NICHOLAI
Hours upon hours of interrogations about things I know nothing about have my head pounding. All I can think about is getting to Natasha but I’m stuck here, listening to my lawyers argue with the FBI agents who say some person has told them things about me.
Things that could have my ass locked away for treason!
One of my lawyers leans over and whispers, “This is not going well.”
I nod in agreement and listen as someone walks into the room. A note is given to one of the agents and a frown fills his face. “Bullshit!” He gets up and leaves the room.
The other agents, including Natasha’s father, leave the room, one by one, until only one is left. My lawyers are as confused as I am. “What’s going on?” I finally ask the only agent left.
He shrugs and gets up to go find out. Just as he gets to the door, it opens and it’s Greenwell who walks in and walks right up to me. “I’d love to know what angel is watching over you, Grimm. The man who made the accusations made a phone call to tell us he’d lied. Seems his morals came back around and he saw fit, to tell the truth. He’s not a U.S. citizen so he can’t be punished by our government for his lies. You are free to go.”
“I told you it was a lie,” I say. “I want to see Natasha.”
“That’s up to her,” her father says then walks away.
I find it amazing he said that and hurry out of the room to get to Nantucket as fast as I can. I pass her father in the hallway as my attorneys and I leave. The look he gives me has me wondering what in the hell has him smiling.
“Have you taken her somewhere, else, Greenwell?” I ask him as I stop and stand in front of him.
“Nope,” he says and looks me in the eye. “I have not done a thing with her. But I did get a great phone call a couple of minutes ago. She’s found a new job and has promised me she will not be seeing you anymore. So, I’m happy.”
I’m filled with anger but let it go as I think she has to be misleading him on purpose. With a nod, I turn around. “I see.”
“You will respect her wishes, won’t you, Grimm?” he asks me as I walk away.
“Of course. But I will hear it from her lips that she no longer wants me before I let her go completely,” I let him know before I go.
“Fine,” he calls out after me. “That’s all a man can ask for.”
I hear him whistling as he goes off in another direction. His lightheartedness agitates me. She can’t really mean she’s not going to see me anymore. She can’t!
One of my lawyers drops me at my home and I go inside and use the house phone to call her parents’ home phone again. “Hello,” I hear a woman answer after only one ring.
“Hello, is Natasha home?” I ask.
“Hmm,” the woman says. “Is this Nic?”
“Yes, it is,” I say and wait as I tap my foot on the hardwood floor.
“Well, this is Tasha’s mother. You see, she’s gotten a new job and her employer has set up her college courses to be finished with online classes. He’s also set her up in her own apartment in New York,” she says, making my insides turn to jelly.
“Is she there?” I ask and find my voice quivering. “I really need to talk to her.”
“I’m afraid she left with the man who she now works for. You know, since her father has it in for you, you should do yourself a favor and let our daughter go. She will only cause you more trouble, I’m afraid,” she says with a sympathetic tone.
“I love her,” I tell her. “Does she have a cell phone with her? I really have to talk to her.”
“Not that I know of, she doesn’t. You really should move on. I overheard her talking to her father just before she left. She told him she would not be seeing you again. She promised him,” she tells me.
“Who is this man who she left with?” I ask as my hand balls into a fist.
“I can’t tell you. He said not to,” she says. “Tasha told him about you two, I guess. He wants no trouble with you, is what he said. So, I can’t tell you his name or where she’ll be working either. Sorry about that. You have to understand the man.”
“Who would come all the way to Nantucket to offer her a job? That makes no sense,” I say as I look up at the ceiling, battling tears. “Something isn’t right. Can’t you see that?”
“The man said one of her professors recommended her to him. He’d called a long time ago to set up an interview with her. But she only got back home this morning. I called him last night when I found out she was on the way back from Greece. He was here early to meet with her and he was impressed by her. I’m so happy for her. The place she’s going to be working makes so much more sense for her career than your company ever did. That made no sense at all, really,” she says.
“Please ask her to call me, when you talk to her again,” I say as I try to wrap my head around what is happening to my life.
“I will give her the message, Nicholai. Bye.”
I put my phone in my jacket pocket and fall on the sofa. I have no idea what I’m supposed to do now. None!
My cell rings and I pull it out, praying it’s her but I see it’s my father. “What the hell happened? You should’ve called me!”
“Whoever said those things about me lied,” I tell him. “Do I have my job back or not?”
“Of course you do,” he says. “What kind of enemies are you making that would do such a thing to you, Nicholai?”
“I have no fucking idea. All I know is is that it’s over. Thank God whoever it was decided to call the FBI and tell them they were lying.”
“An angel is watching over you, that is for certain,” my father says. “Come to the club, son. Relax for a while. You need to get rid of your stress. Come back to the man you were.”
“Speaking of that. Do you remember a woman named Stacy Holland?”
He goes silent then whispers, “Why do you ask that?”
“I met her on the plane on my way back from Greece. She said you two were sweethearts in high school,” I tell him to try to get him off the track of me going to the damn club I have no desire to go to at all.
“Yes, she is telling you the truth. Did she tell you why she never wrote me like she promised me she would?” he asks and I hear a tremble in his voice.
“Actually, she told me she wrote to you only her letters were all returned and you never wrote to her,” I tell him.
“I did write to her and I never got anything in return. I thought she’d lied about loving me.”
“She thought the same thing,” I say. “You don’t suppose your father or mother had anything to do with the letters not being sent and sending hers back, do you?”
“My father might have. He wanted my head in business, not that girl. She was my one love.”
“So love does exist, huh, Father?” I ask as I get up off the sofa and make my way to my office with an idea.
“I didn’t say that. Tell me, did you happen to get her phone number?”
“I did,” I say as I stop and pour myself a drink from the bar. I need something to knock the edge off my headache.
“Text it to me, will you?” he asks with a soft voice.
“Okay,” I say. “Talk to you later. I’m calling it a night. I’m beat.”
“Okay, bye.”
I put the phone back in my pocket and think about what Natasha’s mother said about the place she’d be working being a better place for her career. She was majoring in mechanical engineering with a minor in publications.
Taking my drink and making my way to my laptop in my office, I decide I will look up companies in New York where those degrees would be of importance. That should help me figure out where to start looking for her.
I have to find her!