Rumor Mill, page 13
“There’s no way you have the details,” Nick replied. “Private bank records are just that. Private.”
He had me there, but I didn’t stop. “I’m coming for you,” I said. “This whole thing has been a nightmare, and it’s all your fault.”
Pierce laughed. “You sound like a girl.”
I fumed. How dare he sink so low as to use the most common playground insult? I didn’t need him to tell me that I had been cut off at the balls. If he thought he was going to get away with it, he was sorely mistaken.
“Is that the best you’ve got?” I demanded. “If I can’t prove that you stole the money, I’ll look at your daughter.”
“If I recall, that’s all you did during the sale. Look at my daughter.”
Of all the low-down, hateful things the man could have said, that was one of the worst. It was as if he knew how enticing his own child was and didn’t care. An honest man would have been furious at the thought of someone taking advantage of his flesh and blood. But Nick was throwing it back in my face, claiming that I was the sucker. If he knew so much about Alyssa’s sexual proclivity and did nothing to prevent it, that made him the worst father in all of human history.
“I know she used part of the money to fund her trips,” I continued, ignoring his lewd comment.
“And I know that you’re facing some legal problems of your own,” Nick replied, punching low.
“That has nothing to do with this,” I countered.
“Doesn’t it?” Nick demanded. “I could say that you are some kind of billionaire playboy, and that the only reason you’re in the driver’s seat is to take advantage of women.”
I felt the import of his words strike a deep blow. He was wrong, but I knew that a jury might not see it that way. There was a strained relationship between normal people and the super-rich. They were always looking for a reason to hate us. Add misogyny to the picture, and that would give a jury ample excuse to drain my coffers.
“You’re way off base,” I said.
“Stay in your lane,” he growled. “Don’t come after me, or I’ll come after you.”
I slammed the phone down. It was childish and petulant, but I didn’t have anything else to say to the man. There I was thinking that I could achieve some kind of justice for the hundreds of employees that had been mistreated. And Nick was going to turn it around to make it look like I was some kind of womanizing bastard.
Nikki’s lawsuit would play right into the narrative, and Pierce knew it. I shut my laptop, having no appetite for work after that. I was furious, and I needed a release. I thought of Teddy and her beautiful body. Maybe she would be up for one more angry fuck. But of course I didn’t want to use her that way.
I checked the time on my phone and saw that it was approaching eight. With any luck, I could make it out to Alec’s rehab center before visiting hours ended. A good old-fashioned chat with my little brother might be just the thing to calm me down. Grabbing my keys, I headed out the door, not bothering to lock it behind me.
Chapter 20
Theodora
I HAD TWO GLASSES OF wine at Corey’s house, and that was one too many for Sunny.
“Why don’t you sleep in your old room, over the garage?” she asked.
It was ten o’clock, and since they were parents, they were ready to go to bed. I still felt like I had a few hours left before I wanted to call it quits. That meant plenty of time to sober up to the point where I could drive. There was nothing left in my loft apartment: no bed, no furniture, and no television.
“No thanks,” I replied. “If it’s all the same to you, I’ll hang out for an hour or so and then drive home.”
“Well, it’s there if you want it,” Sunny said, standing up. “I’m going to bed.”
“I’ll be up in a bit,” Corey promised.
When we were alone, it almost felt like we were kids again. Of course, we both had jobs, and Corey had a wife and children, but still. That fun-loving spirit that we shared hadn’t diminished.
“Have you seen the latest Star Wars?” Corey asked.
“No,” I admitted.
“You have to see it,” he said. “No one else in the house will go with me.”
“Watch it on demand,” I suggested.
“That’s not the same,” he complained. “You have to see it in the theater with popcorn and soda. You have to see it in a room full of strangers who are all wearing crazy costumes.”
“Where do you go to the movies?” I asked, teasing him.
He started to tell me the plot of the latest film, and I let him. Growing up, Star Wars was something that we had in common. We used to buy Lego sets of the Ewok huts and the speed racers and spend hours putting them together before ripping them apart to start all over. It didn’t matter that I was a girl and he was a boy. We were equally entertained by the stories and even went so far as to attend a toy show one year.
“You remember the guy with the hood that had the Princess Leia hair on it?” Corey reminisced.
We talked for so long that I didn’t even need to entertain myself. Just chatting with him brought back so many good memories. I found myself longing for simpler times, before we went to college and had to grow up.
“You’re so lucky,” I said finally, during a lull in the conversation.
“How so?” he asked.
“You have Sunny and the girls. And you’re doing something you love.”
“It took a lot of hard work,” he replied. “I know you feel like you’re at the end of the road with Brad, but it could be just the beginning. Relationships don’t go in a straight line. There are a lot of bumps to work out, even for the best of us.”
“Yeah, but you and Sunny never fought like me and Brad,” I objected.
“First off,” Corey said, sitting up straight and leaning over the arm of his chair, “who said Sunny and I never fight? And secondly, I know things are strained between you and Brad, but I didn’t know you were fighting.”
“We’re not,” I corrected myself. “Or maybe we are. I can’t tell.”
My mind went back to the heated argument in the kitchen and the roughhousing that followed. I wasn’t sure if I could call it a fight, since it had ended in sex. But it wasn’t particularly loving, and we hadn’t really spoken at all since then.
“He came to visit me,” Corey shared.
“He did?” I sat upright, leaning over as well until we were practically nose to nose. “Tell me everything.”
“He’s worried about disappointing you,” Corey said. “I think you should cut the guy some slack.”
I sat back hard. “I’m doing the best I can.”
“Are you?”
“Yes,” I defended myself. “We are just two very different people, and we don’t always see eye to eye.”
“Welcome to the club.”.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I snapped.
“It’s late,” he said, standing up. “I’ve got someone waiting for me upstairs.”
“And I don’t?” I seethed, feeling railroaded by my own flesh and blood.
“Do you?” he asked sweetly, bending over to give me a kiss on the forehead. “Lock the door when you leave.”
“I’m leaving now,” I muttered, rising from my chair.
I put the wine glass in the sink as I walked through the house, grabbing my purse on the way out. Corey walked me to the front door, as smug as I had ever seen him. I didn’t want to admit it, but his words had hit home.
I left through the front door, hearing it shut and lock behind me. The night was cool as I strode to my car, feeling a familiar churn in my stomach. Sitting down behind the wheel, I tried to come to grips with it.
If Corey was right (and I had no reason to think he was lying), then his relationship with Sunny wasn’t all gumdrops and roses. That made sense. They were human. It’s just that every time I saw them, they were on the same page.
That couldn’t be said for me and Brad. Lately, it seemed like we were working off two completely different songbooks. I was trying to belt out Land of the Free, and he was working on Take the Money and Run.
Maybe I needed to give myself some credit. I wasn’t off in left field like Brad, Andrew, and Corey seemed to think I was. There was good reason for refusing to contest Nikki’s lawsuit. But that didn’t mean that I had to let that one decision destroy everything else in my life. Brad and I were good together. When we saw eye to eye, things went smoothly. When we didn’t, there was a little bit of trouble. That didn’t mean we were destined to fail.
What I needed to do was nail down the lawsuit business. Once that was all in the past, Brad and I could move forward. It wouldn’t matter what decision I made, just as long as I made one. And I was leaning toward the one thing that I knew would help me sleep better at night. Giving up the whole thing and accepting responsibility seemed like the only way to rid myself of all the anxiety I was toting around.
I checked my phone and saw that it was eleven. That was probably way too late to call my lawyer. In fact, he might feel like it was intrusive or rude for me to call at that hour. On second thought, I decided that he probably wouldn’t bother to pick up. He would let it go to voicemail, or the phone would ring at his office, unchecked. Either way, there was no harm in leaving a message.
I pressed his number in my contacts, and the phone dialed out. I was prepared to render my verdict when Andrew surprised me by answering in person.
“Hello?” he said.
“Andrew?” I asked, shocked to be connected to a real, live human being. “Oh my gosh, I didn’t expect you to pick up.”
“Yeah, well, I’m still at the office,” he said. “We’re working late, and I could use a breather.”
“I can call in the morning,” I tried to get off, not wanting to add to his burden.
“It’s no problem really,” he said, as if all his clients lacked decent boundaries. “I wanted to talk to you anyway.”
“Okay.” I tried to collect my thoughts so that I could be as definitive as I’d felt just moments ago. “I’ve thought about it, and I really would not like to defend myself against Nikki’s lawsuit.”
“That’s exactly what I wanted to talk to you about,” Andrew replied. “I was hoping I could change your mind.”
“No, I’m sorry,” I replied with finality. “My mind is made up.”
“Consider this,” he said patiently. “If you quit, it will negatively affect Brad’s case.”
“How so?” I asked.
“By folding, you’re essentially admitting blame,” the lawyer said.
“That’s right,” I agreed. “I think I am to blame. I don’t think it’s fair that Nikki lost her job because of me, and I want to make things right.”
“Yes, but if you say that in open court, then it only proves that Nikki was fired unreasonably,” Andrew argued.
“Yes,” I agreed, still not following.
“The puts Brad on shaky ground. His position is that Nikki was culpable in the break-in and that she deserved to lose her job.”
I stared out the windshield at the garage that used to be my home. I didn’t want Brad to suffer over my decision. In fact, I was hoping for the opposite outcome. I wanted to get out of the middle, to remove myself from the equation and make both sides happy. I thought it was all a matter of money. If I could just find a way to pay Nikki back, she would walk away, Brad would be unharmed and I could get on with my life.
“But I...” I stammered, trying to find a way to make the square peg of my guilt fit into the round hole of the justice system. “There has to be some way to separate the two.”
“I’m afraid not,” Andrew concluded. “If you admit that you’re to blame, then Brad looks like he’s doing you favors.”
I looked away, as if the driveway was the thing causing me pain. The woodshop wasn’t any different. It didn’t hold the answers I was looking for. I thought I had made my decision, but suddenly all the cards were in the air again. It wasn’t fair.
“Look,” Andrew said softly, “Just think about it. You don’t have to give me a decision until Monday. I know this is hard, but it’s really better all-around if you see it through.”
“It’s not better for Nikki,” I muttered.
“Nikki’s not my client,” he said bluntly.
“Neither is Brad,” I reminded him.
“You hired me to give you legal advice,” Andrew said. “And my best legal advice is to stand your ground. We can admit to being there during the burglary. We can even admit to saying the thing that started the whole charade in the first place.”
“You know about that?” I whispered.
“You told me,” he reminded me. “But you also told me that you tried to stop her. And we have solid evidence that you called security. Those aren’t the actions of a co-conspirator. They’re the actions of someone who was in over their head.”
I swallowed hard. He was right. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, he had me nailed. Things happened exactly as he said they did, and even though I wanted to run away from Nikki and all her negative energy, I wasn’t going to lie. I just wished there was a way to accept half the blame without hurting the man I loved.
“Okay,” I relented. “I’ll think about it.”
“Great,” Andrew said, considering the matter closed. “Like I said, we have a fairly good case. As long as you get on the stand and tell the truth, I think things will work out for both of you.”
I sighed, having no energy left in me to fight. I was up against three of the most powerful men in my life, and all they wanted to do was help me. If I couldn’t listen to what they were saying, what good was their friendship, their love, or their support?
Hanging up the phone, I set it on the passenger’s seat beside me. Corey’s neighborhood was dark, the streetlights few and far between. There was a light hanging above the garage, but it was motion activated, and it had turned off long ago.
The house was dark, telling me that Corey had gone to bed. I was alone with my thoughts and far from the place I called home. It was late, too late to go get coffee or amuse myself with a shopping excursion, not that I had any money to burn.
I felt itchy inside. I wasn’t sure what to do, but I knew I wasn’t going to be able to sleep. Disengaging the parking brake, I coasted backward out of the driveway. Maybe some driving would help. I switched on the music as loud as it would go, trying to drown out my thoughts. It wasn’t working. That sickening feeling stayed with me, born of a confusion over what to do about Nikki.
Without realizing it, I found myself driving toward Brad’s house. When I should have turned left to go to my apartment, I turned right. The decision was instantaneous. It didn’t feel like there was a lot of thought involved.
I considered turning around a dozen times before the mansion swung into view, but I didn’t. I stayed the course. Pulling up to his home, I saw that his car was gone. Like me, he was out somewhere, not sleeping. I knew that he was a night owl, working long hours after the rest of the world called it quits. But tonight, he wasn’t at work in his home office.
Considering all the possibilities, I decided that he was probably with his brother. Not for a second did I think he was cheating on me, and he wasn’t close enough to his parents to impose on them late at night. Either he was still at Retro, out alone somewhere drinking, or he had gone to visit Alec while he still had time.
If that was the case, then he would be home soon. I eased my car forward, away from the house so as not to block Brad’s car. Turning the engine off, I decided to wait. It wasn’t a logical decision, far from it. I just needed to see him. I didn’t care if things got heated again; in fact, I kind of wished they would.
Brad’s floodlight stayed on for a while, until, like Corey’s, it switched off from the lack of movement. Moonlight filtered down through the clouds, resting softly on my vehicle as I waited. After more than a half hour, it occurred to me that maybe he wasn’t coming home at all.
Chapter 21
Brad
I ARRIVED AT THE REHAB center right before the doors closed. The parking lot was fairly empty, and the streetlights illuminated the few vehicles that still remained. I stepped on the brake, anxious to unburden myself.
Hurrying to the door, I faced the security guards. “I’m here to see my brother,” I said.
“Visiting hours are over in fifteen minutes,” the man said.
“Fine,” I agreed. “Fifteen minutes.”
Reluctantly, they let me pass. I could see that they didn’t want to do their job any more than I wanted them to do it. They were counting down the minutes until they could close the doors and go home.
I walked up to the desk, picking up the pen and signing in. The receptionist wasn’t much more help. She reminded me that I only had fifteen minutes and suggested that I come back the next day.
“I need to speak with him,” I said.
She sighed, picking up the telephone. “Alec Miller.”
I sat down to wait, and it took Alec seven minutes to get from wherever he had been to the front door. Seeing him, I stood and pulled him into a hug. That surprised him, since we weren’t typically a hugging family.
“Are you all right?” he asked suspiciously.
“Fine,” I said. “I need to talk to you.”
“Five minutes,” the receptionist announced.
“Is there any way I can extend my stay?” I whispered to Alec.
“Yeah, just a second,” he replied.
I followed him back into the lounge area to a small kitchenette on one side. There was a woman in a bathrobe reaching into the refrigerator for some pudding. Alec strode up to her and whispered something in her ear.
After a moment, she nodded to him. Glancing at me, she sized me up. I saw a wicked glint in her eye and knew that the game was afoot. Whoever this woman was, she was on our side.
“No!” she yelled suddenly. “That’s my pudding!”
“You had two already!” Alec yelled back, motioning me into a side room with one hand.
I followed his lead, ducking into what looked like a small conference room. There was a wide oak table and four chairs squished between two massive bookcases. I crouched down behind the table, feeling like a fool. If they caught me, I would have a lot of explaining to do.
