I climbed from under the desk, using the chair to help me stand. The drawer opened smoothly this time. A silver laptop was neatly placed in it. Then it made sense, the weird code Jess kept repeating. I sat down in the chair.
The laptop illuminated when I opened it. Thomas Edwards was above where you entered the password. Nerves shot through me, my palms became clammy.
What was the code again?
H t x
I paused what were the numbers?
8 5 4 2
I pressed enter and to my surprise it worked.
His clean desktop appeared. Now what am I looking for? I clicked into the few files he had. One had nothing but charts, another contained signed documents. The third one was titled receipts.
I clicked on it, to find it full of images. I clicked on the first one. My mouth dropped open, my hands started shaking.
What I was looking at, I couldn’t comprehend. They were pictures, so many pictures. Of me. Getting my morning coffee, walking with Kiera. Cooking in the kitchen. No no no. Stefan and I on the table. On the bar. I kept clicking through until I couldn't look anymore. I slammed the laptop shut. I wanted to throw up.
I jumped as the door opened. Thomas appeared; he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw me. “What are you doing in here?” He was angry. He shut the door behind him.
I stood from the chair, “Why do you have pictures of me on your computer?”
His eyes darted to his computer and then back to me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You don’t know what I’m talking about?” My voice strained. I picked up his laptop, holding it in the air. “This computer, your computer. Why do you have hundreds of pictures of me? Why Thomas?”
He looked at me like a lion after his prey. He slowly walked closer to me. I stepped back still holding the laptop, running into a dresser. A glass figure fell to the ground shattering.
“Give me the laptop.” He said through his teeth. He was now only a few feet away.
“Don’t you dare come near me.” I was shaking so much; my heart was beating faster than I had ever felt.
“Give me the damn laptop!” He yelled, lunging for me. He missed.
I quickly moved around the desk, he was on the other side unable to reach me. We stared at each other; His face becoming angrier. My back was to the door. I could run for it, but he would surely catch me before I even got the door open.
“You think you’re so tough, holding that laptop. You are the cause for all your issues. You are the reason I had to keep tabs on you. You and your doe eyed dreams crashing into our lives to fuck everything up. ”
“Thomas, do you even look at yourself in the mirror?! Your jealousy of Stefan is the root of every issue you have ever had!” I yelled. When I said it, I instantly regretted it. I hit a nerve. His eyes were dark, like a black hole.
“You are the reason your Mum is dead; you and you alone.”
I didn’t think I heard him correctly. Did he actually just say that? “How am I the reason? I was here.”
“You think her maniac ex just ran her off the road for no reason?” He scoffed. “He had a little financial incentive. I was hoping you would just fucking leave, but alas here you still are fucking up my life.”
My ears began ringing. I kept replaying what he just said in my mind. He’s the reason my Mom is gone? Wait, no I am the reason? I didn’t know what to do. I was just blinking, breathing, and existing at this point.
In my brisk moment frozen in time, Thomas lunged for me. I jolted back, dropping the laptop onto the floor; causing it to split in two.
“You fucking bitch.” He reached for my arm, wrapping his hand around my wrist tightly.
I was in full panic. My free hand grabbed the metal stapler off of the desk; I swung back hitting him straight across the face. “Let me go!” I screamed.
He instantly let go, reaching for his face.
The door opened, and I didn’t dare take my eyes off of Thomas.
“Sophia?! What the hell?” Stefan’s voice was rushed.
“She’s lost her damn mind, Stefan.” Thomas told him, clutching his now bleeding face.
My grip tightened around the stapler, “Lost my mind? Tell him what you just told me, Thomas! Then tell me if I’ve lost my mind. Tell him!”
I could hear Stefan inching closer to us. “Tell me what?” He asked him.
“Nothing. Just get your crazy girlfriend out of here.” He growled.
“Ok, fine I will tell him. Thomas has hundreds of pictures of me on his laptop. Hundreds. Some of me and you.” Tears had started to trickle down my face. “That isn’t even the worst part.”
“Shut up, Sophia!” Thomas yelled.
I shot him a death stare, looking straight into Thomas’s eyes, “He’s the reason Mark ran my Mom off the road. Financial incentive were your exact words.”
“What?” Stefan’s voice was soft; I knew he didn’t understand what I just said.
“He paid Mark to run her off the road, in hopes that I would leave.” I swallowed, and raised my chin.
“You fucking prick.” Stefan’s voice became scarily low. “You are done, Thomas. You hear me? Done.”
Thomas laughed, “Oh you know you can’t prove anything. Do you think I didn’t cover my tracks?” He smirked. “No paper trail. The best thing our father ever taught us.”
I cleared my throat. “I need to leave.” I tossed the stapler next to my clutch on the sofa, before grabbing it, and started making my way towards the door.
I walked past Stefan without looking at him. I needed to get out of this room. I needed to forget what I just heard. I needed to breathe.
“Wait,” Stefan called out.
I whipped around to face him. “No! Do not follow me!”
My love for him is strong, but not this strong. I stared into his eyes, but all I saw was his family. For the first time I was truly afraid of them. The power they have to destroy people’s lives was like a wildfire. Once the match is lit everything burns to the ground eventually.
The shock started to take over as I walked into the hallway. I could hear commotion in the main room. The crying stopped, the numbness surfaced. I felt like nothing was real. When I walked into where the crowd was, I noticed police officers. Guests were slowly starting to leave. Why are there so many cops here? So much chaos was swirling in this home, I needed to leave.
I stared at one of the officers. I could tell them, but I can’t afford a lawyer, let alone go up against Thomas. They wouldn’t believe me. They would spin the story. Small town girl from Nebraska who wants the Edwards fortune. I will lose no matter what.
My hands balled into fists, as I rushed out the door. I piled onto the filled elevator. My hands started shaking; I dug my nails into my palms to stop them. I reached into my clutch to find Tim’s number. How did he know I would need him?
Once outside I started to call Tim, suddenly my stomach turned. I rushed over to the closest black metal trash can, coughing up everything in me. After I could breathe again, I stood looking down at my phone. I hit call on Tim’s name.
“Hello, Miss Sophia.” His voice was calm.
I looked at the people as they were getting into their cars, “Can you please come get me?”
“Of course. I am right around the corner.”
I folded my arms in front of me. Guests from the party waiting for their cars had their eyes on me. Most of them probably knew who I was; I closed my eyes looking away from them. Go ahead and judge me. The blacked out car pulled up 5 minutes later. He started to get out of the car, but I waved for him to stay seated. I opened the front passenger door, quickly sliding in.
“Where to, Miss?” He asked, closely studying me.
Fuck, where am I going? I can’t go to our friends. Stefan will find me there. I need someone who would be the last place he would look, someone that would hide me while I process everything that just happened...then it hit me.
“Take me to Tristen Van Doren’s,
please.” I said looking straight ahead.
He cleared his throat, “Are you sure?”
“I am.”
Chapter Seventeen
Stefan
She slammed the door in my face, and I was left with Thomas. I had never seen that look in her eyes before. This came out of left field and I dropped the fucking ball.
“What did you do?” I said through my teeth as I turned to face Thomas. His face was bleeding.
“I did nothing.” He bent down to pick up the laptop on the floor. “She’s crazy, Stefan. I’ve told you that from the beginning. She’s just searching for a reason to blame someone else for the cause of her Mum’s death.” He stood up. “She’s been after your money from the beginning.”
If I listened to one more lie out of his mouth, I’d kill him. Everything faded, I saw red. My fist connected with his face.
He fell back, dropping his laptop.
I tightened my fist again, I wanted to kill him. “You disgust me. You are no brother of mine anymore.” I turned toward the door, if I kept punching him, there would be nothing left of him.
I stopped when I reached the door, “I’d be afraid if I were you. When you leave this room, you’re going to walk into a world of pain.”
He was clutching his face, “What are you rambling on about?”
“Our father was just arrested.” I opened the door. “Does that make you nervous?”
The color drained from his face, just like my father’s. I wasn’t sure if they were going to arrest him just yet, but I wanted him to be afraid. Very afraid.
Sophia
I didn’t breathe a word the first five minutes of the drive. Tim didn’t dare speak. Shock was still running through me. My heart was still pounding. I thought I was standing outside of my own body watching my world fall apart.
I looked over at Tim, “How did you know I would need you?”
He didn’t speak.
“Tell me, Tim”! I yelled, pleading. “I can’t handle anymore secrets. I can’t.” My voice trailed off.
“What happened?” He asked, keeping his eyes on the road.
I turned my attention on the road, “What happened…” I covered my face. “I don’t even understand what happened.” I looked at him again. “Did you know?”
“Know what, Miss Sophia?”
“Cut with the Miss Sophia shit!”
He sighed, “I hear things. Many things. I pay attention. Stefan’s parents wanted you at the ballet, correct? Stefan has been having meetings with,” He paused choosing his words. “He’s been having meetings. It all sounded off to me, so just in case you got caught up in their drama, I wanted you to have an escape if you needed one.”
Tears were returning, “It happened, Tim. The same thing. Just like you. Just like your family.” I caught my breath.
He glanced over at me, “What happened?”
“They killed my Mom.” The words left my mouth, and I couldn’t control the crying that came after. I held my chest, gasping for air.
“Sophia, I need you to breathe.” He said calmly. “Breathe, Sophia.”
I tried to control my emotions the best I could. “Thomas, paid my Mom’s ex boyfriend to run her off the road.”
“What?” His voice was low. “Do you have proof?”
“No.” I whispered. “Thomas made sure of that.”
“Are you sure that I am taking you to the right place? Are you sure you will be safe from Thomas tonight?”
“Yes. They won’t come near Tristen.”
“Tristen Van Doren is powerful, but the Edwards have never met a wall they can’t take down.”
“It’s the best I can come up with tonight. I am open to other ideas if you have one?” I snapped.
He sighed, “We will be there in 15 minutes.”
After that we sat in silence. I could tell Tim was running everything through his head over and over again. It was after eleven. I wasn’t even sure if Tristen would be home, since his grandmother was sick.
We pulled up to his building. I stared out the window at the revolving doors, and the doorman in his pristine suit.
“Are you going to be ok?” Tim finally spoke.
“I don’t know anymore.” I turned to look at him. “Please don’t do anything with what I told you? Not yet.”
“Miss Sophia, I’ve been in this family long enough to know that you need to wait to play the right cards.”
“Thank you.” I opened the car door, stepping out.
He leaned over the center console to see me, “Call me if you need anything.”
“I will.” I let the door shut, and turned to walk to the front door.
After arguing with the front desk attendant that I knew Tristen, he finally called him. Tristen gave him permission to let me up. He told me which elevator to take, floor to stop on, and apartment.
The elevator doors opened on his floor. He was standing in front of me with his arms folded in a grey suit. For some reason I rushed into his arms. It was almost instinct. He guided me to his apartment. There were only two doors on this floor, both across from each other. We walked into the one on the left.
You could barely even consider his home an apartment. It was a two story unit, with an open floor plan. The second floor over looked the first. The kitchen was all things marble with a giant island. He had a long navy blue U shaped sofa near the windows.
I stood in the middle of the room, uncomfortable, not knowing what to do. He walked into the kitchen and poured a glass of water, returning back to me, handing me the glass.
“Come sit down.” He told me, gesturing his sofa.
I sat down on one side of the sofa, he made it a point to sit on the opposite facing me. Even now he was being a gentleman. He could play on my emotions right now, but he didn’t.
“What happened?” He folded his hands under his chin, leaning his elbows on his knees look up at me.
My eyes found his, “I couldn’t out run them.”
“Who?”
“The Edwards. If they want something, they’ll get it eventually.”
“What are you talking about?”
“There was an after party at the Edwards’s penthouse, after the ballet. I ran into Jess, she told me some code and told me to go into a room after she shoved me into a closet.”
“She shoved you into a closet?”
“Yes.” I set the water down on his coffee table. “I heard Thomas’s voice, as he ran after her through the door. I didn’t know what had just happened, and curiosity got the best of me. So, I did what she said.”
“What was in the room?”
“It was a study. I found Thomas’s laptop, and of course the code Jess told me worked.” I paused. “Tristen, there were so many pictures of me. He’s been stalking me for months.”
His eyes went wide, “He what?”
I put my hand up, “That isn’t all of it. Thomas walked in on me, we had a small scuffle and I dropped the laptop. It broke. He started yelling at me, he told me I was the reason my Mom had died. Which didn’t make sense, because I was here in New York with Stefan. Then he told me…”
“Told you what?”
“He told me he paid my Mom’s ex to run her off the road.” A few tears fell. “Thomas is the reason for my Mom’s accident.” I let out a small whimper.
Tristen stood making his way next to me, “He won’t get away with this. I’ll make sure of it.”
I shook my head, “You don’t get it. There was no paper trail. Mark never got the money because he died in the accident too. Thomas still has the laptop. I’m sure he’s destroyed everything by now.”
“Did you tell Stefan?”
“He walked in on me and Thomas yelling at each other. I told him everything, but I was so afraid in the moment that I ran.”
He sat back, “So you came here?”
“They won’t come here, Tristen.”
“That’s probably true.” He didn’t say anything for a few seconds. “I will tell security do
wnstairs to not let anyone in that says they know me.”
I didn’t respond, I kept staring at the mirror on his coffee table.
He touched my arm, “Sophia, you’re safe here.”
I looked over at him, “That’s why I came here.”
Tristen left me on the sofa while he called downstairs to the front desk. He instructed them under no circumstances were they allowed to give anyone permission to this floor. He walked over to the island in his kitchen picking up his phone. He stared at it for a moment, running his hand over his mouth.
“Soph, you’re going to want to hear this.”
I looked up at him, “What?”
“Leo just texted me that Stefan’s father was arrested. Charges are unknown still.”
I stared at him, “What?”
“When did you leave the party?”
“I don’t know.” I threw my face into my hands, leaning forward. “There were cops in the apartment when I left, but I was in so much shock I wasn’t trying to piece everything together. So much was happening, there were so many people.”
“He said it happened at their penthouse. That’s why the cops were there.”
“And I just left…” I leaned back into the sofa. I left Stefan in one of the worst moments of his life.
Tristen sat down next to me again, “Don’t feel bad about leaving. Just because you’re a good person doesn’t mean you get to push your feelings aside. Thomas hurt you, you were afraid.”
“I know. It doesn’t make me feel less worse.” I picked at the tulle fabric of my dress. “My Mom is gone, I can’t bring her back.”
“That’s true, but you’re allowed to feel angry about this.”
“Something I’ve learned from going through both my parents death is to keep breathing and keep moving forward.”
He took both my hands making me face him, “No. You’re bottling it up right now. You don’t have to be angry with Stefan, but you just found out Thomas hired someone to kill your Mom. You need to scream, or break something.”
I clenched my jaw, “Don’t tell me how to feel.” I snapped, ripping my hands from his grasp. I stood walking over to the window. “You don’t know how I feel!” I spun around to face him. “You don’t get to tell me how I should feel right now! I’m tired of everyone telling me what to do! How to feel! Smile, Sophia. Breathe, Sophia. Eat, Sophia. Just let me be upset! How I want to be upset!” I screamed; tears came.
Until Him: Book 3 - Until Then Series Page 11