Mirage

by Alice Tribue

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  “I cannot believe you actually left with that man,” I hear my father say before I see him as I walk back into my apartment, or what’s left of it. Destroyed comes to mind. Now I understand why everyone who works down in the lobby just looked at me as if I were a serial killer.

  “That man just kept your daughter from doing the next ten to fifteen behind bars.”

  “What the fuck does that mean?” he yells, actually yells at me. I don’t think I’ve really heard him yell in years.

  “Can you calm down, please? You’re going to have a heart attack.”

  “No. I will not calm the fuck down.”

  I raise my hands up in surrender.

  “It means he just handed me the evidence that could have put me away, Dad,” I tell him with a sigh, feeling even more exhausted now. I pull the flash drive out of my purse, walk it over to the fireplace, and throw it in, taking one last look at it before lighting it on fire. It’s over, I think to myself before turning around to talk to my father.

  “What did you do? You need to make me understand because I’m going crazy here thinking about what you’ve been accused of. There has to be some kind of mistake here, right?”

  He looks at me with his parental gaze, and all of a sudden, I’m reverted back to a little girl, desperate for her father to love her, to give her all the things that her mother didn’t. He never failed me, not even once, but I’ve failed him, and it kills me.

  There's banging on the door and I scream. I haven’t seen Mommy in so long; I haven’t seen anybody. All I’ve heard is the telephone ringing and ringing, but I’m not allowed to pick it up. There’s a loud crash, and I jump down from the bed and hide underneath. I’m trembling.

  “Victoria,” I hear and start to cry.

  “Daddy?”

  “Victoria, where are you?”

  “Daddy,” I call out so happy that he’s here, that he’s finally here for me. The bedroom door opens, and I crawl our from under the bed. Daddy grabs me and hugs me tight.

  “Oh, baby, my baby, I was so scared.”

  I hadn’t thought about that day in a long time. The day he found me and took me out of that fucking mess I was living in. I don’t remember much else, just him picking me up and carrying me out of there. I don’t even think he packed a bag for me; there was nothing worth taking anyway.

  “I’m so sorry, Dad. I never wanted to hurt you. I never meant to hurt you.”

  “Are you telling me that what they’re saying is true?”

  “It’s true. It’s all true.”

  “How could you do that? Oh God, how could you actually do it?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know? Well, that’s just great. My daughter is a fucking pimp, and she doesn’t know why.”

  “I’m not a pimp, I’m a Madam.”

  “Oh, well, then, I’m so relieved because being a Madam is so much classier.”

  I walk away, needing the distance. I’m hurt that he’s so mad at me, but I get it. I know that I let him down. I always knew that if he found out, it would kill him. It didn’t stop me from doing it, though.

  “I remember when you came for me. I was so scared, and I kept wishing for you. I kept hoping you’d come take me away.”

  “I did come for you. I never would have left you there.”

  “But it doesn’t change the fact that the damage was done. It doesn’t change what I’d already seen and what I’d already been through. She was so fucked-up, Dad, and the drugs and alcohol… then she was murdered and I didn’t understand what that all meant back then but as I got older, it became clear.”

  “I never wanted you to feel any of that, but I knew you would. I knew there would be issues that you had to deal with, which is why I put you in therapy.”

  “I know; you were great. You’ve been great, the one person I could always depend on. I don’t even know how this happened; I couldn’t tell you the moment I thought to myself, I’m going to do this, I’m going to set up shop, find rich clients, and do this in a whole new way, and it happened so fast, you know? It was fast; one minute I was trying to find a job and the next, I was doing this,” I tell him, as I watch the full range of emotions playing out over his handsome features.

  “It started out with one girl. One girl who I knew was sleeping her way through every guy she could find, and I said, ‘Hey, what if you could get paid for doing this, you could make a lot of money.’ That’s how it started, and before long, I had two then three girls and they kept coming. Once I had a stable business, I decided I needed to change things up because it still felt too much like prostitution, you know? It still felt dirty. So I said, one man and that’s it. Every girl will have one client, and they’ll service that client until he decides that he doesn’t need her services anymore, and then it won’t feel like it’s so wrong. It was more like they were dating a man and that man was giving her money, giving me money. It made it easier to swallow; it made it cleaner for the girls. It made it safer, and I needed it to be safer. I needed to give these girls that much because they were going to do it anyway, Dad, and I’d rather have them employed by me than abused by some pimp somewhere or getting addicted to drugs like Mom.”

  I get up and walk to the windows looking over the city, thinking about all the things I’ve done, the life it afforded me.

  “After a while, I knew I needed to have a legitimate business before you or anyone really started to ask questions, so I took some of the money I was making and I opened up the spa. I hired someone to run it and it became a front for the escort service… A lucrative front, and then after some time, I got more and more involved in it and I actually found that I liked running the spa. There were so many times that I thought I would stop what I was doing and focus on the spa full time but it wasn’t until I met Nathan that I made the decision.”

  “Because you fell in love with him.”

  “Yes, because I fell in love with him. I wanted a future with him, and I knew I couldn’t do that if I was still running the service.”

  “But he wasn’t who you thought he was.”

  “No one ever is. I’m proof of that.”

  “I don’t even know what to say about all of this. I can’t believe what I’m hearing right now.”

  “I know you’re mad, and I know I’ve disappointed you.” I choke back tears. “But I’m still your daughter, and I love you, so much. I only hope that you’ll still be able to love me even though I let you down.”

  In a flash, I’m in his arms, and he’s holding onto me, hugging me tightly.

  “I’ll always love you; you’re my baby.” I let the tears that I’ve been holding onto go. I let them wash away all of the fear and remorse. “You’re going to be fine. You’re going to start over. As soon as you’re cleared from all this business, you can start again.”

  He puts an arm around my shoulder and leads me over to the couch as I continue to cry. He holds me in his arms for a while.

  “What about the young man, Vic?”

  “He says that he loves me.”

  “Well, he’s risking a lot to protect you. I wouldn’t think it’s so far-fetched that he might actually love you.”

  “It doesn’t change the fact that he lied, and even if I could get past that, he’s a police detective. It would be severely frowned upon for him to get involved with the woman he spent the last few months investigating.”

  “He protected you, so now it’s your turn to protect him?”

  “I’m going to call and have a cleaning service come and clean this mess up then I’m going to take a nap.”

  “Avoiding the subject isn’t going to change it or make it better.”

  “I’m going to make a cup of coffee first,” I say rising to my feet.

  “Victoria.”

  “I can’t, Dad, okay? I can’t think, so I can’t make any decisions today; I need some time to process it all. Is it all right if we finish this conversation later?”

 
“Yeah, all right, I think I’ll take a walk.”

  “Okay,” I say watching him walk to the front door, feeling his mixed emotions cover him like a blanket. “I love you, Dad,” I tell him, hoping it will make even the smallest bit of difference.

  “I love you too, baby,” he replies with no hesitation as he walks out the door, and I wonder if my love for Nathan could be that unconditional.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  ~NATHAN~

  I knock on the door and hope this doesn’t go south. “Come in,” Captain Burke calls out. I open the door, looking around the office to see if it’s just him in there. That’s a good sign.

  “You wanted to see me.”

  “Take a seat,” he says, looking up from whatever file he’s currently studying. I jut my chin and walk into the office, taking the chair directly across from him. I lean back in the chair, giving the appearance of relaxation when really I’m wound as tight as a knot.

  “We got nothing. Everything turned up clear on her.”

  “The safe?” I question, maintaining that the safe held the evidence needed to convict her. It’s the truth.

  “Clean.”

  “What now?” I question, shaking my head.

  He closes the file on his desk and leans back in his chair, his posture mimicking mine. False sense of security. “She’s free and clear. Nothing we can charge her with and now that she knows she’s been investigated, I suspect there’ll never be anything again.”

  He watches me closely for a moment, gauging my reaction to the news. I don’t give him one. “You know if you’re protecting her...”

  I cut him off, not allowing him to finish the thought. “I’m not protecting her,” I tell him matter-of-factly, trying to keep the defensive tone away from this conversation.

  He leans forward, resting his arms on the desk. “I can understand how the lines might get blurred, how you might start to care for someone.”

  I give a slow understanding nod. “Even if I did care about her, it wouldn’t change the fact that I was there to do a job. And I did that; to the best of my ability, I did that,” I tell him, neither confirming nor denying my relationship with Victoria.

  “You know if we find out you withheld evidence…”

  “Search me, please. I’ll give you the keys to my place right now. I have nothing to hide. If I’d have been able to grab the drive myself, I’d have done it, and I’d have turned it over.”

  He mulls over my words, trying to decide whether he believes me or not. I’d rather have him believe me than not, but at this point, it doesn’t matter because he really can’t prove shit. But he still has the power to make my life a living hell here, and he still has the power to reassign me if he chooses not to work with me again.

  “And the girl?”

  “What about her?” I ask with a shrug of my shoulders

  “Is there something going on between the two of you?”

  I answer the only way that I can; I can’t flat out say yes or no because, as far as I’m concerned, this shit between me and her is far from over.

  “Not at the moment.”

  “Not at the moment?” It’s both a question and a statement, and I can see that look of annoyance on his face as he cocks his head and furrows his brows. “That’s pretty vague, Locke. Are you thinking there might be something going on at some point?”

  “Would that be a problem?”

  “It certainly wouldn’t look good,” he replies curtly.

  “For who? Me or you? The investigation produced no results. According to you, no crime has been committed.”

  “I never said a crime wasn’t committed. I just said we couldn’t prove it. You’re operating in a real gray area here, son. Can you technically get involved with this woman? Yes, you can. Would it be the best idea? No, it would not. You do what you have to do, and we’ll see how it plays out from there.”

  “Yes, sir,” I say through gritted teeth, pushing off to my feet. “Was that all?”

  “For now.”

  I leave his office with the overwhelming urge to smash something, but unfortunately, I’m shit out of luck since I already destroyed the majority of the contents of my apartment. Everything in me wanted to turn in my gun and badge right then and there, but I don’t want to raise any more red flags. I need to have my shit sorted before I come to any conclusions. If it comes down to a decision, I will choose her, I’d fucking choose her in a second, but would she do the same?

  Exiting the precinct, I walk in the direction of my bike. I pull my cell out of my back pocket and dial Victoria, hoping she’ll pick up since she doesn’t know this number. She’s used to me calling her from the burner phone the precinct issued me.

  “Hello.” She answers on the second ring.

  “It’s me.”

  She releases a sigh of frustration.

  “Do not hang up on me, Tori.”

  “What do you want, Eric?” I’m tempted to tell her to call me Nathan, but this isn’t the time or place for that fight. I have no doubt that she’ll hang up on me in a second.

  “I called to unofficially tell you that it’s all good and you’re not being charged.”

  “Are you sure?” she asks, probably unsure of whether she should trust me or not. I guess I can’t blame her; neither one of us has been forthcoming.

  “Yeah, babe, I’m sure,” I tell her as I take a seat on my bike. She’s quiet for a moment; the awkwardness of the situation is not lost on either one of us.

  “Thank you for telling me. I have to go,” she finally declares. Not exactly what I wanted to hear.

  “I want to see you.”

  “No.” She shuts me down instantly, and I bite back a smile. She really is a piece of work.

  “Tori. Don’t do this; it doesn’t have to be like this.”

  “I’m kind of shocked that you don’t understand exactly why it has to be like this.”

  “You love me?” I ask. I already know the answer; I just need her to remember what it’s like when we’re together. All bullshit aside, when we connect, it’s electric.

  “Good-bye.”

  “Because if you love me,” I cut her off, hoping she hears what I’m saying, “I’m telling you that it doesn’t have to be like this. Meet me tonight, anywhere you want.”

  “It’s not a good idea. I don’t want to see you.” This time I smile because she does hesitate. She considered it, even if only for a minute.

  “Fine, I’ll let you play this your way for now, but I’m telling you that this isn’t over.”

  “You’re wrong.” The defiance in her voice is admirable, but I know better. Regardless of the amount of lies we told and the secrets we kept, I know that deep down she wants me as much as I want her.

  “When it comes to you, I could never be wrong.” The phone clicks letting me know that I have, in fact, been hung up on, but I know I’ve gotten to her. Her walls are up again, and it’ll take time to break through, but I’ll keep trying until I do it.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  ~VICTORIA~

  Ivy bends down, picking up some of the files that have been thrown all over the floor. After spending last night at home, supervising a cleanup crew, avoiding more conversations with my dad, and crying myself to sleep, I woke up this morning and needed to get the hell out of my house. I called Ivy and asked her to meet me at the office where we began cleanup here.

  “I don’t get it; why were you the only one brought in for questioning? Why not me or Parker, even?”

  “I honestly don’t know, Ivy, but I heard from both Nathan and my lawyer and no charges are being filed.”

  “So, he was telling the truth; he took the evidence and kept it to save you.” The look of awe on her face is almost humorous; if it hadn’t happened only a little over twenty-four hours ago, I might be able to find the humor in the situation, too… No. I don’t think I’ll ever find the humor in any of this.

  “You don’t know that, he could have made a copy and kept it so that he could u
se it to blackmail me one day. He’s a cop, for fuck’s sake. We can’t trust shit he says.”

  “Or he really does love you,” she suggests with a gleam in her eyes.

  “Keep telling yourself that,” I tell her. Little does she know that I’ve been debating the same thing since yesterday. I just haven’t decided what I believe yet. “Have all the girls been contacted?”

  “Every last one.”

  “Clients?”

  “They’ve received the word.”

  I sit back in my expensive office chair. “So, that’s it.”

  “That’s it,” she agrees. “You’re officially out of the business.”

  “It’s a good thing; it’s time to move on anyway.”

  Ivy picks a few more files up off the floor, places them on my desk, and takes the seat across from mine.

  “What was it like being interrogated?”

  “Exactly how you might imagine It was scary as hell.” It’s the truth. I may have appeared cool, calm, and collected when Detective Burke interviewed me, but I’ve never been so scared in my life.

  “I can’t believe someone actually got that close to sending us all to prison.”

  “It’s over now. Now, we focus on the spa, we get to work on the second location, and we never look back. This chapter of our lives is closed, Ivy. Let’s just be grateful it turned out the way it did.”

  “Have you seen Nathan again?”

  “Not since yesterday. He wants to see me tonight, but I told him no. He’s crazy if he thinks I’ll ever give him another chance after all that’s happened.”