by Lily Zante
He leaned over her desk and placed his knuckles on the table. “You don’t have to say it. It’s written all over you.”
“Why don’t you leave?”
He straightened up and glanced at his CDs and then at her, and had the audacity to smile.
The creep.
The more he stayed, the more he repulsed her. How could she ever have gotten it so wrong? “I don’t know what I ever saw in you,” she bit back, harnessing strength from somewhere. “You’re sick. You might want to seek professional help.”
His neck muscles corded. “Thanks for the lasting memories.” He held up the CDs as a trophy before he sauntered away from her desk. There was something uneasy, something she hated more than usual about his last remark, about that too-confident smirk of his and the way he’d casually mentioned the CDs.
She gripped the chair tighter. Had he…could he…have filmed her that last time?
No.
No.
No.
Not possible.
He was calling her bluff. Wasn’t he?
And yet the idea that he had refused to fade. If he said something, the chances were he’d already done it.
She closed her eyes to center herself, to gather her thoughts and to put herself back together again. Her hands started to sweat and her chest tightened, but she pushed past the rising panic and stilled herself just enough to sense it: not indignation, not anger, but something else. Something that soared, and raged, and roared, until the pounding of her heart drummed louder and the racing of her pulse grew faster, and they rose, in symphony together, to a triumphant high, one deafening crescendo before exploding and breaking free.
The release of guilt now turned to hatred.
She knew where he lived, and she knew at once what it was she had to do.
Chapter 35
“This is insane. You’re not thinking straight.” Was Heather’s opinion when she’d first suggested her crazy idea. But her friend had followed her anyway.
The idea, piercing her consciousness like an almighty arrow, had slowly and stealthily taken form in her suspicious mind.
Now that she was here she’d have to carry it through. The notion that Matt had more incriminating evidence on her had been her turning point.
She couldn’t sit back and let the matter rest. The more she thought about that shithead, the more the anger slowly rose inside her until it turned into a scorching fireball that propelled her into action.
He had already ruined her chances with Noah, and she wasn’t about to let him think he had something else to hold over her. And she couldn’t rest until she had at least checked out her suspicions. If she found something, she would have to destroy it. But first she needed to gain access to his room. And to do it while he wasn’t around.
She marched on ahead, putting her hand into the front of her coat pocket to feel for the memory stick. This time she’d get all the evidence and trash it from his computers, assuming her theory—fuelled by his threat—proved itself right.
Half galloping to keep up with her, Heather muttered at her side. “You want to go back into his apartment and do what exactly?” She’d told Heather her plan along the way, knowing that Heather would come along because she was curious and because she was a good friend and that’s what friends did.
Even if Melissa was only willing to supply half the story.
Heather still knew nothing of what had gone on that last day between Melissa and Matt. Nor did she know that Noah lived at the same place as Matt.
“It doesn’t make sense why you’re going back to his place. Can’t you call him and meet somewhere neutral?” Heather demanded.
But Melissa concentrated her gaze on the apartment across the road and looked at her watch. It would be time soon.
She was taking a huge risk doing this. While she knew about Matt’s timing—that he’d be out jogging soon because he was so anally OCD about his routines—she couldn’t vouch for the others. It was the encounter with Noah that she dreaded and hoped her luck wasn’t so down that she’d run into him this time around. Breaking into Matt’s room seemed somehow easier than running into Noah.
What would she do if she saw him?
Now, as she hid in the bushes across the road from his apartment with Heather constantly asking questions, she started to doubt the wisdom of her plan. She hadn’t thought about it much when she’d left work and met Heather at her work place. She knew his half an hour run would give her enough time to go into his room and take what was hers and destroy it all. She’d be gone by the time—if and when—his friends told Matt that she’d been here sniffing around.
It was daring, it was insane, it was everything Heather had said it was, but Melissa had never been so hell-bent on her desire to ensure the little shit didn’t get away with it. She hadn’t allowed herself to be degraded just so that he could film her and then blackmail her further down the line.
If he didn’t come out tonight, she’d have to try tomorrow night. And the night after that. She peered from behind the bushes, completely ignoring Heather’s futile attempts at reason.
“Will you listen to me!” Her friend poked her in the arm to grab her attention. “This is stupid. I can’t believe I’m doing this with you. Why can’t you go knock on his door and sort it out?”
“Because he’s got something that belongs to me.”
“Why don’t you ask for it back?”
“He doesn’t know I know he’s got it.”
“What?” Heather shrieked. “That doesn’t even make sense. What are we talking about here? Military intelligence?”
“It’s…stuff,” was all that Melissa would say.
“You’re breaking and entering,” Heather hissed.
Melissa turned to her friend calmly. “I’m not going to break in,” she explained. “Someone will let me in and if nobody’s in today, we’ll have to come back tomorrow.”
“We’re staking out your weirdo-ex all week? Do you think I don’t have better things to do with my time?”
Melissa shrank back against the bushes and pushed Heather back too. Thankfully the fast falling darkness now also provided a double blanket of protection for them.
“Shhh.” Melissa peered over the road when she saw him come out. She glanced at her watch, just on time. Around seven thirty on a Thursday. And Mondays and Tuesdays. The guy was OCD to a fault.
The thrill of exhilaration buzzed as the adrenaline burst through her. Gung-ho madness took hold. The meek and ordinarily obedient Melissa suddenly had a new lease of life doing something so extraordinarily out of her usual realm of existence that it was like watching her alter ego on the big screen.
“Stay put,” she ordered Heather and got ready to make her way. Her insides felt as though they’d almost clambered up her throat. She tried to steady her rapid breathing. Heather opened her mouth to object but stopped, as if the sudden gravity of the situation had hit her.
“Keep a look out in that direction in case he comes back early.” Melissa pointed to her right, towards the street, knowing his jogging route well by now. “He’ll come from that way. The minute you see him, you call me but that’s only in an emergency, if he comes back early. I’ll be back well before he shows up.” She took a hold of Heather’s shoulders. “Stay alert—no getting distracted by your cell.”
Heather looked as though she was going to throw up. “You don’t have to do this, Melissa. Whatever it is he has of yours, shouldn’t you just ask for it back?” It was a late, last minute plea by Heather to drum sense into her. “Or tell the police?” Heather looked panicked. “I don’t understand why you’re doing this.”
“I’ll be fine. Try not to be so scared.” Melissa tried to reassure her. She couldn’t believe it herself that she was doing this anymore than Heather was. But Heather wasn’t the one with a sordid recording of hers lying around for Matt to hold against her as a threat. “I have to do this. I’ve got no choice.” What would she tell anyone? Who would she tell? Nadine? The head of
IT? The police? It wasn’t serious enough for her to go that route. And yet it wasn’t something she wanted anyone to ever find out about. Especially not her parents or anyone at work.
Heather looked weak, as if she’d bolt at any second if she had a chance.
Melissa squeezed her friend’s shoulder as if trying to gain some conviction herself. “It’ll all be over before you know it.”
And with that Melissa hurried across the road and disappeared through the main door to his apartment block. Soon she was in his hallway, heading toward the apartment door. The urge to turn around and go home was strong, but she forced herself to move forward. It was now or never.
When the door opened, her heart stopped. Until the other guy, whose name she couldn’t remember, came out. “Hi.” He smiled and rushed past her, leaving the door for her, not thinking anything of it.
Pure, miraculous luck.
She breathed a sigh of relief. So far so good. Filled with boundless energy, she scurried into the apartment and, seeing that the coast was clear, she tiptoed to his room.
The only sound to be heard was the beating of her heart.
Melissa felt a sense of dread as she stepped once more into the tawdry room where he’d used her. Solid as steel, she blocked the images of that last day from her mind and focused on the laptop which lay on his desk, as expected, facing the bed. She stole upon it, and moved the mouse. Then nearly fainted when it asked for a password. She closed her eyes, trying to remember. She’d barely caught the last few letters the other day.
Ah.
It was worth a try. She typed MELISSA.
And got in.
She glanced at her watch quickly. Ten minutes had shunted by. She wanted to be out of here in another ten, to avoid the risk of bumping into him.
Frantically, she searched through the file folders, her legs restless, her heart going ninety. She worked her way through the directories and looked through the most recently used files and folders.
There were a lot of images here. She couldn’t help but look through them. And her breath hitched in her throat. Images of other girls stared back at her. Girls like her, past girlfriends perhaps? Their poses were similar, and they were in similar stages of undress, posing provocatively. Some were worse, but unlike her, many of these girls seemed to be smiling. She moved on fast, pointing and clicking the mouse with frenzied madness, even as she rushed through some photos that almost bordered on pornographic.
She stopped, went back to a photo she’d closed. She recognized the girl as someone who worked at the Zimmerman Group too. Melissa paused, felt her chest tighten as she glimpsed more photos of this girl who was almost naked in some of them, and seemed happy about it too. She swallowed, feeling sick to her stomach. Even though the girls in the photos looked happy, she felt wrong for seeing their intimate images when she had no right to.
She immediately closed the photos and moved on, speeding up as she searched frantically for hers. She didn’t dare look at her watch, now relying on Heather’s call if there was trouble. She still hadn’t found anything of hers and she wasn’t leaving until she did.
There were no names on the folders, only some sort of coding system. And then she realized they were dates. She quickly hovered over the folders, looking for something named appropriately for the past few months.
And then she came across it. A folder full of her images.
They were the same images she’d seen him delete that last time.
Perplexed, she looked through them all. She’d seen him delete them. She’d stood by his shoulder and watched him delete them, before he’d made her…
Tears started to fall down her face as she stared at images of her staring back at her. He obviously had a backup somewhere.
Then her eyes fell on a different file. A movie file. Her hairs prickled along her arm as she tentatively clicked on the file.
He’d filmed her…with him…that last time. She stared at the ghost of her lying on the bed, tears streaming down her cheeks as he moved over her. She’d turned her head that day, and she’d been facing the laptop.
The camera was here somewhere…she froze in place…was he filming her now? Would he know she’d been here? Did he have it switched on all the time? Or only for “performances”? Panic poured over her and she quickly copied the entire folder to her memory stick.
Pull yourself together.
Then she deleted it from his laptop. Remembering, she emptied the recycle bin on his computer. She noticed he had a few external devices connected, a USB stick for one and a couple of other external drives. His whole desk was a jumbled mess of wires and cables and all sorts of hardware boxes of all sizes lying haphazardly around. She wouldn’t have the time to go through everything—and she wouldn’t be able to come back. Nor did she intend to.
Just then her cell phone vibrated. “He’s on his way back. Get out.” Heather was hysterical. Melissa glanced at her watch and her heart leapt. She’d been here longer than she should have.
She looked around, and her gaze fell upon a pile of CDs lying on his desk. She had no time to check through them now. So she took them. Slipping them into her blouse, she shivered as the rectangular plastic box smacked cold against her bare skin.
She leapt from the room and quickly scuffled along the hallway, her heartbeat racing like a rocket on takeoff. Her eyes fixed on the front door ahead. A few more steps and she’d be through the kitchen.
But she heard the key turn in the door and she held back a scream.
Any second now, Matt would walk through the door.
“Melissa?” She turned around and stared at Noah’s startled face.
The door opened and one leap was all it took for her to push past Noah and dive head first into the only open door she saw.
Chapter 36
Ashen faced, Noah stared at her as she hid in his room and then he finally asked her, “What’s going on?”
She drew up her shoulders and looked around the room, unable to meet Noah’s gaze head on. She hated herself for being in this situation—for the look he now gave her. “You’re in the wrong room.” His face was hard.
“Please, Noah. He doesn’t know I’m here,” she whispered, glancing at the door he’d closed behind him. He’d understood enough to see she was hiding. “Please don’t tell him you saw me.”
Concerned eyes searched her face, but before she had a chance to tell him anything, her cell phone vibrated again. She answered it before it buzzed a second time, her eyes fixed on Noah.
“What the hell, Melissa! He’s already gone inside. Where are you?” Heather shrieked.
“I’m coming,” Melissa whispered. “Stay put.”
“What’s going on?” Noah asked again, even though she had the cell to her ear, still trying to pacify Heather at the other end.
“Is he winning you over with his words?” Heather sneered.
“Melissa?” Noah’s eyes burned into her, immediately bringing back memories of New Year’s Eve.
“What?” Her head felt light, and her heart threatened to pole vault out of her throat. It was too much, with the two of them going at her, and the thought of Matt lurking outside.
She held her hand out to Noah, signaling him to wait, while she dealt with Heather. Somehow, she could trust Noah to keep his cool. Heather was something else.
“Don’t worry,” she told Heather.
“He’s apologizing, isn’t he?”
“What? No,” Melissa hissed, her attention ping-ponging from Noah to her friend, while her heart hammered so fast she thought she was going to pass out.
But Heather wasn’t buying it. “He’s winning you over again, isn’t he? You can’t fall for his shit. I’m coming in.”
“Heather, no! Oh my God. No.” The line went dead, and she knew her hot-headed friend was on the move. Melissa flapped her hands, fanning herself.
This couldn’t happen. If Heather entered the scene now it would cause a serious shitstorm. “Please help me,” she pleaded with Noah
.
“For goodness sake, Melissa! What is going on?” Noah’s patience vanished.
“Matt and I split…I can’t explain right now, but I’ve broken into his room.”
Noah jerked his face back in surprise.
“He can’t know I’m here. Heather is on her way here right now. Please stop her! Meet her outside…take her away…tell her to go home and to call me on the way. Matt can’t see her—he’ll know what I’ve done. Please.” Her words tumbled out like confetti, messy and all over the place.
Noah took a step towards her, his whole body loaded with questions. He seemed unsure, as if he couldn’t comprehend what she’d told him.
“Please, Noah.” He was wasting precious minutes. “It’ll be much worse if he finds out.” Something about the pleading tone in her voice must have made him change his mind because he rushed out of the room after that.
Melissa closed her eyes and stayed put behind the door. She felt the sweat in her armpits, felt her knees start to give way. Her mind recanted the images on Matt’s computer. All those girls, all those photos. How many of them knew that he still had their images? Did they even care? How many of them had he blackmailed, like her?
Her thoughts shriveled when she recalled the video he’d made of her. It sent her pulse racing, for all the wrong reasons. Outside, she heard the sound of the front door closing again—it was heavier than the normal doors, and made a more solid thud. Then she heard voices. Matt’s voice, and Noah’s. They were talking and laughing.
She froze.
Her cell phone buzzed again, making her jump. “What the hell is going on? You never told me your latest squeeze lived there. What is this—a soap opera?” Heather’s voice rose to a peak.
“Where are you?” Melissa hissed. The voices moved closer to the door. Her heart throttled.
“I’m going back home—unless you want me to wait for you somewhere around here. What the hell, Melissa? I can’t believe this.”