Alec

by Lagomarsino, Giulia

  “I wanted to say that I’m sorry. I know now that you were right about everything.”

  I stood there, not sure what to say. What was she getting at? We had said goodbye. There was no need to go through this and rehash who was right and who was wrong.

  “I’ve been seeing Dr. Sunshine and I figured a few things out.”

  “I’m glad, Florrie, but I have a job to do. Can this wait until I get back?”

  “No,” she said quickly, wringing her hands together. “I need to get this out and I need to do it now.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest and waited for her to continue.

  “I love you,” she blurted out, tears filling her eyes. “I know that I’m too late and I know that I screwed with your head so much that you could never want me back, but I’m asking that you take one more chance. For me. Say that you still want me. Because I only want you for the rest of my life, and it would kill me to see you with someone else. I just couldn’t take it.”

  She swiped the tears from her face, licking the salt from her lips as she waited for me. But I didn’t know what the fuck to say. I sure as hell wasn’t expecting that. I didn’t think that I would ever hear those words from her, and I thought if I did that I would feel this earth shattering feeling deep inside, but instead, it just made my chest ache in pain. Time had done too much to us. It had ruined what we used to have and turned it into something ugly.

  “Florrie,” I sighed and ran my hand over my beard. I never thought I would be the one giving Florrie the shove off.

  “Don’t say that,” she pleaded. “I know you want to walk away right now. I know you want to give up and tell me that I’m not worth the trouble, but the thing is, I think I am. I’m just a screwed up girl that is asking you to return the love that I tossed away.”

  “It’s not that easy,” I said, taking her hand. “You know that I’ll always love you.” She hiccuped a sob, something that I never thought I would hear from Florrie and it broke my fucking heart, but my heart had already been tattered to shreds, and I just couldn’t put it back together with one declaration. “We’re not meant to be together. There was a time when I thought we were perfect for each other, but too much has happened. It’s never worked between us before. What makes you think now will be any different?”

  “Because I know now that I love you.”

  I stepped forward, cupping her face in my hands. I brushed her tears that were still flowing, and rested my forehead against hers. “I’ll always love you, Florrie. There’s not another fucking woman in this world that could ever make me fall to my knees the way you do. And I’ll never regret a single minute with you. I just can’t do this again. My heart’s already shredded. Believe me, I wanted you more than life itself, but I just…please don’t ask me to do this again.”

  I pressed my lips to her forehead, trying to give myself the courage to walk away from the woman I still loved. She would always be the one. But someday we would both move on and she wouldn’t find it so fucking hard to tell that guy that she loved him, and then she would know for sure that it was right. And me? Someday I’d find a way to love again. It wouldn’t be as good and it wouldn’t be with such an amazing woman, but it would be enough. I was just so fucking glad that I got these three years with Florrie, no matter how fucking hard they were. We almost had everything. We almost had forever.

  I stepped back and stared at the woman I loved. Her beautiful face was streaked with tears and her eyes were shining bright. She’d never looked more fucking beautiful. I wanted to stay, but I forced myself to take another step back and then another. I turned and walked downstairs and onto my job. It was time to move on.

  CHAPTER FORTY

  Florrie

  He stepped away from me and I knew I had lost. I had poured my heart out to him, but it wasn’t enough. I had pushed him away for too long and he’d had enough. I couldn’t blame him. I didn’t even want to be with me. I watched his tall frame walk away from me. Those rough hands would never touch me again. I would never feel his lips on mine or feel the warmth of his body next to me.

  I couldn’t let this be the way it ended though. I raced down the hallway, my heart pounding as I ran after him. I got to the living room and was just about to call out for him when I saw Hannah wrap her arm around his waist. She turned back to me and shot me a look that had unease shivering down my spine. Something was wrong here, and I had felt it from the moment she came. But I had pushed it aside, thinking that I was just jealous of her connection with Alec. I knew that something was off, but if I went after Alec and told him that I didn’t trust Hannah, he would accuse me of looking for danger where there wasn’t any because he had rejected me.

  I turned and ran for the IT room. Becky was sitting at the computer, doing shit that I had no idea about. “Becky, I need your help.”

  “Can it wait? I’m trying to get Reed Security back up and running so that I can move on with my life.”

  “Whatever,” I said, shoving her stuff aside so that I could get her attention. “You know you don’t actually want to leave us. Besides, I have something important, something that could get our guys hurt if I’m right.”

  “Alright, you have my attention. But I’m still leaving. What’s going on?”

  “This girl, Hannah, what do you know about her?”

  “Um, just what the prosecutors sent over about the case. Why?”

  “Something’s up with her. I just get a bad feeling when I’m around her.”

  “Okay,” she said slowly. “Do you have something for me to go on other than your gut instincts?”

  “Isn’t that enough?”

  “I don’t know. I mean, you let Alec get away. I’m not sure your instincts are working properly.”

  “We can worry about that later. If I’m right, he could end up dead because of this woman.”

  “Alright, I’ll get to work, but I’m not sure what I’ll find.”

  “Good.” I stood there and waited. After a moment of her typing, she looked up at me expectantly.

  “Are you just going to stand there?”

  “Well, yeah. I need to find out what’s going on.”

  She sighed, but started working again. Our first lead came an hour later. “Okay, after looking over the case, the only thing that strikes me as odd is that Nathan Sharpe, the guy she’s accusing of insider trading, just inherited a crap ton of money.”

  “What’s odd about that?”

  “Well, he’s extremely wealthy. He claimed his inheritance about a year ago. Most people that are that wealthy don’t need to pull off illegal activities to get ahead. I mean, from what I see, he’s a pretty ruthless businessman, but everything I’m reading about him shows that he’s also pretty fair to his employees and business associates. Why would a man that’s good to his employees do something that could hurt his employees?”

  “But that’s still just a theory. And if she has documents that prove he’s guilty, then that doesn’t help us at all.”

  She scrolled through some more information on the man and paused. I was dying to know what she was reading.

  “What is it?”

  She held up her finger, her lips moving as she read something.

  “Come on, tell me what it is.”

  Her finger stayed up and she continued to read.

  I tapped my foot in irritation, waiting a good five minutes for her to finish. She spun around with a smile on her face. “Well, I think I have a lead for us to go on.”

  “Okay, what is it?”

  “His inheritance.”

  “What about it?” I asked impatiently.

  “He inherited, but there was a second person that would inherit in the event that he performed any illegal acts.”

  “Like, even a parking ticket?”

  “I would have to see the amendment to the document, but I doubt that would disqualify him.”

  “And he knew about this?”

  “Most likely. I’m sure that any good lawyer would have informed him
to be on his best behavior.”

  “How long is that valid? You said that he inherited a year ago.”

  “It stands as long as he’s living. He can only change it when he writes his own will.”

  “Okay, so who does the inheritance go to?”

  “A man named Jason Moran. He was the caretaker’s son. But he’s been living in Montana for the past two years.”

  “So, it’s unlikely that he knew about the will.”

  “Well, the only way he would know is if he had somehow seen the will beforehand, which is highly unlikely.”

  I was getting frustrated. This was going nowhere. “I don’t see what this has to do with Hannah.”

  “Maybe nothing, but she’s the one that’s accusing him. Why don’t you get ahold of Sharpe’s lawyer. See if you can find out what they know.”

  “They’re not going to tell me anything. Besides, with the trial starting soon, they’ll be focused on their gameplan.”

  “Then you’d better be really convincing.”