“Wait, what?” She frantically looks around, noticing the guards before screaming, “NO!” Both guards grab an arm and start pulling her to the door. “Bentley, you have to let me explain! Please!”
“The police will be in contact, Miss West. I wouldn’t go far.” I grin selfishly at her.
Her face turns red as more tears stream down her guilty face. “Please, no! I swear I’ll tell you everything!” She begins kicking as the guards exit my office and shut the door behind them. I can hear her screaming and fighting them all the way down the hall.
I’ve turned off every emotional outlet inside—or at least the alcohol is assisting in making sure it stays that way. That’s what got me in this problem in the first place. I couldn’t let that control my actions anymore.
Now is damage control.
I need to figure out what information she got away with. What information she got from her dad’s case and anything else she found while scanning in transcripts.
My father is going to kill me.
Not a tinge of guilt ripples through my body as I imagine the guards kicking her off Leighton Enterprises property. I only wish I could’ve witnessed it myself. The look on her face when I revealed her real name was priceless. She knew her lies were now exposed.
I grab the West file and pack it into my briefcase. I need to examine everything before the press gets ahold of anything. Either she has a buyer on standby already or it’s for her own personal investigation—either way, charges will be made.
“How the hell did this happen? What the fuck were you thinking? Have you lost your damn mind?” My father’s been screaming at me for the last twenty minutes. I’ve basically tuned him out now. Of course, I know he’s be pissed. I’m pissed. But he’s beyond anything I’ve ever seen him before.
Bentley—0,
Girls-who-fucked-me-over-for-information—2.
I surrendered to my dad’s screaming match. Basically, he’d been yelling to hear himself yell by this time. I wasn’t even fighting back. There was nothing I could say to defend myself. I fucked up.
“Ashton!” my mother scolded, breaking him out of his rage. “That’s enough.”
“It’s fine, Mom. Let him get it out.”
“Is that what this is to you? A little game that’s just going to go away?”
“No, not at all. I’m going to do everything in my power to keep anything from being leaked. I’m already on it. You don’t need to worry. I don’t think she was looking to sell anything. She’s West’s daughter. She wanted information for herself or her family. I don’t know for sure, but I’m on alert.”
“You better be. This could cost you big time.”
“That’s enough now.” My mother grabbed his arm and forced his body to jerk toward her. “Yelling at him isn’t going to change anything now.”
“Perhaps you’re in the wrong business, son,” he mutters just before my mother drags him toward the door.
“Perhaps you’re right,” I mumble.
Chapter Two
Cecilia
I DESERVE EVERYTHING Bentley is handing to me right now, but fuck if it still doesn’t hurt. The look on his face—empty and distant—makes me want to run up to him and beg him to give me another chance. I want to wrap my arms around him and remind him of what we have—how we feel for each other. I want to go back in time and fix this.
But I can’t.
And truthfully, I’m not even sure I would. I came in with the intention of finding information out on my dad, and although I was able to get his file, I’m not sure it’s going to help me much, but I had to at least try. I couldn’t let the opportunity pass without at least knowing I did what I could.
I sit in my car and sob. I cry for the pain I’ve caused Bentley, for the lies and secrets I’ve held, and for the loss of him. I cry because I’m going to miss him and there’s nothing I can do to win him back. I know that what I’ve done is inexcusable.
I don’t even know what he knows, or how he knows it, but it doesn’t matter anymore. It was only a matter of time. Had I not ignored him all week, perhaps he wouldn’t have found out, but the truth would’ve came out eventually. It was just a matter of time before the bomb went off.
I realize this.
I should’ve known better. But the way I feel for him…falling for him, clouded all my better judgment.
Usually, I’d be on the phone with Cora planning something to keep my mind off Bentley, but what was the point? I hadn’t told her much about him and nothing would ever get my mind off him. He was the first guy I’ve ever connected to, the first guy I’ve ever really given myself all to—the first one I wanted to be around, to have more.
I feel completely helpless. Everything taken from me at once, everything I never deserved in the first place. I wish I could feel sorry for myself and cry about how unfair it is, but I can’t. I’m not that girl. And rationally, I know this isn’t unfair. It’s everything deserve.
I drive home in a haze, still in shock and filled with questions of what Bentley knows or how he found out. Answers I’ll never find out, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting to know. My dad’s file is completely confusing to me, but at least it’ll answer some of my questions—but first, I need to get home and tell Casey.
* * *
I knock softly on Casey’s door with his file under my arm. I know she’s going to freak out, but she’s the only one that can understand my frustration and how I’m feeling. I have nothing to lose at this point.
“Case, can I come in?” I hear light sobs so I cautiously enter. She’s lying down on her bed with her hands covering her face. “Why are you crying? What happened?”
I sit next to her and wrap my arms around her. I’ve never seen her like this before. Casey is always so strong and hardly shows emotion. This wasn’t usual for her.
“Go away, Celia.”
I hug her tighter. “No, just tell me what’s wrong.”
“I caught Elliot cheating on me. And yet, he denies it! Who does that?” she sobs, yelling into her hands.
I look at her in confusion—she’s dating someone?
“Asshole,” I mutter. “H-How long were you guys dating?”
“Like six months…”
“Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
Her head pops up, she wipes under her eyes that are bright red and watered with tears.
“You tell me about every guy you date?”
“We never talk about guys, Casey.”
“Exactly.” She sniffs and sits up next to me.
“You’ve never brought a guy home before,” I remind her. “I was starting to think you didn’t swing that way,” I tease, hoping to make her smile.
She scowls at me before replying, “There’s nothing to take a guy home to. Mom’s never home. You’re never home. And really, what’s going to happen? Not like Mom would take time out of her work schedule to cook dinner for us all. I guess it worked out for the best though since he’s apparently a cheating bastard.”
I hadn’t thought much about bringing home guys to meet Mom or Casey. When Bentley introduced me to his mom as Emily, I knew he’d never be able to meet my mom. Not without some kind of explanation at least.
“Well, either way, I’m sorry you got hurt. Guys can be unpredictable douchebags.”
She turns toward me with a small smile on her face. “Oh yeah? Care to share anything?”
“Uh, no. Trust me. You don’t want to know.”
“C’mon. It might make me feel better.” She grins widely, waggling her eyebrows at me like a cat in heat.
“Oh…I can guarantee you’d forget about Elliot if I told you my story. But it’d get me into too much trouble, so I’m keeping my lips sealed.” I twist a lock over my lips to emphasize I’m not spilling.
She frowns and her eyes bow down to the floor. “Fine. Make a girl suffer alone then.”
“Stop it.” I knock shoulders with her, getting her to smile. “The plus side of both of us down at the same time
is we can wallow together. Ice cream, trashy magazines, and reality shows.”
“Oh, my god.” She laughs. “Sometimes I forget you’re not an eleven-year-old brat anymore.” I smile back at her. “Now you’re an eighteen-year-old brat.”
She laughs loudly as I push her over, making her fall to her side. “Okay, you’re only like three years older than me.”
She sits up and looks at me sincerely. “I know. We should do more stuff together.”
“Agreed. Now…time to raid the kitchen.”
* * *
“So what was this boy’s name?” she asks as we both sit against the headboard watching reruns of some reality show and scooping chocolate ice cream out of the container.
“Bentley…”
“Oh, he even sounds hot.”
“He is.” I eat another mouthful of ice cream, hoping it freezes my brain, and I forget everything perfect about him. “I screwed up though, not him.”
She turns to me with a shocked expression. “I guess he didn’t forgive you.”
“Oh, hell no. He was mad to say the least. I deserved it.”
She’s looking at me with a careful expression as if she’s wondering if she should go there or not. We don’t share a lot of personal information about each other. Just seems easier when you’re in an unreliable family.
“Well, whatever you did, I’m sure it was with the best intentions.” She shrugs, clearly trying to make me feel better.
“Yeah…it was. But it doesn’t matter. I screwed up and have lost him forever.”
“You’re only eighteen, Celia,” she offers. “You have plenty of time. Plus, guys are going to be tripping over each other to date you in college.” She smiles and curls her feet underneath her. “Like, I worry about your safety. Perhaps you should hire a bodyguard just in case.”
“You’re so dramatic.” I laugh. “But then what if the bodyguard starts coming on to me. Who’ll protect me then?” I mock.
“We’ll make sure it’s a woman.”
“And what if she hits on me?” I laugh again.
“Well, then just fucking roll with it. It’ll probably work out better anyway.” She giggles.
“You’re probably right.”
* * *
I wake up sometime in the middle of the night still in Casey’s bed. Surprisingly, we had a pretty good night. We gossiped, watched TV, and just let our guard down with each other. I hadn’t ever felt that comfortable with Casey in my entire life. It made me feel so much better knowing I had someone who could relate with what I was feeling, and that I had someone to go to for comfort.
I call Simon after breakfast and tell him to meet me at the coffee house. My dad’s file is still my only hope and the sooner we get through the rest, the better.
“Jesus, Celia. How many days are you planning to stay up?” he asks, eyeing my quad shot caramel latté.
“Trust me, I need it.” I yawn, taking a seat next to him. “You will, too.”
He rolls his eyes dramatically at me. “What would you do without me?”
“Uh, drink my coffee in peace.”
“You’re so lucky I deal with your shit.”
“I know.” I smile weakly at him, secretly thanking him for it. “Now, last time you mentioned something about my dad’s finances. I want to go through and see if there’s any mention about a lock box, security box, or something like that. Anything that would connect to the note I found in my mom’s room.” He gives me a disapproving look as I sip my coffee. “What?”
“You’re getting your hopes up.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.” He shifts his chair closer to me.”
“Don’t you think if the police knew about any lock box, they’d be the first ones in it? And if they knew, your mom would have no reason to hide the code?”
I exhale and think about what he says. He has a point. “Okay, you’re probably right. So you think he hid money in there? I mean since his accounts were never consistent.”
“It’s possible. But maybe your mom doesn’t even know. If she did, she wouldn’t keep the code. Or need to hide it. I doubt she even knows what’s in there.”
“So why would you keep a code of a secret lock box for seven years and never try to find it?” I question aloud.
“Maybe she’s waiting for something. Like a certain time.”
“It just doesn’t make sense. Maybe she knew about it? Or maybe she found the paperwork for it and burned it but wrote down the code so she wouldn’t forget?” I sit anxiously, tapping my foot. “Gah, this is so infuriating. Why can’t she just freaking tell me? Why does she act like everything is so dangerous when I question her?”
“Maybe she’s keeping it a secret for a reason, Celia. Maybe there’s secrets she can’t bare to tell you, and wants to protect you. Maybe you should just let her,” he says sincerely, but cringes as he takes in my expression.
“I think I deserve to know. I almost died that day too, or well, I could’ve had a bullet hit me in the neck or something. And this person is just walking around the Earth as if he didn’t kill my father. It’s just not fair.”
“Of course, it’s not fair. Nothing about this is fair.”
“If I could just find something that brings me closer to him, something that tells me my dad died as a good person, maybe I’d be satisfied enough. But right now, there are just too many unanswered questions. It drives me insane. Every day, Simon, every day. I wake up with a million questions. I wake up wondering why I didn’t get to keep my dad, why I was chosen to lose him, why he was chosen to die. They’re questions I can’t get out of my head. How am I just supposed to walk away from that? How do you continue to live without trying to do anything possible to find the answers to those questions?” I ramble without looking him in the eyes. It’s painful letting everything out, but I feel safe with Simon. I feel comfortable enough to cry in front of him.
Tears slowly fall down my face and roll off my cheeks, hitting the table below me. I wipe them off before Simon can see, but I know he notices.
“Celia…c’mon, let’s read through the rest.” He shifts his chair directly next to mine, opening up the file in front of us.
Chapter Three
Bentley
I PACE MY office until the darkness has consumed me. The cleaning crew has been in already and turned the lights off when I was pacing the hallway. Once I came back in, I never bothered to turn them back on.
What was the point?
A full week has gone by without seeing or talking to Ceci. Not that I had expected to see or talk to her, but part of me—a messed up part—was hoping she’d at least try to contact me via email or text message.
I never planned to call the cops. Even my father won’t because the press would get a hold of that and run with it—it would be bad publicity on Leighton Enterprises. However, that doesn’t stop my father from chewing my ass out every chance he has.
The city lights shine through the window giving me just enough light to walk the length of my office. I don’t know what else to do or how I’m supposed to handle this. From the file alone, there isn’t anything remotely intriguing enough to sell—if that were her intent. Something inside me knows it wasn’t. She’s just a little girl that lost her dad and wanted answers. Perhaps that is what’s worse—knowing she came in with the intention of stealing information for her own gain. She already had the internship—she wouldn’t need to sleep with me to get anything else, but that sure as shit doesn’t simmer the anger. All the unknown, all the rage building up inside me—makes it impossible to let it go knowing she was willing to risk my company’s reputation for her own gain.
I haven’t slept since last weekend. And even when I did, it was her that I saw. Her face, her laughing, her perfect curves pressed up against mine—everything about her is ingrained into my brain.
I grab my keys and bolt out of the office. I need to keep myself busy. I need to be productive in something.
I decide to hit the
gym and run off some steam. There just so happens to be a kickboxing class starting. What the hell? Might as well join. Maybe it’ll be good for me.
That class is mixed with both guys and chicks. It’s a beginners’ class, but I’m pretty sure I can kick the shit out of the bag.
“Welcome, class. My name is Maya. I’m going to go through some basic moves and then we can get into a routine.”
She runs through techniques and stances before we really get into it. It’s actually fun, and I find myself enjoying it. I kick and punch with everything I have, taking everything out on the bag.
She begins clapping to gain our attention and says, “Great job, class! Y’all did wonderfully! If anyone is interested, I’m teaching two classes a week—this one and a more advanced one. Feel free to stop in if you’re feeling brave.” She winks and claps again, applauding us for how well we did.
I walk up to her once the crowd leaves and tell her thanks for a great class.
“You did great,” she beams.
“What day is your other class? I might stop in.”
“Wednesday nights.” She looks me up and down. “You should stop in. You can stay in the back if you’re not quite up to the level.”
“Sure.” I smile back. “Sounds great. Thanks.” I wave as I leave, and for the first time all week, I feel as if I have something to look forward to doing. Working out during my modeling days was part of the job, but now it’d be for fun. Something to get my mind back on track.
* * *
“Well, you look like you’re in a better mood finally,” Erika comments as I walk in Monday morning.
“Don’t let looks deceive you,” I snap as I walk past her. I felt great Saturday night after boxing class—re-energized. But Sunday morning, after spending the morning with my parents at brunch just reminded me of my fuck up and of her.
I barely finish my coffee and get through my emails before Ryan pops his head in.
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