Chapter 17

Becka

Both men turned to look at me and, for a moment, I was sure I was going to pass out. I grabbed the side of my desk and made my way back to my chair. I scanned both of them for a family resemblance but couldn’t see any. There was nothing about them physically to suggest they were brothers.

“You’re done for, Oliver,” Ethan seethed. “We had an agreement.”

“You breached our agreement when you started messing around with the past and when you took a step into Becka’s classroom asking questions.”

“I…” I was speechless.

“No need to say anything,” Oliver said, not even glancing in my direction. “I’m going to have a quick meeting with my brother, here, and then he’s going to leave this office quietly and we’re not going to hear from him again, isn’t that right, Ethan?”

“We’ll see what you have to say,” Ethan said. His dark demeanor was back. I couldn’t fathom which brother was telling me the truth, or maybe both were. Or neither. My head was spinning. I heard Ethan’s story over again in my head and wondered… was it possible that he had substituted Oliver’s actions for his own?

Was he the one who had been responsible for the animal testing, for nearly ending Neuotova so many years ago? Or was it Oliver, just as Ethan had told me? Oliver had said that Ethan didn’t like me, that he was only using me as a pawn to get back at Oliver. But, I had been with Ethan; I’d felt his lips on mine, and I knew he wasn’t just using me.

I watched as Oliver and Ethan, the two brothers, walked away from my desk and into Oliver’s office. The door closed and I could hear their voices, muffled and angry, through the mostly sound-proof door.

I stared at the closed door for the better part of an hour trying to take in the one piece of truth both men had confirmed to be true: they were not just partners, not just best friends who had gone to school together and had had a falling out. They were… I could barely wrap my mind around the word: brothers.

Suddenly, there was a crash from inside the office. I jumped up just as the door opened.

“I’ll fucking kill you,” Ethan swore. His face was red and he was sweating; his hair was mussed up as if the two men had tousled.

“You don’t have the nerve, but you better watch your back, because I do have the nerve,” Oliver retaliated.

I couldn’t believe my ears. Were these two threatening each other in front of me? I grabbed my purse and I walked out without a word. I could hear Oliver calling after me, but I ignored him. I felt tears in my eyes but I blinked them away quickly.

I never cried at work, and I never cried for a man. I was just so completely overwhelmed by everything that had happened, not just today, but since the moment Oliver had walked into my life.

Rather than go straight home, I texted Lisa and told her I was heading to Armadan, a wine bar near Oliver’s company. It was early, even for happy hour, but I needed a drink. What I needed more was to clear my head.

I walked briskly to the bar, taking deep breaths as I moved along. I felt a pang in my stomach and I knew it was because I had left Oliver and Ethan in his office. They weren’t alone in the building, of course, but I felt like I should have called the police or something.

The police. I wondered if they knew anything about this situation. Typically, the cops don’t get involved on the city level in corporate situations; that’s more the FBI’s sort of thing, I suspected. But, if something happened to one of them… I knew I needed to focus my research not only on the truth of what was happening with Neurotova, but I also needed to uncover which of the two men, Oliver or Ethan, was telling the truth.

Finding out the answer would affect my life either way; I was sure I wanted to be with Oliver, but… that was only if I knew for certain that Oliver was the man I believed him to be.

As for Ethan, I didn’t know what to do. Each of our encounters brought us closer and closer to me cheating on Oliver. Oliver and I had never had a conversation about being exclusive, but I didn’t even know if adults did that. Would I call myself his girlfriend? It depended on who I was talking to.

I shook my head and walked into Armadan. The bartender was someone I’d met before, a man in his early fifties named Rico, and he smiled when he saw me.

“Becka! Happy day!” He looked at his watch, then he looked back at me with mock disappointment on his face. “Darn, you’re early. I thought time was just going by quickly today.”

“I tried to hold out,” I said, smiling as I sat on the bar stool, setting my purse next to me on the bar, “but it’s an early happy hour day. Can I have a sav blanc, please? Whatever you have open.”

“Oh, I have a sav blanc to die for. It’s new; we just got it in.” He looked happy to have the opportunity to share the wine with someone he knew would love it. As he poured, I glanced around the bar. It was a smallish space, and, as early as it was, there were only four of us in the place.

Armadan didn’t serve much in the way of food, so it was a place that people tended to hit either before dinner or after. I love it for basically that reason. I had discovered it my first day working at Oliver’s company, and I’d been there at least twice a week since.

Rico set the glass in front of me with a flourish and smiled. “Enjoy,” he said. “It will erase any difficulties of the day,” he promised.

“That’s a tall order from a little glass of wine,” I said, “but I’m willing to give it the chance.” I took a sip. The crisp, sweet, lightness of the sav blanc hit my taste buds and I felt my body begin to relax almost instantly. There was something about a really great glass of wine that could help put things into perspective.

“Well?” he asked. “What’s the verdict?”

“Interestingly enough, all the difficulties of my day have been completely erased!” I grinned. Rico nodded and smiled.

“See? It’s magical elixir!”

A couple came into the bar and Rico moved to help them. I checked my messages; Lisa was on her way. I wondered how much I should tell her about what had happened.

She didn’t know anything about my research, but she knew plenty about Ethan. After I’d described my first meeting with Ethan, she had, right away, suspected that I was attracted to him. I remember blushing as I thought about him and tried to convince her that I wasn’t into him at all. It hadn’t worked, of course.

I was halfway through my first glass of wine when Lisa came through the door and sat next to me.

“Whew!” she sighed. “Trying to get anywhere in this town is completely crazy, sorry. How are you? What’s with the emergency happy hour?” As she talked, she dropped her bag on the chair next to her with a thud.

“Let’s get you a drink first,” I said. I waved Rico over, introduced him to Lisa, and she ordered a cocktail. “Okay,” I continued once she had her drink in hand, “here’s what’s going on.” I told her about everything relating to Ethan except for him and Oliver being brothers. I also left out my research, though I began to wonder if Lisa might be someone who could help me. She was as smart as hell smart, maybe she could think of some avenues I hadn’t explored yet.

“So,” she said, shaking her head, “you have two billionaires fighting over you.”

That would be the only possible interpretation she had to conclude, based on the information I’d given her. It felt like a lie; I wasn’t used to not being fully honest with Lisa and, though I’d lied by not telling her all of the information, it was still very much a lie.

“Yes,” I said.

“Two billionaires. You’re right, I did need a drink for that. Have you talked to either one of them since it happened?”

“I turned my phone off,” I said. “It all happened right before I came here, so I have no idea.” I finished my glass of wine and signaled to Rico that I wanted another. “For all I know, they’re still beating on each other in Oliver’s office.”

“So, what are you going to do? Who are you going to choose?”

I looked at her and realized that was really the question it all came down to. It was muddied by a lot of other details, but that was it. I knew that Ethan wanted me as much as Oliver. All of my research was really to determine which one of them I wanted, because I didn’t know. I wanted them both. Of course, that wasn’t possible…

“Earth to Becka,” Lisa said. “Come in, Becka.” She laughed and shook my knee with her hand.

“Sorry,” I said, flying back into the conversation from my thoughts. “I have no idea which one I’m going to choose. Isn’t that crazy? Right now, they’re both being so weird about work, their jobs, I mean, and…” and that was all I could say. Unless I told her. “And… they’re brothers.” I finally admitted.

“They’re what?” Lisa screeched.

“Shhh,” I hushed her. “Keep your voice down.” The bar was still relatively empty, but everyone in the place, including Rico, had turned when she exclaimed.

“I just found that out,” I said. “They’re related. I don’t know what their relationship was like when they were growing up, but it clearly isn’t good now.”

“Billionaire brothers,” Lisa sang. “You’re practically living in a soap opera! Oh, you poor thing,” she winced for me but then also clapped her hands together gleefully. “I’m sorry, but this is the craziest thing!”

“I know, I know,” I said. “It’s ridiculous. Maybe I should just cut them both loose.” That was a possibility as well, one that had just occurred to me. I could tell them both that they were too complicating, that I couldn’t choose, couldn’t deal with the drama of Neurotova, and then I could bail.

And say goodbye to your career, a voice in my head said matter of factly. Which was also true. If I abandoned my internship, I would be putting a mark on my resume that would never come off. And the food science world is small; everyone would hear about it. It could even affect my own research and position with the college.

“Well, you obviously can’t do that,” Lisa said. “That would be like tearing up a million-dollar lottery ticket.”

“Lottery winners are cursed,” I reminded her. We’d watched this documentary on lottery winners once and vowed to never, ever buy another lottery ticket.

“You have two billionaires chasing after you. No way you can come out a loser in this deal,” she said. “Just figure out which one you want, let them fight over you for a bit, then tell them your decision.”

“Just like that,” I said, smiling and shaking my head.

We finished our drinks and lined up an Uber driver for the ride home to our apartment. In the car, I turned my phone back on. Lisa smiled as my phone lit up with missed calls and messages. I had multiple texts from Oliver and Ethan. Missed calls from both of them, but also a missed call from Dr. Evans. I dialed my voicemail, confused. I quickly deleted a voicemail from Ethan without listening to it. The second message was from Dr. Evans.

“Becka,” her voice said on the recording, “I need to talk to you immediately. Call me back.” Her voice sounded strained. I listened to the message again, then pressed 9 to get the time of her call. She’d called just a few minutes after I’d arrived at the wine bar. I clicked my phone off to end my voicemail before another message from Ethan or one from Oliver came through.

I dialed her cell number; she answered immediately.

“Becka,” she said, “I need to talk to you.”

“Do you want me to come into your office tomorrow?” I asked. “I was planning to come to campus anyway.”

“Are you involved with Oliver Weeks?” she asked, her voice steady.

“Um, involved?” I asked. Lisa glanced over at me. I felt a surge of energy—anxiety—move through me. “How do you mean? I mean, I work for Neurotova, you know that.”

“That is not what I’m talking about,” she said. Her voice was becoming more strained. “I mean, are you two…”

“No!” I said sharply. I took a deep breath. “Maybe. Look, what is this about?”

“If you’re involved with him on any other level than professionally, you need to tell me.”

I was getting a little annoyed. I adored Dr. Evans, but it was, quite frankly, none of her business who I was involved with non-professionally.

“Actually,” I said, “I don’t need to tell you anything about my personal life… do I?” The words coming out of my mouth started confident but ended in the tone of the college student I’d been talking to her professor.

“Becka, this is serious. The college has received word that there are allegations against Oliver Weeks for criminal misconduct relating to animal experimentation. Your name was also mentioned, though there are no charges connected to you. But, if you are involved with him, you are sure to be investigated, and the college is demanding our—yours and mine—full cooperation in the matter.”

Ethan. He had called the college trying to get Oliver in trouble, and now my name was getting dragged into it.

“Dr. Evans,” I began slowly, “I can assure you that any relationship I have with Oliver, with Dr. Weeks, is purely professional. And I certainly have not been involved with anything criminal! You know me well enough to know that.”

I heard her sigh on her end of the line. “I do know you very well,” she said. “How about if you come to the office tomorrow and we can talk. I wanted you to be aware; you will be under investigation as a part of the police looking into Oliver Weeks. Do you have a lawyer?”

“No,” I said, and now I could hear the fear in my voice. “Do I need one?”

“It might not be a bad idea to have one who can give you a consult and hopefully represent you in case the police do decide to file charges. I can see if the college can help you, or if that’s a conflict of interest.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I have to go.” Lisa was staring at me now and I felt sick. I wished I’d only had one glass of wine; the second was threatening to explode in my stomach.

I hung up and looked at Lisa. “I didn’t tell you everything before,” I said. “Oliver is under investigation for criminal activity relating to experimenting on animals at Neurotova. I’ve been doing some research on my own to try to determine if he’s doing it or not.

Somehow the cops found out. That was my advisor on the phone. She said that my name has been brought up in the case and now I’m under investigation because of my involvement with Oliver.”

“Holy shit,” she said.

“Exactly. Holy shit indeed. I have to call Oliver.”