by Nova Rain
Dear God… Was that man even real? Was he made of flesh and bone, or was he something I couldn’t wrap my head around? These were all stupid questions. I had felt his body heat. I had him in my heart, around me, enveloping me with love, tenderness, and a huge determination to offer my something I had never had: a real relationship based on mutual respect, thoughtfulness and everything else that made a relationship great. But… I was forced to throw all that away. I had ruined Kate’s life, and I had put my son through hardships he would never have faced if he’d stayed with his adoptive father. And, if I had kept this up, I couldn’t doubt that, somewhere along the way, he would have had to go through even more difficulties.
As the cab pulled over outside the mansion, a sense of fear crept through my senses. In my quest for freedom, I had humiliated the Davidsons. I wouldn’t mind getting kicked out, but Timmy had done nothing wrong. He shouldn’t have to pay for my sins.
“Why did we come back here, mommy?” he asked in his sweet voice, as the taxi went roaring off.
“It’s for your own good, sweetie,” I replied, taking him by the hand.
“But I didn’t get to see the big man again,” he complained. “Why didn’t he come visit us? Is he mad at me?”
“No, honey,” I assured him, a smile of bitterness dominating my face. “I’ll explain it to you some other time.”
Striding along the pathway, I looked up at the palm trees on my right. Strangely enough, they were still. I could recall the sound of their branches swaying in the wind. It had lullabied me to sleep plenty of times in the past. Now though, there wasn’t even a breeze in the atmosphere.
“Good morning, madam.” I recognized Jeremy’s voice. The butler had just left the building, and was coming closer from the opposite direction. “It’s good to see you again. And how is young Timmy?” He smiled, stroking my boy’s head.
“We’re fine, Jeremy,” I croaked. “Is Robert in?”
“Yes,” he said with a nod. “Now, please, excuse me. I need to tend to the garden.”
I sucked in a deep breath, settling my gaze on the open door behind him. “Thank you.” I murmured, before continuing onwards.
I found Robert in the living room, sitting in his favorite, brownish armchair, flipping through a stack of pictures.
“Well, well, well…” he smirked, not taking his eyes off of them. “I’m torn…” he confessed, tipping his index finger on his chin. “What should I call this: the return of the prodigal wife?”
“Fake wife,” I corrected him. “Sweetheart, go upstairs, please.” I told Timmy and patted him on the back. “Look…” I paused, striding closer to him. “I know I’ve embarrassed you, and Chris and I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
“Embarrassed us?!” he squealed, jumping from his seat. “That is one hell of an understatement, you tramp! My brother had a heart attack when he heard about Timmy’s kidnapping. He’s dying in a hospital bed as we speak, and all you have to say is ‘it won’t happen again’? Oh, you bet your ass it won’t! Catch!”
At that moment, he tossed the stack of pictures down onto the floor in front of me. I bent down, curious about what he wanted to show me. It wasn’t long before I discovered who was in them. Scattered among the images, I saw Sean and me in that hotel room. My back was to the camera, and he was kneeling in front of me. In another, he was kissing me on the forehead.
“I’m filing for a divorce,” he announced, padding across the living room. “I’m sending these out to the press. I’ll pull every string I can to make sure your doctor gets fired. You have twenty-four hours to pack your shit and get out of here. I don’t ever want to see your face again, you hear me? Ever.”
The pain in my chest came back with a vengeance. I was late… too late. Robert had made up his mind on the night Timmy and I abandoned the mansion. From that point on, our fate was sealed. I had doomed my boy to the hardships I had been going through for years. Why: because I had made the mistake of falling in love.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Sean
There was no point in me doing anything further. In particular, I wouldn’t go with Wilks to that forest and spy on Davidson tonight. What was the purpose? The woman I would be doing it for, didn’t have any use for it. She had chosen to end our relationship and stay put. Just when I was about to respond to Wilks’ message though, I received another text from Monica:
“Robert’s got pictures of you and me in that hotel room. He said he’d go to the press with them and have you fired. Whatever you have to do, do it fast. Just thought you should know.”
Son of a bitch… If anything, this was a testament to his intentions of “going by the book.” He wasn’t content with Monica’s return. No. He had to humiliate us both, and cost me my job at the hospital. I called the investigator, determined to proceed with our plan.
“Hello?”
“Isabelle, Sean Granger here. What time do you want me to pick you up?”
“Nine o’clock is fine.”
“Good. See you then.”
Kiss that seat in Congress “goodbye,” you scumbag. Go ahead and publish those photos, if you want the whole world to see you for what you really are: a depraved homosexual with a soft tooth for male strippers.
It was sad; very sad. That man was being paid by the American people to serve his country, and he was using that money to quench his insatiable lust. He wouldn’t do the right thing. He wouldn’t come out of the closet and admit his sexuality, like plenty of people had done beforehand. Davidson’s only purpose was relishing in his stupid, reckless lifestyle.
To my satisfaction, the weather seemed like it would be my ally. Torrential downpours had given their place to a cold—yet clear—night. What’s more, it looked like Isabelle Wilks shared my enthusiasm. I was ten minutes early, and she was out on the street, waiting for me, with a large, brown case in her grasp.
“Hi. How big is that drone?” I asked, the moment she joined me in the car.
“It’s big enough to take up most of the space in your trunk,” she answered, fastening her seatbelt. “I don’t have much to say to you about the operation, doctor. It’s pretty simple. I fly the drone, you operate the camera. Once we get enough footage, we get the hell out of there.”
“Agreed,” I muttered under my breath, pulling away from her apartment. “Don’t light a cigarette in here. I’m already pissed off as it is. I don’t want to worry about arguing with you, too.”
“Whoa!” Wilks exclaimed. “I didn’t even know you could get pissed. And what kind of language is that, Granger?”
“Monica dumped me this morning,” I explained, my voice lower than usual. “Davidson wants to destroy me by publishing some photos of me and her. I need something to threaten him with.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” she told me, pursing her lips. “So, you’re not doing this for her anymore. You’re doing it for yourself.”
“Pretty much,” I said with a nod.
“Well, if you ever need a friend…” she paused and turned her head left to face me.
Damn you, Wilks. We were on our way to spy on a group of the most corrupt people in the country, and you were hitting on me? For real?
It crossed my mind to yell at her. Not only was she not concentrating on the task at hand, but she also meant to get personal with me. Furthermore, I was recovering from a nasty breakup. Healing would take me a while; I couldn’t imagine myself dating anyone for the next few months. Still, I didn’t utter a word. Arguing with her would not allow me to relax and focus on what we had to do. As upset as I was, details of my relationship with Monica were bound to slip off my tongue. And those clues were what hurt me the most, because I would bring up every noble thing I had done for her. I had already cried in front of someone that day. I wasn’t going to do it again.
Ninety minutes later, we were surrounded by greenery similar to the one in her pictures. My gaze went from left to right and back, seeking any signs of civilization, but all I could see were massive tr
ees stretching out to the horizon. Only when I lowered my window did I get any sign of what was happening out there. Loud, music with a heavy beat was echoing through the wilderness. Reaching the top of an uphill road, I was able to locate the mansion of depravity. Beams of lights were shooting upwards from an estate down in the woods, their brightness tearing through the darkness of the night.
“Over there,” Wilks said, pointing at an empty patch of land to the right.
I brought the car to a gentle halt and popped open the trunk, the cold coming through the window giving me the chills. I reached back and picked up the laptop from the backseat, the scent of cedar flying into my nostrils.
“Thanks a lot for this, Granger.” Isabelle declared, moving around the BMW. “It’s a lot more fun than the crap I’ve done so far.”
“What do you mean?” I inquired, turning on my laptop.
“The other cases I’ve had made me feel like a peeping tom,” she confessed, setting the drone down on the roof of the car, its five rotors shimmering under the moonlight. “All I had to do was wait around for those couples to go to bed. Watching other people have sex isn’t my thing.”
“You’re in for a lot of peeping here, too.” I smiled to myself. “Why is this any different?”
“Are you kidding me?” she snorted in amusement, standing next to me. “Fat cats and politicians are involved in this. It’s nothing like my old cases. All right, let’s check out how well this baby works.”
“It looks good,” I commented, a picture of the forest showing up on the screen. The foliage seemed darker. The trunks were painted a bright shade of silver, whereas the ground underneath them appeared to be much fairer than it actually was. I used my thumb to swivel the camera left and right. Its mechanical noise brought an expression of satisfaction to my face.
“Here we go,” Isabelle announced as the drone took off. I watched it gain altitude, hoping that, in a few minutes, I would get the leverage I so much wanted.
“What are the chances of them spotting this thing?” I asked her, the machine disappearing in the dark.
“Next to none,” she spoke in a confident tone, the image of the forest replaced by absolute darkness. “One of the reasons why it cost so much is stealth. It’s practically soundless. They won’t hear it with all of that racket.”
Bypassing the canopy, the drone hovered over the front of the mansion. Two, valet parkers were entering limousines, whereas another one was driving another, fancy car around the plot. The source of the light I had noticed earlier soon became apparent. Four, massive, portable lights were placed on each corner of the compound. Isabelle moved the stick on the remote control down and right, causing the drone to lose altitude and turn around the corner of the building.
“Holy God…” I whispered in disbelief, a view of a glass palace greeting me. There was no concrete or paint whatsoever. In their stead were spotless glass surfaces. Apparently, the owner of that house felt very protected within those huge walls. Nevertheless, the structure was just a minor detail. The situations unfolding in that mansion were beyond sickening. I counted six tables, with male strippers dancing on them. One of them was pouring oil over his bare chest, shaking his hips, while dozens of half-naked men shoved dollar bills into his purple thong. Another had bent over and was flexing his gluteus muscles, while some more of those idiots smacked his butt.
Wilks let the drone hover outside the first floor and glanced up at me. “Model citizens, aren’t they?”
“I think I’m going to throw up.” I uttered, my voice dropping in volume as Robert Davidson’s figure entered the frame. Wearing nothing but a pair of white boxers and holding a bottle of champagne in his hand, he rushed over to the stripper in the purple thong. Chuckling, he lifted it over his head and poured the beverage over the stripper’s abdomen.
“I’ve got you, you piece of shit,” I groaned, taking snapshots of the scene.
“Do you have enough?” Isabelle posed a question, her voice calm.
“Yeah,” I nodded. “Get the drone out of there.”
“Yes, sir,” she obeyed with a smile, the machine gaining altitude once more. This time, she chose to move it across the estate, towards the wall to the right, in order to avoid the prying eyes of the valet parkers. “I could make a fortune blackmailing those degenerates. I’m pretty sure my facial recognition software will go berserk when I run that video through it.”
“Really?” I groaned, glaring down at her.
“Jesus, what’s the matter with you?” she pitched her voice higher. “It’s just a joke. Am I not allowed to joke?”
“Sorry…” I sighed, spotting the device emerging from the trees. “As I said, I’m in a crappy mood.”
“You should be happy; or happier at least,” Isabelle suggested. “We’ve got Davidson by the balls now, no pun intended.”
“Somehow, this doesn’t make me feel any better,” I confessed as the drone landed back on the roof of my car.
“You’re broken, doc,” Isabelle concluded, carrying the device. “Give it some time. That’s what they told me when my partner was gunned down in front of me. FYI, he was my fiancé, too.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I responded, assuming a softer tone, getting back in the car.
“I don’t know what happened between you two, but Monica’s still alive,” she remarked, joining me. “I can’t be with Jason, because a gangbanger took him from me. Remember that, every time you tell yourself you can’t get back together with her.”
I kept my silence, putting my foot down hard on the accelerator. The rear wheels spun, breaking free of the bounds of mud. I turned the wheel around, steering the car in the direction from which we had come. I couldn’t get mad at Isabelle. She was unaware of the details of my breakup with Monica. Reconnecting with her sounded easy in theory. We were both alive and well, we had feelings for each other, so, why not? I wished reality was that simple, but it wasn’t. The hurdles we had been facing had managed to break us up, and I couldn’t figure out a way to overcome them.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Monica
Sometimes, life’s ironies can just boggle the mind.
Jessica’s sleazy apartment, the place I had called a “dump” not so long ago, was now Timmy’s and my last chance at avoiding homelessness. Of course, to do that, I had to make amends with my friend. After her violent outburst in the hospital, I doubted she would want to see me. And if her response to my text about my breakup with Sean was any indication, I was in for an even bigger disappointment. One of my closest friends, the girl I had been sharing everything with, had said absolutely nothing. Still, she was my only choice. I had barely any money to keep me and my boy fed. I wasn’t going to spend it on accommodation.
Dragging our suitcases up the stairs, I struggled to keep it together. Just days ago, I had it all: a loving boyfriend, my son, loyal friends, and a roof over my head. Now, I was heading for a tiny apartment, rented by the person who held me responsible for Kate’s fate. Jessica’s bad temper was no stranger to me. I had known her for ten years, and I’d seen her snap more times than I could count. We had argued before and had worked things out, but this wasn’t a simple argument. To her, I was the devil himself. I had destroyed our friendship by pursuing something I wasn’t allowed. All three of us had discussed the ramifications of a relationship with Sean the last time I was at her house. I hadn’t listened, and now, I was paying the price.
With a heavy heart, I knocked on her door, the fear of rejection gnawing away at me.
“Oh…” Jessica gasped in surprise, the moment our eyes met. Glancing down at the suitcases and Timmy, she returned her attention to me. “You…”
“Have nowhere else to go,” I croaked, pressing my lips together. “Robert kicked us out this morning.”
“He can do that? Doesn’t Chris have a say in this?” she asked, her voice rising up an octave.
“Chris had a heart attack apparently,” I informed her, clutching my boy’s hand in my palm.
“He’s dying, but even if he wasn’t, I doubt this would have played out any differently. They’re out to destroy me and Sean.”
“Well, don’t just stand there,” she added, taking a step back. “Come on in.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, before bending my knees to pick the suitcases back up. Walking in, I put them aside and shuffled towards her, arms open.
“Don’t,” she said, her voice a little more than a whisper. “I’ve had enough emotion for a lifetime these days.”
“That makes two of us,” I agreed. “Have you been by the hospital?”
“Actually, I just came back,” Jessica responded. “There’s no improvement. I, uh…” she paused. “I ran into him. He’s an emotional wreck. Remember those green eyes you loved so much?”
“What about them?”
“They’re gone,” she continued, her voice deepening. “It’s like they’ve shrunk or something. He’s not been sleeping much, if he’s sleeping at all.”
“There’s nothing I can do about that, Jess,” I responded, staring into the void. “I pushed him away, because I wanted better things for my boy. Look at us now. I’m broke, alone, and he’ll never inherit that fortune the Davidsons promised us.”
“First of all, you’re not alone,” she disagreed. “And second?” she paused, put her forehead in her hand and squeezed her eyes shut. “God, I never thought I’d say this, but you should get back together with him.”
“What did you just say?” My brows popped up in surprise.
“Get back together with him,” Jessica repeated, her intense stare indicating she meant every word. “Before, there were reasons to keep your distance from him that I could understand. I even pointed them out to you. Those reasons don’t exist anymore.”
“Jess, I messed up his life, he committed a crime for me, and all he got in return was an ungrateful bitch who broke up with him,” I rebutted, feeling the tears return to my eyes. “What would you do if you were him? Would you take me back?” I was desperate to hear her next comment. Yet, Jessica didn’t have one. She looked away from me and scratched her neck, pressing her lips together.