Nicholas

 

 

It's after six now. I've been staring at the screen of my phone for almost an hour. I know Sophia's work day ends at five. At least it did when she was an executive assistant. When Gabriel told me yesterday that he moved her over to the design department, I wanted to find her and congratulate her. I didn't. There's no way in hell the woman wants anything to do with me since I tried to destroy her entire life. I jumped to a fucked up conclusion that I should have known couldn't be true. 

I want to call her, but I have no idea what the hell I'd say to her.

Sophia's forgiveness is what I want. It's the one and only thing I want right now.

"I'm heading home, Nick." Cheyenne walks back into my living room. She's been on the phone for the past two hours trying to put a positive spin on what's happened. It's a tall task that even she isn't equipped to handle.

By mid-morning today, my lawyer was able to get most of the private emails that were leaked removed from the websites that posted them. By noon he had the name of the person responsible for all of it.

Joe, the tech guy I trusted with my computer, was the asshole who sold my book and then upped the ante by selling my private emails, photographs and whatever the hell else he could from the data he downloaded from my laptop when I asked him to fix a sticky key on the keyboard.

I thought nothing of dropping my computer off with him one afternoon a few weeks ago. When I picked it up, he made an off-handed comment about all the sensitive information on my laptop. I thought he was joking. Apparently, it was a warning.

I made the call to Gabriel Foster once I had confirmation it was Joe. He fired him on the spot and now their tech department is reviewing everything Joe accessed and downloaded. When I last spoke to Gabriel an hour ago, he told me that one of his senior tech guys retraced Joe's digital steps. He didn't access any of the confidential files related to Foster's upcoming designs, but he had a huge interest in the contact information and test shots for the models Foster Enterprises utilizes for their print campaigns.

"Your tech guy is a dick." Cheyenne slides her coat on before she wraps a pink scarf around her neck. "What's going to happen to him?"

"Sebastian said he'll be arrested. It's not his division, but he said it's a clear case." I toss my phone onto the coffee table. "I need to go downtown tomorrow to fill out a statement."

"Do you want me to go with you?"

I shake my head. "You need a day off. I'll catch you later in the week."

"This shows that you can't trust anyone completely." She shoulders her purse. "I thought all along it was Sophia. Your computer guy wasn't even on my radar."

Or mine. He was so far off my radar that I accused Sophia of stealing. If that doesn't make me enough of a prick, I had to up the stakes by calling her boss before I told Claudia to steer clear of her in the future. 

"Do you want me to call for a car?" I ignore her comment. The only reason she thought it was Sophia is because I'm the jerk who told her that.

"I'm taking the bus." She takes one step toward the door before she turns to look at me. "Don't beat yourself up over this, Nick. You'll sue Joe and the website that paid him all that money."

"Sure."

"Steve worked his magic and things are good with the publisher. You're going to make it out of this in one piece."

I give her a nod as she turns to leave. I may make it out of this in one piece, but I changed the entire course of my future and Sophia's. I know she's the woman I'm destined to be with and now I'll never get a chance to tell her that.

 

***

 

"Go talk to her." Liam pushes on the edge of the empty plate in front of him. "You didn't have to buy me dinner to ask me a question about your girlfriend, Nick."

I weigh how to respond. "She's not my girlfriend, Liam. We never defined our relationship."

He glances over my shoulder. The restaurant he chose is busy for a Wednesday night. It wouldn't be my first choice and it's not just because the food is subpar. People have recognized me all night and even though only two have approached our table, I can feel more than a dozen sets of eyes burning a path through my back at any given second.

I wanted to order in at my place, but Liam was insistent. I met him here and agreed to foot the bill because I still feel guilty about our private emails seeing the light of day.

"You're splitting hairs." He takes a pull from his beer. It's an expensive import that he'd never typically drink. He's making me pay, literally, for not deleting those emails when he asked me to months ago. "You like this girl. If you hadn't fucked it up, she'd be your girlfriend. She was that before all this went down."

She was. I viewed her that way and I believe Sophia considered herself my girlfriend. The title doesn't matter. What does matter is the way I feel about her. "Tell me how to fix this."

"I specialize in grief counseling." He brushes his hair from the side of his face. "I'm not an expert on situations where one lover accuses another of stealing their unpublished manuscript. I read it, by the way. It's brilliant as usual."

I take the compliment with a smile. It would have done well if I had been given the opportunity to release it. "Thanks, Wolf.  I appreciate that you took the time to read a pirated copy of my book."

He laughs. The sound is rich and warm. "You lost a few million in that, didn't you?"

That's a low estimate. The advance alone was near eight figures. "Around that. I'll recoup some one day if this thing goes to court or it settles before it comes to that."

"You're lucky you've got a big bank account to fall back on."

I swallow a mouthful of the wine I ordered with my dinner. "Whatever I recover I'll donate. The book is out there now. I might as well turn this into something positive."

"You're a good man, Nick."

"Tell me how to convince Sophia I am."

He finishes the last swallow of his beer. "Start with an apology."