head, my mouth bone dry. My stomach dipped with dread.
“He’s sitting in jail for selling company secrets to a competitor,” he said softly.
My face paled and I made a distressed sound at the back of my throat.
He continued in the same soft, almost indifferent, tone. “And ever since that incident, our head of cyber security has put in some safeguards to protect the company.” He paused, his fingers furling into fists. “Such as alerting the CEO should someone try to download any confidential files onto unauthorized devices from any executive’s computer.”
Every muscle frozen with horror and dread, I could only gaze at him helplessly.
My house of cards had collapsed. That wasn’t quite true. The first card fell the moment I bought the flash drive. It had toppled completely when I sent the email last night.
At my silence, fury slowly suffused his face, turning his eyes into blue torches. I had seen Troy angry before, but this was something else altogether. This was rage that incinerated.
His voice became as cutting as a carbon steel blade. “Imagine my shock when I figured out it was my so-called girlfriend who decided to take files off my computer.” He made a small sound of derision and shook his head. “Take makes it sound so innocuous. Steal. I meant she stole information off my computer. Information that would benefit her ex.”
Each word sliced to the bone and I could feel the phantom wounds gushing blood.
“Would you care to explain yourself, baby?” He sneered the last word and I knew I had been tried, judged and sentenced.
The need to preserve my pride battled with my instinct to fight for him.
“Troy, it isn’t what you think—” I said with a desperate edge in my voice, reaching to touch his hand. I sucked in a harsh breath when he pulled away as if I would contaminate him. I withdrew my hand and let it fall into my lap.
“Did you lie to me and take those files off my computer?” he asked between gritted teeth, his jaw working.
My eyes pleaded with him. “Yes, but I had no—”
He ruthlessly cut me off, “Did Carter ask you to get them for him?”
“You don’t understand—”
I cringed when he laughed. I had never heard such a bitter sound emerge from his lips.
“Are you fucking him on the side, Elle? Like you fucked all those other men?”
If I had been standing, my legs would have folded under me as if I were boneless. “What did you say?” I gasped, feeling the oxygen wrench out of my lungs.
His upper lip curled in distaste. “Your boyfriend has been sending me some interesting files since early this morning. At first I disregarded it as garbage, but now I think I’m finally seeing you clearly.”
Contempt. All I saw in his eyes was disgust and contempt. In the distant part of my mind, I finally understood the look he had shot me when I walked into the kitchen this morning. So he had known this whole time.
“I guess I shouldn’t expect anything different from a woman who would be willing to sleep with an engaged man.”
It was a perfect hit. A kill shot.
Pain spearing through my heart, I braced my hands on the table and forced my shaky legs to move. Leaning toward him, I called forth my inner bitch. She was always there for me.
Strong. Defiant.
She was the one to keep the tears at bay so that I could walk out of here with my head held high. “You’re right, Troy. You shouldn’t expect anything from trash like me.”
His eyes darkened at my self-disparaging remark.
“Did he tell you he was engaged to my half-sister?”
I laughed humorlessly as his eyes widened with shock. “That’s right. I’m such a slut I seduced her fiancé. I snuck around behind her back for a year.” I pretended to shiver with delight. “It was deliciously illicit and the poor bitch didn’t have a clue.”
I relished his look of repugnance. When I left the diner, I wanted him to despise me as much as I hated him in this moment. There was nothing left to save between us and I wanted to leave scorched earth behind me.
“As for fucking Carter, even I wouldn’t stoop that low, but I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of other evidence that I’m willing to spread my legs for anyone with a dick. Did he give you those pictures of me visiting my lover on the weekend?” I taunted, picking up my coat, my soles already itching. I leaned over the table and smirked maliciously when he reared back. “I have to say I thought you would be a bigger challenge to dupe, given your history with Veronika, but I guess all men do think with their little heads.”
“Get the fuck away from me. You make me sick.” The words shot out like bullets from his tight lips, each one lodging into the ravaged organ in my chest.
I straightened and rolled back my shoulders. “Oh don’t worry, baby. I wouldn’t come near you even if you signed your billions over to me.” Swinging on my heel, I started to walk away.
“You’ll be hearing from my lawyer.”
“I look forward to it,” I said without turning around and lengthened my strides.
As soon as my foot hit the street, I started to run. I touched my shoulder, missing the comforting weight of my backpack.
Chapter 23
Troy
I slogged through each day, channeling all of my energy into the company. I embraced Jake’s duties, piling his work on top of mine. The more I had to do, the less time I had to think.
To brood.
To regret.
To hurt.
The unguarded moments when I forgot what she did to me were the worst because the absence of her was a physical ache. I fucking missed her and I was enraged that I would miss her.
When I returned to the penthouse late at night, I turned off the lights and sat in front of the window, staring into the night, trying to blank my mind. I couldn’t even find solace in my scotch.
She had ruined even that simple pleasure for me.
I switched my poison to brandy.
I wanted to drink myself into oblivion, but I had a responsibility to my family business. By trusting Elle, I had already lost hundreds of millions of dollars. Without enough shares of SC, I couldn’t take over the company and Weston Enterprises was saddled with the worthless stocks of a fast-sinking ship.
The first week, all I could feel was loathing and disgust for her. And for me for believing her lies.
I far preferred it to what I was starting to feel—confusion and doubt. Without the hot rush of betrayal and anger clouding my senses, cold logic had returned and one question kept nagging at me.
What was her motivation for helping Nichols?
Love?
I had accused her of sleeping with him, but an affair between them didn’t make sense. The revulsion on her face had been genuine when she saw him in my office. She despised the guy. Besides, there would have been very little opportunity considering she spent every weekend and most weeknights with me and he lived in New York.
Money?
This was a far likelier motivation, but it didn’t add up either. She had never exhibited any interest in my wealth. She preferred eating at a food truck to the most expensive restaurant in the city. Other than the smallest trinkets, she refused to accept any gifts from me. It could have been an act, but if that was the case, what was her long game?
And why the hell would Nichols send me all this dirt on her?
I raked my fingers through my hair, feeling like I was missing s
omething vital.
“But it doesn’t change the fact that she stole from you,” I said, swallowing the last of my brandy.
I got up to pour another glass when my phone rang. I sighed at seeing Cora’s picture flashing on my screen. I had been avoiding calls from my family for weeks, especially after I skipped celebrating Christmas with them. I assumed Jake told them about Elle, but I was not ready to talk to anyone. After multiple unanswered calls, my mom and dad had eased off. My brother knew me well enough to let me stew on my own.
Cora was the only one who was relentlessly tenacious. She had been hounding me with questions even before she left the hospital. I contemplated not taking the call but grimaced in resignation. I couldn’t ignore the woman who gave birth to my beautiful niece.
“Hi, Cora.”
“You jackass. You and Jake are both jackasses.”
“Huh?” I said, taken aback at her angry words.
“I don’t care what evidence you find. I know Elle would never betray any of us.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, feeling the beginnings of a headache. “I had Kayla call the SC stockholders. All of them said they had sold their shares to the Lawrence family.”
There was a slight pause. “Okay…but she must have had a good reason. Did you ask her why?”
“What possible reason could she give that would make it okay?”
Cora’s voice softened. “I don’t know. Maybe she needed money for something.”
“She could have asked me for money.” I would have gladly given her anything she wanted. I braced a hand on the windowsill, feeling my heart constrict painfully.
“Then something else forced her to do it.”
“I don’t give a damn. What she did was unforgiveable,” I countered.
Cora made an impatient sound. “I just want to point out that if Jake had believed the evidence against me, we wouldn’t be married today.”
“Your situation was different. You were framed for a crime you didn’t commit. She is guilty. Cora, she admitted to stealing the information.”
“But you don’t know why she did it. What if she had a compelling reason to do what she did?”
Her words echoed my earlier thoughts, but I stubbornly staked out my position. “I don’t care what her reason is. She’s lucky I didn’t sic the lawyers on her.” In the end, I couldn’t bring myself to start legal proceedings against her.
“You jackass,” she yelled and then hung up.
Snarling in frustration, I slapped my phone on the granite counter. I splashed two fingers of brandy into my glass and guzzled it.
I prowled around my apartment, Cora’s questions firing up my doubts. What did I miss? Would a woman who created a starry night for a scared child be capable of selling out his family? Yet the evidence was unmistakable. Our head of cyber security had pinpointed the time of the theft to Elle’s surprise visit to my office.
Deciding I needed a reminder of what a fool I was, I picked up my tablet and pulled up the damning email. When the message with the large attachments came through, I thought it was a sick joke, especially when I saw the source. I thought Carter had been spouting vitriol because he had finally found out about the takeover. I didn’t given it any credence until Jake told me about the theft. And then at the diner, her face had confirmed her guilt.
The sound files taunted me and before I could change my mind, I clicked to open one. As the recording started playing, my brow lowered. The rush of rage and disgust did not come. The male on the file sounded like an actor reading a script. I opened the next file, listening carefully to the tone, the choice of words, and unease filled my chest, thickened my throat. The narration was too smooth; there were none of the usual stutters and pauses associated with normal speech.
Closing out the file, I started to flip through the incriminating pictures.
I forced myself to review each image, imprinting her perfidy into my brain.
Elle and Nichols holding hands in Times Square.
Elle staring into the camera as Nichols kissed her head.
Elle and Nichols cuddling on a lawn for some outdoor event.
Every picture of her cozying up to Nichols was like a whiplash flaying my insides.
But the sense of unease ballooned as I started to see the little inconsistencies.
Like how her brown eyes looked flat and sad in all of them. No golden glints.
Like how her smile looked too stiff, like it was forced.
Like how there were no photos of her with Nichols after he got married. If she were such an amoral bitch, wouldn’t she have stayed with him?
Then I flipped through the images of her arriving at a warehouse in West Town. The most nauseating photo was of her embracing a slim man. He had his back to photographer, but Elle’s face, filled with happiness, was framed perfectly in the shot.
Anger flaring, I started to toss the tablet onto the table when something caught my eye. I frowned and blew up the image.
“Fuck me,” I said, dread collecting in my stomach as I stared at Ethan’s paisley sleeve. It was barely visible on the lower corner of the photo, but it was unmistakably Elle’s roommate because he had worn this same shirt to dinner last month.
Elle would not bring her best friend to a lover’s tryst.
Before I was aware of what I was doing, I was already in my car. It was almost one in the morning by the time I pulled up to their apartment, but I didn’t give a damn. I needed answers and I needed them now.
I leaned on the buzzer until a testy male voice answered, “Who the fuck is this? Someone better be dead.”
“Ethan, I need to talk to Elle,” I said softly, watching white puffs of air leave my mouth. It was negative five and I flipped the collar of my coat up to block the arctic wind.
“She’s not here,” he said, his tone belligerent.
“I don’t believe you. I won’t leave until I see her.”
“Then you can stand outside all night and freeze your spoiled, douchey ass,” he said and cut off the speaker.
I pushed the buzzer again with grim relish.
“Fuck off!
“I’m going to keep pushing this button until Elle speaks to me.”
There was a long pause and a string of curses before I heard the dull hum of the front door unlocking.
I walked through the open apartment door to see Ethan standing with his arms folded over his chest, his legs braced apart. Dressed in striped pajama bottoms and an old sweatshirt, he radiated aggression and dislike—rare emotions from him.
Ignoring him, I strode to Elle’s door and knocked. When there was no answer, I thumped with my fist. “Elle, we need to talk.”
Still no answer. Jettisoning a lifetime of ingrained manners, I decided to force my way in. I did not expect the doorknob to turn easily in my hand.
I swung the door open and my stomach dropped when I saw her stripped-down bed. No sheets. No comforter.
I swiveled my head, noting the closet with empty hangers. Walking over to her dresser, I pulled open the drawers. Empty.
“I told you she isn’t here,” Ethan said, leaning his shoulder against the jamb.
Spinning around to face him, I barked, “Where the fuck is she?”
He shrugged one shoulder and said nonchalantly, “With one of her many, many lovers.”
Pain and jealousy pumped through me, but the sneer on his face kicked my brain into gear. Rolling back on the balls of me feet, I shoved aside my dark emotions. “Where is she, Ethan?”
“What does it matter to you, asshole?”
I took two menacing steps toward him, my muscles tensed for battle. “Tell me where she is.” I had five inches on him, but he did not back down.
“You gave up the right to know anything about her.” He jerked his head toward the door. “Now if you’re done, I’d like to get some sleep. Us poor stiffs have to work for our money instead of relying on Daddy’s fortune.”
Letting the jab glance off me, I pushed my face into his. �
�I need to talk to her.”
His face twisted grotesquely and he pushed against my shoulders, shoving me away from him. “It’s always about what you want and need, isn’t it? Well, news flash, asshole. She doesn’t want to talk to you. So you can fuck off!”
Violence had never been my MO, but I had slammed Ethan into the wall before I could process my actions. A part of me stood apart, appalled I would treat someone I considered a friend mere weeks ago like this, but my need for answers overrode everything else. “Tell me where she is or I swear I will ruin you.”
Ethan smirked, unimpressed with my threat. “What are you going to do? Get me fired? Go ahead.” His eyes darkened with pain. “You already took away the only person who cared about me.”
“Where. Is. She?”
He lifted his chin defiantly. “I don’t know.”
“You’re lying,” I growled.
He rolled his upper lip in disdain. “Believe what you will. Now if you don’t get out of my apartment in the next thirty seconds, I’m going to call the cops.”
I scrutinized his pugnacious expression and knew I wasn’t going to get anywhere with him. “I’m going to find her. She can’t hide from me forever.”
There was no trace of amusement in his laugh. “You can try.”
Loosening my grip on his shirt, I stepped back and moved toward the exit.
“You know my biggest regret?” he called out to my back. “It was to encourage her to take a chance on dating you.” His voice cracked, making my gut clench. “I should have told her to run away as fast as possible.”
I walked out of his apartment, that sense of wrongness that had dogged me for the last week growing like a cancer.
Pulling out my phone, I called her number.
“We're sorry; you have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service. If you feel you have reached this recording—”
I ended the call, stalking toward my car. Where the hell was she?
***
“Come in,” I said without looking up from the financial report. I hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep for weeks and the numbers swam in front of me.
I heard the familiar cadence of Kayla’s footsteps moving toward me. A thick, white envelope blocked my view. Raising my head, I asked, “What’s this?”
