“You motherfucker! I am not going to let your sorry, pussy-chasing, beady-eyed, lying, Yankee, no-ass-at-all self destroy what I’ve worked my fucking fingers to the bone to get!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. Her breath came in great gulps as the anger flowed out of her, and she stomped her feet, fists bunched up at her sides, blood racing through her veins and settling in her cheeks, chest and neck. “Over my dead fucking body or yours!”
Out of breath and words to scream, Nicole finally stomped one last time and then became silent, afraid her pounding heart was going to burst out of her chest as she looked at herself in the mirror and cringed. God, throwing up and then yelling at the top of her lungs had made her skin look even more haggard than her sixty years, and this latest fiasco was most likely going to send her straight to the doctor for more Botox and Restalyne, or straight to the ER with a heart attack or massive stroke. It was moments like this when she truly realized how old she had become and the blood in her face seemed to showcase every wrinkle, every saggy bit of skin that now resided on what once had been a taut, smooth area. The veins in her neck were protruding as the blood still coursed quickly through them, giving her that old lady blue tinge to her skin like she recalled her grandmother having. “And fuck you too, Olin, for making me this angry,” she said quietly, her voice barely a whisper now. “Fuck you too.”
She closed her eyes for a moment and tried to control her ragged breathing, recalling images of her childhood and the one and only man that had ever truly loved her—her father. The most vivid memory she had of him was sitting on the porch one humid summer night after he had spent all day in the tobacco fields putting out a huge fire that had spread through not only their farm but over into others as well. The entire community, including Nicole and all the other children over the age of ten, had helped and finally contained the flames. At twelve, Nicole had understood enough about finances to grasp the enormity of the loss the fire would bring to not only her family but all other farmers affected by the raging inferno.
Rather than being despondent or overcome with depression at his tremendous loss, Nicole’s dad used the tragedy as a chance to teach her about life as he sat sipping a cold glass of tea in his soot-covered clothes and said, “Nicole, today was just an example of how life really is. Cold-hearted and uncaring, sneaky and spiteful, it will, at times, come up behind you and kick you in the ass, sometimes really hard and for no apparent reason. But you just remember to bounce back up when it knocks you down and never, ever let it win. When life pushes, you push right back, even harder, because even if you end up losing, no one can ever take away the fact that you fought until the bitter end.” Nicole had lived by those words her entire life and never stopped pushing.
Thinking about her father always brought a sense of inner strength and peace to Nicole, and her blood pressure finally returned to normal. She turned away from the mirror and went to fetch her mammoth makeup bag from the bedroom so she could repair the damage that anger and vomiting had done to her face. She didn’t have much time left to get herself ready for what she knew was going to be the partner meeting to end all partner meetings, requiring her to push harder than she ever had.
She laughed out loud as she stood in front of her closet, trying to determine the best outfit to wear; she wished she could just waltz in there dressed in full riot gear toting a large caliber handgun and unloading it into the bastard until the clip was empty. Now that would be pushing back—just not the way her father had probably intended. She would have to settle for her black silk Dior ensemble. A brief smile crossed her lips as she thought, Yep, the devil may wear Prada, but this bitch flaunts Dior, and she was going to work it today, for she knew she had to. God, she was so glad that she and Eric had cast their votes against Olin years ago, and no matter what happened today, at least the two of them would be able to say it wasn’t their fault.
As she slid on her highest pair of Ferragamos to bring her short frame up to five foot five, a thought hit her, and she almost dropped to her knees; what if this caused the company to go bankrupt and she had to retire early and live off the paltry few millions she had saved up? She would be forced to be tethered at home every day without ample access to Eric! The image of becoming an old maid, alone, waiting for a call or visit from her lover made the bile rise back up in her throat again, and her hands trembled.
“Breathe, girl, breathe,” she said to herself, hoping the sound of her own voice in the stillness of the empty apartment would help her to calm down and not retch again. Normally it worked, but this time, her heart was racing so fast that she was on the verge of hyperventilating. She dug around in the depths of her purse and pulled out the hidden stash of God-knows-how-old smokes that she kept for just such emergencies. Sometimes, late at night, when she had been up working for almost twenty-four hours during tax season on a complicated tax return, she would pull one out and hold it between her fingers or rub it gently under her nose, just to inhale the glorious smell. In the last fifteen years since she had quit, she had only smoked a total of maybe two packs when the old urge overtook her, but she knew today she just might double that figure.
Nicole sat down on the edge of the toilet and lit up, inhaling deeply, relishing the familiar burn in her throat and the sudden high the nicotine had jolted into her system. She knew the smell would adhere to the walls in the bathroom and Eric would instantly know what she had been doing, but right now, she didn’t give a shit. After the first few drags, she felt lightheaded and a bit calmer as the nicotine raced through her veins. Silently, she cursed Olin for driving her to this nasty habit again, for she had tried her best to stave off the age lines that came from the poison encased inside the brittle white paper. Letting the dizziness pass, she stood up, gathered her purse and computer, and made her way to her red Lexus, puffing away the entire time. In the ten minutes it took to drive to the office, she hot-boxed two more.
Once upstairs, Nicole stomped out of the elevator and breezed past the staff on her floor without a word to any of them and went straight to her office, slamming the door behind her. Had she not done the very same thing hundreds of times before, she might have worried that her actions would get the gossip train up and running, but she had always been hell on wheels, and when busy season came, she only grew worse, so she knew that none of the employees would bat an eye at seeing her in full ‘Diva’ mode.
Safely behind the locked door, she headed straight to the fire safe in the corner that held all of the important corporate documents of the firm. She smiled wryly as she thought, for the first time ever, that she was actually glad that the small, metal fortress, which she had always found annoying and an ugly eyesore, was housed in her office.
Her bony fingers clawed their way through the piles of documents until she found what she had been searching for—the corporate minutes from the partner meeting five years ago that made Olin managing partner. Attached to the back of it was Olin’s professional services agreement with the firm, along with his partnership agreement. She yanked them out, sat down on her overstuffed couch, and began to read. She hoped to God that there was some type of clause in either one of them that they could use against him and oust him without breaking the bank because if she had to start over again at sixty, she was going to kill someone, and she knew exactly who her target would be.
“YES, WE WILL MEET in my office directly at 11:00. Come up through the stairs though, not the main elevator. I don’t want anyone to see you before the meeting. Don’t forget to bring the surveillance footage because Detective Ronson will need that when he is finished. Oh, and please, call me Audra, not Ms. Tanner! See you in a bit,” Audra said as she flicked her cell phone closed. The room was now silent once again, save for the low hum that emanated from the various monitors and electronic surveillance equipment that crowded every available inch in the small, back bedroom of her house. She had grown so accustomed to the sights and sounds of this room that it held a mild calming effect on her as she anxiously watched the screens in swe
et silence. She was still smiling after listening to the bonus information she had heard off both Kevin and Olin’s live feed earlier. Those two little juicy tidbits had been the “icing on the cake” for today’s menu of just desserts that she planned upon serving up to everyone. She looked over at her personal laptop as the tone for new mail chimed, and she opened the attachment. Ah, the piece de resistance image to add to today’s presentation! With a few clicks of her mouse, she added it in the appropriate spot and then quickly forwarded a copy of it to the courier that had Kevin’s packages.
She was still dressed in her clothes from the day before since she had been up all night making last minute phone calls and tying up the few straggly strings that remained for today. It didn’t matter though; she was on such an adrenaline high that she couldn’t have slept even if she had finished everything and took an entire bottle of Ambien and chased it with Benadryl.
Audra heard a dainty meow at her feet and looked down to see her cat, Purr Baby, staring at her with her best sad eyes, pulling off the “I’m starving; please feed me” look with great success. Audra smiled, reached down and picked her silky frame up, nuzzling her face in Purr Baby’s soft, white fur. She felt a strong bond with Purr since she had been her constant companion now for over seven years, sitting quietly up with her during all those late nights, her gentle presence settling Audra’s frazzled nerves as she fought off sleep in her search for the hidden dagger that would kill the snake. Purr Baby was her link to her past as well, for she had been a birthday present from James.
Audra felt a twinge of guilt as she realized how thin Purr Baby had become. She had been so wrapped up in her own little vengeance-filled world that everything else in her life had taken the back seat, including Purr Baby. Holding her close to her chest, Audra stood up and went to the kitchen to fix a double-sized portion of food for her and sat her down by her bowl. Purr Baby meowed again and dug in, chomping noisily.
Audra went back to the office and sat down in front of the screens once more. She leaned the leather chair slowly back on two legs as she watched Olin pacing in his office, wearing that fucking rug she hated so much down to a mashed pile of cloth, clenching and unclenching his fists as he always did when he was upset. She felt a faint smile tickle the edge of her lips as she savored watching him in a panicked state, for it was a sight that he only showed behind closed doors when he thought no one was looking. She wished that she could smell his fear and anger through the monitor because she knew it must be oozing from his pores. Through the high-resolution video image, she could almost make out the beads of sweat that were on his forehead as he babbled into his cell phone. Watching him squirm was a better high than any drug she had ever tried, and knowing it was her blood, sweat, and tear-stained detective work that caused it just made the high all that much more intoxicating.
She glanced away from Olin’s image for a brief moment and settled her gaze on the wall behind the monitor. A wry smile of regret crossed her perfectly shaped lips as she briefly considered how this was not the original plan for this room six years ago. Although she had completely transformed it into her personal “revenge central,” she couldn’t bring herself to repaint over the baby boy blue that she and James had so lovingly covered the walls with years ago. Momma’s almost finished, baby; then you can have your room back. Maybe Daddy will come home, too, she thought to herself as one, single tear gently made its way down her gaunt, protruding cheekbone. She let it fall on her lap but wouldn’t allow any others to follow it—not today. She was so close to redemption, she couldn’t let visions of what should have been cloud her thoughts now. There would be plenty of time to work on rebuilding her shattered life once this war was over.
Audra closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, thinking about how she had painstakingly waited for this day for over five years now and how the stress had taken its toll on her not only mentally, but physically as well. Her small 5’3” frame had wasted away to a mere eighty-six pounds from countless hours spent researching, reading, and plotting, coupled with very little eating or sleeping. She had always been quite a meticulous person before the rape, but after, as she comforted her broken psyche by immersing herself in her retribution plans, she had become so obsessed with taking the firm and Olin down that everything else in her life, including her own body, suffered.
OVER the years, she had amassed six file cabinets crammed full of every little detail and tidbit on all the partners at the firm. It took her two years of self-education on the Internet to become quite the computer hacker, and another year to become proficient at video and audio surveillance. Once she had mastered both of those skills, her master plan truly began to take shape. All she had to do was find the smoking gun that she knew had to be buried in some obscure email or phone conversation.
Three years ago, she took the plunge and hacked into the firm’s server, and tested her stealth abilities out on her own office computer first; she passed with flying colors. How ironic that no one at the firm really gave a thought to security; they all seemed to care more about speed rather than safety. No one wanted the job of being in charge of the IT Committee, and when Nicole asked that someone else handle the “computer thing” since she was too busy, Audra jumped at the chance.
The IT dolts that she had hired since becoming head of the IT Committee were smart enough to run their network and keep the employees up and running, yet dim enough not to detect when the system had been compromised—which, of course, had been exactly the type of employees she had sought out and hired. Once she had realized that she could sneak in and out anytime, completely undetected, she used her savings to purchase enough computer equipment to hijack each partner’s computer and set up automatic, daily backups of everything off of their hard drives, including all their incoming and outgoing emails. She saved them to discs that were categorized by partner and date, then spent countless hours at night and on the weekends pouring over all of them, making sure she read every line, compiling detailed notes on everything of importance. She knew what every single one of them did, including who visited porn sites, who was cheating on his spouse, who had fake bank accounts or sham companies, whose kids were on drugs, who had cosmetic surgery, and what employee was next on the sexual agenda or the chopping block.
Then last year, she’d begun the process of installing minute, high resolution cameras and microphones in all of the partners’ offices that fed to a live remote feed at her house. She had been more nervous about that particular endeavor than she had been about her cyber-hacking, and was quite pleasantly surprised at how easy it actually had been to accomplish. The security grunts downstairs in her building thought nothing of her working late since she had done so for years, nor did any of the employees, and once she was alone, she was free to slip into each partner’s office and hide her electronic prying eyes and ears, completely undetected.
It was the combination of the hacked emails and video feeds that finally gave her the ammunition to complete her plan. Three weeks ago, she had been up late, as usual, reading emails, and noticed ones between Olin and Reed from earlier in the day that made her heart race with excitement:
Reed: 4 SEC agents just paid us a visit on the Sprigg audit. Took all the paper copies and 7 computers. Shia’s license is temp. susp. & we are temp. barred from practice until investigation is complete.
Olin: FUCK! You said you had that handled!?!?!
Reed: I thought it was. Out of my hands now. You will back us like you said, right?
Seconds after receiving the last email from Reed, Olin forwarded it on to Robert, marked urgent.
Olin: See below. Buckle up, going to get rough.
Robert: At a loss here – what do we do?
Olin: Working on that…whatever it is, I expect your 100% support.
Robert: Olin, I don’t know…
Olin: I have just one word for you Robert: Gina.
Robert: Fuck you Olin. This is the final time.
Olin: Of course my friend, of course.
&nbs
p; She had stayed up the next two days, thankful that it was the weekend, and worked nonstop, delving deep to uncover Olin’s secrets behind those cryptic emails with Reed and Robert. After some intense digging through Reed’s emails, she finally uncovered the smoking gun—email exchanges between Olin, Reed, and Robert about the best way to hide the true net worth of Sprigg Oil & Gas from the due diligence searches as they worked on finagling their merger with KRM Oil Conglomerate. Bottom line: They needed to “cook the books” so the merger would go through, and in exchange for doing so, the current CEO of Sprigg had promised that once the merger was completed, KRM would move their business to Winscott. She couldn’t believe she finally held the long awaited key to her redemption—and Olin’s destruction—in her hands. Olin had put the entire company at risk, as well as all of the partners personally and financially, and when they found out, he would be lucky if he walked away alive. All over falsifying reports of a sham of a business just so they could get their foot in the door of Sprigg’s parent company in England.
She had been so excited after discovering this treasure trove that she almost forgot to investigate the vague Gina reference, but a small nudge in the back of her mind kept reminding her to. It took a few more days of searching, phone calls, and one visit upstate to finally understand the references to Gina, but once she did, her revenge had taken on another party, for now she was going to speak for the dead as well.
Audra stared harder at the image of Olin on the screen and then clicked on the “pause” button when his face was turned directly toward the hidden camera, freezing the image of the human mask he wore over his true monstrous face, and he looked absolutely terrified. His face started to cloud over as his image in her mind shifted to the memory of the day she discovered his deepest, darkest secret.
The morning after she unearthed the email that set everything in motion, she had been jolted out of her recurring nightmare of that fateful evening yet again, sweat covering every inch of her frame, her screams piercing through the still air in her bedroom for help that had never come. It had taken a full minute to control her breathing and steady her shaking muscles when the thought hit her about Gina—exactly what was it that Olin was holding over Robert’s head? Obviously, it was something that was bad enough that it caused Robert to be Olin’s puppet on a string, forcing him to make choices that he didn’t want to make. She had to dig and find out just what that was.
Eviscerating the Snake - The Complete Trilogy Page 7
