About ten minutes in, however, I heard my stomach give an enormous growl. I realized it had been several hours since I had last eaten.
I went down to the kitchen and opened the fridge hoping to find some leftovers. Nothing. I would have to order in. I walked over to the corner where we kept the phone. Passing our full-length glass windows, something caught my eye.
Sally was out on the porch. She was talking to someone on the phone. Curious, I picked up the receiver in front of me, but all I heard was a dial tone. I guessed she must be on her cell phone. Shrugging, I ordered enough food to last Jackson and me to last all night. We had a lot of work ahead of us.
Sally was still on the phone once I finished ordering. I stepped out onto the porch to greet her. As I came up behind her, I overheard her talking.
“…Little hussy. Hopefully we have managed to isolate Adrian enough from his contacts to keep him in the dark about the lawsuit you’re bringing against him until it’s too late.”
Sally was talking to Victor.
Chapter Two
It was only after Adrian left that the reality of losing the appeal hit me.
I was going to get kicked out of school.
I had thrown myself into my work on the EyeRead due to Adrian’s rejection a few months ago, and my grades had suffered because of it. Julia Brunner, the Dean of Admissions at MIT, wanted to kick me out, until she saw my work on the EyeRead.
That opportunity disappeared the second Iraja Puri stole my work on behalf of Victor. Julia let the courts decide my fate, and in one fell swoop, I lost not only my invention but my education as well.
I still had the rest of this semester left, which was only about five weeks in. I didn’t see much point in doing my schoolwork if I was simply going to get kicked out at the end. Perhaps I should just leave now. There was no longer any reason for me to stay.
I thought of Adrian on his way back to Colorado right now. On his way back to Sally. I knew he had helped me because he felt obligated to. Adrian was certain the only reason Victor targeted me was because of my connection to Adrian, so he wanted to help me beat Victor.
A small voice inside my head wondered if perhaps Adrian had left so quickly because that’s all I was to him: an obligation. He’d tried to help me— it hadn’t worked, but he tried—so now he was off the hook. Free to run back home to Sally and forget all about me.
I felt so lonely.
As if on cue, my phone rang. I wiped my tears away and picked up my phone, hoping it was Adrian.
It was Raphe.
“Hey, Danisha. I just wanted to call and see how you were doing… I heard about your appeal…” he said when I answered.
“Thank, Raphe. It’s going to be hard, but I’ll figure something out,” I told him, sounding more confident than I felt.
“Well, I thought you might need a friend to help cheer you up, so, um, if there’s anything you need, just let me know,” he said hopefully.
I knew what Raphe was implying, and I was tempted. I had never felt so low in my life. I could really use a distraction…
“I think I’m good...” I said finally. Sleeping with Raphe would definitely make me feel better—for about twenty minutes. It wouldn’t make my problems go away, though, and I would only end up feeling worse for having used Raphe like that again.
“Oh…okay,” Raphe said limply.
I hung up the phone feeling better about myself for having resisted a destructive urge, especially at a time like this.
I thought about Victor. He had a penchant for destruction. The more I thought about the kind of a person he was and the injustice I had felt in the courtroom earlier today, the more enraged I became.
I couldn’t let him get away with this. Besides destroying both my life and Adrian’s, there were no doubt dozens of other victims ruined by Victor’s envy and greed. The man had kidnapped me, but it was only once he stole my work that I truly felt threatened by him.
Both emotionally and physically exhausted, I went to bed. I woke up the next day feeling refreshed and determined. I looked at my clock; I had slept for over thirteen hours.
I needed to do something. I needed a plan. I needed two plans, actually: one to help Adrian save his business, and one to save the EyeRead—both had come to me in a single dream.
I walked out into the living room and over to Marisol’s bedroom door. I knocked firmly, hoping she was still home.
“Come in!” she yelled.
I entered to find her sitting at her desk, studying.
“Hey, Marisol. Can I talk to you for a minute?” I asked her.
“Sure. Take a seat,” she gestured vaguely around her room.
There were two options: a bed with a small mountain of clothes piled on top of it, or a footstool about two feet tall. I shoved the mountain aside and sat on the bed, folding my legs.
“What’s up?” she asked once I was settled.
“I need your help,” I blurted out. “I know I don’t have any right to ask for any sort of favor, much less one this large after how everything went between you, me, and Raphe. It would be dangerous, but if we can pull it off, I think it could solve everything for both Adrian and me.”
I quickly outlined my plan for her.
“So, I’m supposed to be the bait in your trap for Victor?” Marisol scoffed.
“‘Bait’ is a strong word, but yeah, you’d be right in the thick of it,” I told her. “Will you help me? I need someone with a background like yours.” Marisol’s parents were rich, and if there was one thing Victor respected, it was money.
Marisol jumped up out of her chair with wild blue eyes. “Hell yeah! Let’s kick this guy’s ass! This sounds like fun anyway.”
I hugged her gratefully. “Thanks, Marisol. You’re my best friend. I’m running late, but I will fill you in later,” I headed for the door.
“Where are you going?” Marisol asked curiously.
“To the Dean’s office!” I called over my shoulder to her. “If they want me out of this school, they’re going to have to drag me out,” I vowed to myself as I left the apartment.
Chapter Three
“Yes!” I exclaimed. “Now that Danisha’s appeal has been denied, she’ll be kicked out of school! With no invention to fall back on, she’ll be ruined for sure. She’ll be flipping burgers for the rest of her life and certainly far too busy to ever visit Adrian again,” I said.
Victor chuckled on the other end. “Once I have the EyeRead secured as my property, I can promise you, Sally, Danisha will never bother us again.”
There was a brief flicker of regret in my chest. Deep down, I respected Danisha’s brilliance. Her invention was genius. The flicker was quickly consumed, however, by the jealousy I felt when I remembered how Danisha had gone behind my back to try and lure Adrian away from me.
“Anything new to report to me?” Victor continued.
“Nothing. Adrian is still in Massachusetts helping that little hussy. Hopefully we have managed to isolate Adrian enough from his contacts to keep him in the dark about the lawsuit you’re bringing against him until it’s too late,” I said.
Adrian was actually supposed to be getting back soon. I was able to call Victor from home in his absence, but now I was beginning to think perhaps I should have made the call from the usual bench off of my jogging route instead of on the patio.
“Yes, hopefully. Iraja will be here soon with the information regarding the next steps in our plan. The board meeting to bring our suit against Adrian’s business is at 9:30 a.m. in New York City. Since I cannot go myself, I must help Iraja prepare for it,” Victor said.
I hung up the phone. Turning to go inside, I stopped suddenly. Adrian stood in front of the doorway, blocking my path.
We stared at each other for a long second.
“Who was that on the phone?” Adrian asked. I could tell from his voice that he knew exactly whom I had been talking to.
“Adrian! You’re home,” I said far too brightly. I walked over and hugg
ed him. He did not move to hug me back. “Why don’t we go inside?” I continued.
Adrian stayed firmly rooted to the spot.
“Not until you tell me what you’re doing with that phone,” he said, pointing at my stomach.
I looked down. The bulky satellite phone was protruding from the pocket of my sweatshirt. I cursed mentally. Explaining why I was talking to Victor was one thing, explaining why Victor had sent me my own satellite phone for private communication was another.
“Did you take that from my office?” Adrian asked accusingly.
I froze.
Neither Victor nor Adrian had ever mentioned it to me, but if Victor had sent me a satellite phone, then it served to reason that he would have sent Adrian one as well.
Adrian thought this was the phone Victor had given him. He still didn’t suspect that I have one of my own.
“I…heard it ringing. Yesterday, that is. After you left. I found it in your office and it looked important, so I answered it,” I said, holding my breath, hoping my plan would work.
“That still doesn’t explain why you were just on it right now,” Adrian pressed. “There’s only one person I receive calls from on that phone. Why were you talking to Victor?”
“Could we please sit down inside and talk about this?” I asked desperately.
“Tell me now, or I’ll call Victor and ask him myself,” Adrian threatened.
“No! You can’t!” I shouted.
Adrian looked at me with a raised eyebrow. “Afraid of what he might say?”
“Yes…but not for the reason you might think.”
“Sally, I heard you! I could hear you plotting with Victor against me and my business! How are you going to deny that?” Adrian said, exasperated as he paced in front of me.
“I’m not,” I told him.
Adrian stopped pacing and looked me dead in the eye. “What the hell is going on, Sally? How could you do that to me? I mean, I know we have our problems, but Jesus… Working with my worst enemy to help him destroy me?”
I took a deep breath. Go big or go home, right?
“I’m not helping Victor. I’m double-crossing him.” It was a bold lie to tell —one that could very easily blow up in my face. It was the only thing I could think of on such short notice.
Adrian stared at me incredulously, waiting for me to continue.
“Yesterday, when I answered the phone, Victor tried to persuade me to go behind your back and help him destroy your business. I don’t think he ever imagined I would agree to help; I think he was just trying to unsettle me. I told him I wanted in and he’s been calling me off and on since then trying to get information from me,” I said quickly.
I watched Adrian closely. I knew him better than anyone else in the world, but I couldn’t tell if he believed me or not.
“What did you tell him?” he asked, scrutinizing me.
“What information did I give him? Nothing, really. I told him he would have to wait until you got back to-”
“No.” Adrian cut me off with one word. “What did you tell him to get him to trust you? Victor doesn’t trust anyone. It’s not like him to suddenly blurt out all of his secrets to you. You had to have convinced him somehow. What did you tell him?”
This was the make-it or break-it part of my plan. Either Adrian believed what I was about to tell him, or he would call the police and have me arrested for conspiracy.
“I…I told him…I wanted your business to fail so that you would have more time at home. With me,” I said carefully. It was the first honest thing I had said to Adrian in weeks. “Victor had an easy time believing me after that,” I finished quietly.
I stared at my shoes, not daring to look up and see if Adrian saw through my lies. Several long minutes passed and I felt a soft warmth as Adrian wrapped his arms around me. I hugged him back with all of my strength. I had just come so close to losing everything.
“I’m sorry that I accused you… I’m sorry that our relationship was so bad that Victor had no problem believing you. If I had been a better husband, he wouldn’t have had reason to believe you had a motive against me,” Adrian hung his head, resting his cheek on my shoulder.
I rubbed his back. “Don’t worry, dear. Soon, everything will be right again.”
Chapter Four
I walked into my office to find Jackson sitting in the chair across from my desk, playing with a magnetized hourglass.
“Geez, man. Where have you been? Did you go to the store yourself? Where’s the food?” Jackson asked.
I stepped aside to reveal Sally standing behind me.
“Hey, Sally. When did you get home?”
“I’ve been home. I was out on the patio…on the phone.” Sally said quietly, looking at me out of the corner of her eye.
“The food hasn’t arrived yet, Jack, but Sally here has some interesting news that can’t wait,” I said, wrapping my arms around her shoulders.
Jackson looked at Sally, surprised. “Oh, yeah? Well, lay it on us.”
Jack stood up, went over to the sitting area in my office and sat down again, resting his feet upon the glass coffee table.
I encouragingly nudged Sally over towards the couch and sat down next to her.
“Sally has done what I previously thought impossible. She gained Victor’s trust!” I squeezed Sally’s leg and smiled at her. She gave me a fragile smile in return.
“Hey, don’t worry. I won’t let Victor find out. You’ll be safe,” I whispered to her. “Go ahead,” I said loud enough so Jack could hear. “Tell him what you found out.”
Jackson took his feet off of the table and leaned in to better hear Sally.
“Well, um, Adrian told me you two already know Victor is bringing a suit against him,” Sally said, looking at me. “I don’t think Victor will bring it directly. I’m pretty sure he’s going to send Iraja to take care of it, just like with Danisha’s case.”
I frowned. “Wait, how do you know what happened with Danisha’s case?”
“Victor, um, Victor told me,” she said.
I guessed talking about Danisha was hard for Sally because she wouldn’t look me in the eyes.
“Of course,” I nodded. “Go on, I interrupted you.”
“Um, right, so, Iraja is going to the business bureau and she’s got enough evidence for them to at least put a hold on your business license, if not revoke it completely. They’re meeting tomorrow morning in New York.”
I flew out of my seat. “That’s preposterous! They can’t meet without notifying the accused party!”
Sally looked up at me, twisting her hands in her lap. “They did send notice…Victor asked me to forge your signature…If I hadn’t, then they would have known I wasn’t on their side.”
“That’s okay,” I said as I sat down again, taking her hands in mine. “It’s good that you did. We wouldn’t have found out in time if you hadn’t gone along with it. You made the right choice.”
I turned to Jack, looking at my watch. “It’s late and it’s even later in New York. We’re going to have to leave now if we want to be there in time.”
“Gotcha.” Jackson stood and left the room to go and prepare the plane.
I turned back to Sally. “I know I just got home, Sally, but I have to go and fight this. If I lose my business license, even if it were only for a day, it would utterly destroy my reputation. I can’t allow that to happen.”
“I know,” she said quietly.
I stood and kissed her on the forehead. “I’ll be back soon,” I promised.
“Thank God Sally found out about the meeting in time,” I said to Jackson an hour later, once we were up in the air and eastward bound.
“How did you say she discovered Victor’s plan again?” he asked.
I briefly outlined finding Sally on the phone and my initial fears.
“If I hadn’t been lying to her about Danisha the past few months, perhaps Victor wouldn’t have found a reason to target her,” I said regretfully.
&nb
sp; “Adrian…I know Sally said she’d only been talking to Victor for a few days, but…Have you considered the possibility that she really is helping him and you’re the one who is being double-crossed?” Jackson asked me, carefully keeping his eyes on the night sky in front of him.
“You sound like Danisha,” I muttered. “She suggested Sally was the one feeding Victor files of the EyeRead out of our attic. Sally could never do something like that!”
“Are you sure? Because it sounds to me like before Sally told you this little story that conveniently explained everything away, you were perfectly willing to jump to the same conclusion,” Jackson said drily. “You believe Sally is capable of doing something like this to someone; you just don’t want to believe she could do it to you.”
I didn’t reply, and we spent the remainder of the flight in silence. I tried to think of things objectively. The evidence was starting to pile up against her, but I still couldn’t picture Sally doing something so terrible to me. She knew how much my work meant to me. She would never help Victor destroy me.
We arrived in New York shortly after eight in the morning. The meeting was scheduled for 9:30, so, with no time to sleep, I changed into a suit in the car on the way to the business bureau’s head office in the heart of Manhattan.
Jack stood next to me as we waited for the elevator to take us to the very top floor. I watched as the people around me flinched as their ears popped with the pressure change.
When the doors opened, Jackson and I stepped out to see Iraja already waiting in the lobby. She was busy working on her phone, Victor nowhere in sight.
“Ms. Puri,” I said, grinning as I approached her.
Iraja looked up. Her eyes widened as she recognized me and the significance of my presence here. It confirmed what I had hoped —Victor wasn’t here. If Victor wasn’t here, things were about to be over very quickly.
Iraja immediately returned to her phone, her thumbs flashing across the screen in her haste.
Suddenly, the doors to the business bureau’s office opened.
“They’re ready for you,” the secretary announced.
Hang Em' Up: A Bad Boy Sports Pregnancy Romance Page 80