Three
I woke up soaked in sweat, with no idea where I was.
As I sat up, images of a masked, gloved intruder kept playing in my head, holding the terror of my nightmares at the front of my mind, instead of dissipating when I opened my eyes.
What the fuck is happening?
I glanced around a room furnished as lavishly as any luxury hotel, and the events of last night came rushing back. My conversation with Wick, the hacking, the necessity of pulling out the gun I hoped I’d never have to use, and finally… calling Chloe to ask if I could stay the night with her.
It probably hadn’t been my best idea.
I’d chosen Chloe because for years, it had just been her and her kids in the large, well-appointed condo she called home. She, though it wasn’t curated that way, was my only friend who didn’t live with a partner, which in my mind, made her the person to call for a place to lay my head if I needed it.
Only… her living situation had changed.
Now I was the only one with the lonely bed.
Shaking my head, I pulled myself from the covers, making a mental note to have Chloe send me a dry-cleaning bill. I grabbed the suitcase I’d brought with me, dragging it to the attached bathroom to take a much-needed shower before I started my day.
In the mirror afterward, I began the too-long process of doing my hair and makeup. A smarter, less vain woman would brush her sew-in weave into a ponytail and throw on some eyeliner and gloss and call it a day.
I… couldn’t.
After so many years of stepping outside wearing beauty as an armor, with perfect hair, makeup, and clothes standing in the gap for the weight I’d long given up on losing… I wasn’t about to start today.
Especially not today.
Not the day after my computer was hacked, after finding out that the man who was very much still my husband had impregnated his mistress, the day after the company I’d poured everything into was under attack on social media. I was drained, mentally, physically, and emotionally, but damn if I was going to look like it.
I carefully brushed edge control onto my hairline and tied it down, then plugged in my flat iron. While it was getting hot, I smoothed the primer for my makeup onto my face, giving that time to dry while I ironed away every hint of a curve, giving myself bone straight hair. After that, I went through my makeup, layer by layer, covering any trace of a blemish, concealing the bad and highlighting the good until an even more flawless Monica looked back at me in the mirror.
I cleaned up my supplies and got dressed, shoes and all. I’d taken up more than enough space and time in Chloe’s home, and had no desire to overstay my welcome. I slung my bag over my shoulder and stepped out of the room, following the sound of voices down the hall to the kitchen, where I stopped in the doorway.
Chloe and I were friends, but from the time I’d known her, her interaction with men who were not family, friend, or client was basically nonexistent, as far as I knew. One of the things I loved about Chloe, as both a businesswoman and a friend, was that she was so steadfast. Not closedminded, or stubborn, but consistent. Very little surprised me with her.
But seeing her with a densely muscled arm wrapped around her, very clearly enjoying herself while her shirtless husband fed her strawberries from a bowl on the counter… that stopped me in my tracks. They were beautiful. And so obviously happy that it made a lump build in my throat, bringing to mind memories of when Kellen and I had been so in love, so into each other.
Just like that.
“Are you going to just watch, or are you going to say good morning, Monica?” Chloe asked, her voice still tinged with a British accent even though she’d lived in America so long. Embarrassed heat rushed to my face, and I averted my eyes.
“Sorry Chlo. Good morning. And good morning, Reggie,” I said, giving him a nod as he chuckled.
“Good morning to you too,” he told me, then gave Chloe a kiss on the side of her head, saying something into her ear before he released her from his hold.
Chloe nodded, giving him a lingering, smoldering look before he left the kitchen using the opposite doorway, grabbing a set of keys from the counter as he went. She watched him, lip pulled between her teeth, until he was gone, and then finally turned to me, with a smile.
“How is it that the last two days have been absolute personal and professional chaos for you, and yet you look photoshoot ready? On a fucking Thursday.”
I grinned back, finally stepping into the kitchen and putting my bag down on the counter. “Lots of water, and a really expensive under-eye serum. Not that you need any tips – you could bottle and sell the glow that Reggie is giving you, and never have to work again.”
“Uh-uh,” she mused, taking a seat at the counter. “I am keeping that all to myself. I waited long enough, and feel no guilt about being absolutely selfish.”
As she shouldn’t. The man had spent twelve years in federal prison. After standing by through that, she deserved to indulge in him however she saw fit.
“Are you leaving already?” she asked, gesturing toward my bag. “It’s early, and I could have sworn I encouraged you to take the day off.”
“You did, but I still have things that need taking care of.”
“You need taking care of,” Chloe insisted. “A nice massage, a beautiful lunch, with wine and dessert, and a little something to help you sleep.”
Internally, I cringed. As tired as I was, sleeping was the last thing I wanted to do while visions of masked intruders danced in my head, ridiculous or not.
“Maybe I’ll try to get into something later, but for now… I need to figure out what’s going on with my computer. Everything connects to my home network – my laptop, my desktop, my phone, my security system – hell, even my car connects.”
Chloe nodded. “Yeah, we have to get that taken care of. You’re sure there’s nothing I need to know about on your phone, your computer, none of that? Before it gets out to the public,” she said pointedly, because of course, that’s where her mind would go. Friend or not, she handled the publicity for my brand, and by extension, me.
She wanted to know if she was about to have yet another fire to put out.
“No,” I told her, shaking my head. “Or at least not easily. All of the important things for Vivid Vixen are password protected, encrypted all of that, but not on my computer. Still…”
“Right. You’re lucky you noticed it was happening before it got too far. Do you have someone in mind?”
At first, my mind went to the name and address Wick had written down for me, but I shook my head. “No. Do you have a recommendation?”
There was no way I was using the person Wick had written down for me. Not until I had more time to figure out that situation.
Chloe’s face spread into a smile. “Oh, yes ma’am I do. I’ll send you to my personal favorite. I use them for everything. Even legal.”
I frowned. “You… use a computer security firm for legal work?”
“No,” Chloe laughed. “The people I use, they have like… a collective. A bunch of former law enforcement and government agents, in a whole suite downtown, with a tech store, a security firm, and a law firm. And a gym, interestingly enough. The gym came first though.”
“Seriously?”
She nodded. “Seriously. Five Star Enterprises. I’ll text you the address.”
“And you said it’s right downtown? Never heard of it.”
“Because you never go anywhere,” Chloe teased as she picked up her phone. “Perhaps if you did something other than work and go home…”
I sucked my teeth. “Whatever Chloe. I do other things… sometimes… on occasion.”
“Of course you do, doll. That’s why you’re having dinner with me, Blake, Nubia, and Kora tomorrow night. No excuses. It’s been too long.”
I raised my hands in consent. “Fine. No excuses. As long as they have good wine, I’m there.”
“Perfect. I’ll text you the information for Five Star Tech.”
“Actually,” I sighed. “Write it down for me. I’m leaving my phone off, just in case, until I get it looked at.”
“Ooh, probably smart. I can do that. And Monica… I’m not kidding about tomorrow night.”
“I know,” I told her, smiling. I was beyond grateful for friendship – my friends were the only thing keeping me human these days.
“You’re sure? Because I’ll drag you there myself, if I have to.”
“Chloe, I will be there, I promise. There is nothing that will keep me from having dinner with my favorite women in the world tomorrow night.”
Damn. Maybe Chloe was right, and I do need to get out more.
As I climbed out of my car, in the huge parking lot reserved for the block of businesses that encompassed Five Star Enterprises, I shook my head. I’d driven past this place what had to be a million times and never noticed it, but… it wasn’t as if I spent much time noticing my surroundings.
I was always on the phone, always obsessing over this or that. A new marketing plan, new hand cream formula, fresh color lines, cute polish names. Sometimes I got from home to the Vivid Vixen offices with no recollection of even making the drive, because my mind was so occupied with everything else.
This was cool though.
The majority of the storefront space was taken up by a large gym, Five Star Fitness. Next to that was a door with a similar logo, only that one read Five Star Security. The next one was Five Star Legal Services, and finally, was the one I needed – Five Star Technology.
The whole “five-star” thing seemed a little corny, but Chloe didn’t accept anything less than excellence. If they were good enough for her, they were good enough for me.
And, they weren’t the ones Wick had tried to steer me toward, so I considered that a plus.
When I opened the door, I was surprised by the amount of space that sprawled in front of me. The front part of the store was obviously retail, but further in, there were glass-walled classrooms, and past that, workstations for repairs and customizations on one side, and desks for consultations on the other.
What caught my attention most was the classroom on the left – or rather, the teacher. The pupils were young – young enough to not be at school on a Thursday morning. Instead, they were soundlessly laughing and playing, bright blue electronic tablets in their hands as they chased bubble-shaped robots around the room.
The teacher though… damn.
He was wearing a dark blue tee shirt with FIVE STAR TECH printed in white across the front, and the edge of the short sleeves – I noticed it on the sleeves because of the way they fit over golden, tattooed biceps. One of the kids ran up to him, tears in her eyes as she shoved her tablet at him, obviously having a problem with it. He adjusted black-rimmed glasses on his face before he smiled at her, showing off perfect teeth before he bowed his tall, broad-shouldered frame down, kneeling at her level to help.
“Quite a sight, isn’t it?”
I tore my eyes away from the classroom to see that I’d been joined in my voyeurism. The woman next to me had thick, glossy natural hair pulled into a bun, and was wearing a shirt like his, only hers was white, with the words in blue.
My lips quirked into a smile. “I bet it’s hard to stay focused and work with something like that walking around, huh?”
“You have no idea,” she said, moving her hand in a way that my eyes instinctively followed to a very round, very obviously pregnant belly that I hadn’t registered at first.
Then I noticed the ring.
“Oh, God,” I said, covering my mouth with my hand. “That’s your husband, isn’t it? And I’m standing here being a creep.”
She laughed. “Don’t sweat it. I’m just teasing you. Hell, I stand around and just look at him too. It’s how I ended up with this one,” – she pointed to her belly again – “and the one currently charming him with those crocodile tears. He’s such a sucker.”
When I looked again, he was hugging the little girl, who shared his green eyes, but had her mother’s deep copper skin. I watched as he gently wiped her tears away with his thumbs, and then held the tablet out to her again, pointing at the screen as he patiently explained something to her.
Despite her teasing words, beside me, the woman was obviously very, very happy. Beaming with it. And I couldn’t blame her. A gorgeous child, a gorgeous husband, and another baby on the way. The love in her eyes was so obvious that it made a lump build in my throat.
This was the kind of moment I’d only ever experience vicariously.
“You have a beautiful family,” I told her, averting my gaze away from both visuals, toward the consultation area at the back. My grip tightened on the strap of the laptop bag slung over my shoulder. “I should um… probably get to the point of my visit though. My friend Chloe sent me, I need to talk to someone about a computer being hacked?”
She smiled. “Well, you’re definitely in the right place. I’m Renata LaForte, one of the owners here at FST. You have the computer with you?”
“Yes,” I nodded. “Well, one of them. I brought the laptop and my cell phone, but my desktop is at home. I figured we could fix these and then I can bring it.”
“You think all three were compromised?”
“Well… maybe? My um… my friend, said something about my network?”
Renata gave a deep nod. “Ah, yes. If they were all connected to the same wireless network, that can definitely make them equally vulnerable. Let’s go over here and you can tell me what happened.”
I pulled the bag down from my shoulder as she led me to one of the consultation desks – basically smaller versions of the soundproofed classrooms. Inside, I handed her the laptop, and she put something into the side of it before she turned it on.
“What is that for?” I asked as I sat down across from her.
She smiled. “That is for me to hack you. Right now, we have no idea who hacked your computer, what they put on it, or what it was set to do when you turned it back on. The thumb drive I put in there automatically gives me the control. I can see everything, do anything. The computer won’t run a single program I don’t tell it to. Walk me through exactly what happened. How did you know you were being hacked?”
“Well, I didn’t. I was on the phone, and a video chat with a friend. He asked me if I was trying to access his computer, and I asked him… what the hell he was talking about. He told me that my computer was trying to access his, and that I must’ve been hacked. He had me turn off the laptop, and my phone, and then go check on my desktop. And… he was right. When I went to my office, it was running… some type of code. Something I’d never seen before. I completely unplugged it. That’s what he said to do.”
“Good. It was quick thinking. You can’t hack something that’s not turned on – well, unless it has its own power source, and… never mind, I won’t bore you with all that. Your friend, does he work with computers? What does he do?”
My lips parted, but… “I… don’t know, actually. We never…”
“Oh!” Renata grinned, eyes sparkling as she leaned in a bit. “I recognize that hesitation. A little computer love, huh? Quentin and I know all about that. It’s how we met, when we were just kids.” She let out a dreamy sigh when she finished. Those were obviously good memories for her.
I shook my head though. “Not love. Not like that. We were good friends though.”
“Were?” Renata’s eyebrow perked up. “Not anymore? Do you think he hacked you?”
“What? I… I don’t know, actually. It all just happened last night, and I haven’t talked to him since then. It just freaked me out really bad, mostly because I don’t know.”
She nodded. “Okay. I’m going to assume you don’t know his real name?”
“No.”
“I didn’t think so. Okay… give me a second… this is a personal computer, or you use it for school or business?”
“Business,” I answered. “I help build marketing campaigns on it, manage social media, communicate with my scientists, and production team, and keep up with financial records—”
“Okay whoa,” Renata laughed. “I’m sorry, let’s backtrack – what is your name, and what is that you do again?”
I returned her laugh. “Sorry, we did just dive right in, didn’t we? I’m Monica Stuart, owner of Vivid Vixen Cosmetics.”
“Seriously?!” she shrieked. “I use your Luxe Vixen hand cream – that stuff is amazing! And I’m wearing your polish on my nails right now, it’s—”
“Jalapeno Face,” I finished for her. “I noticed, actually. The green is beautiful on your skin.”
“You cannot ever stop selling this color, okay?”
I laughed. “Scout’s honor.”
“Okay. Okay, enough fangirling,” she said, taking a deep breath. “Now, as far as your computer, I can see exactly when the virus was introduced, directly on your machine. Do you always have this computer with you?”
I shook my head. “I rarely have it with me, unless I’m in my office at work. What does that mean though?”
“It means that, this type of virus… you don’t get it by clicking the wrong link in an email, someone had access to your computer, and installed this. There’s a keystroke logger – which would be used to capture passwords, a screen recorder, and crawlers, looking for specific keywords and anything connected to those keywords, on your computer. There’s also a component that infects anything that you connect this computer to with the same virus, unless you had some pretty intense security, which most people don’t.”
I pushed out a sigh. “Wow. Um… can you see what files or whatever they’re after?”
“I can. And… Monica… you should probably take this to the police.”
I frowned. “The police? For what?”
“From what I can tell, there’s a heavy interest in your business dealings, copies of your patent filings, chemical formulas… this could be the work of a rival company, either stealing from you or looking to sabotage you. Either way, I don’t think this is a phishing scam from Russia, or some teenage hackers playing around. This is criminal.”
“No, I don’t think—”
“Monica,” Renata interrupted. “Seriously. I… used to be in the FBI. Cybersecurity was my specialty. I know exactly what I’m looking at. You need to take this to the police, and you need to figure out who put this on your computer. It’s been there since last year, and I bet that a whole lot of your company’s sensitive information has gotten into the wrong hands between then and now.”
For a second, I simply sat there, stunned. I didn’t want to believe her, but the sincere urgency in her voice had my heart racing.
Someone I knew had hacked me?
Absently, I nodded, agreeing with Renata’s words. “I…uh… yeah. Yeah. I’ll do that.”
“My friend Marcus is one of the guys in charge over at Security. He still has contacts in the police force here, I’ll get him to set up a meeting with a detective for you, okay? Let me get your phone number and other information.”
Shit.
“I… my phone. I haven’t even turned it on again since last night.”
Renata chewed at the side of her lip. “It was connected to the same network? Your Wi-Fi at home?”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah, then probably so. Okay, we have phones, so I can get you one of those. And a laptop to use, because the police will probably want to keep yours, and the computer at your house, as evidence. But, you cannot connect either of them to your home network, not until the virus has been stripped. Right now, it’s just waiting on something new to infect.”
“Perfect,” I blew out a sigh. “So… how do I get rid of it?”
Renata shook her head. “Don’t worry. You’re in the right place.” She looked away from me, out into the open area. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. “You see him? That’s Chad. Smartest guy in here – the best hacker we’ve got. We’ll get you down on the schedule, and he’s gonna come out and get your network cleaned up and protected, so this never happens to you again.”
I followed her gaze to broad shoulders in a polo that I was sure was FIVE STAR TECH branded like Renata and Quentin’s tee shirts. Only, “Chad”s back was turned to me, so I couldn’t see the logo – but I could see how perfectly tight and perfect and tight his ass was in his tailored gray khakis. He had biceps like Quentin’s too, only his were coated in smooth mahogany skin. When he turned, I noted similar black-framed glasses and beautifully sculpted features, down to the neatly trimmed facial hair.
“What is this place, a damn sexy geek factory?” I muttered, and Renata laughed.
“Something like that. Chad is actually Quentin’s cousin, and he is single. No small children. Tall, smart –”
“I’m married,” I interrupted, and her mouth immediately stopped moving. But then, after a few seconds…
“My bad. I just—”
“No need to apologize. It’s not… I don’t even know why I still wear this,” I said, without meaning to. “I’m sorry, that’s not—”
“Uh-uh,” Renata shook her head. “No need to apologize. But… I will say… and I hope I’m not overstepping… Five Star Legal Services could handle that for you, if it needs handling. Just saying.”
I let out a dry laugh. “I… will keep that in mind.”
Renata gave me a comforting smile as she stood, stepping out of the door to grab “Chad”. I forced myself to look away, not wanting to be caught staring. Instead, I played with the tiny platinum cross that served as a constant fixture around my neck.
Until I felt eyes on me.
When I glanced up, he was looking right at me as he listened to Renata speak. Not wanting to be awkward, I smiled and gave him a little wave – actions that ended up being awkward anyway, because he looked away as if I hadn’t done anything.
A few minutes later, Renata breezed back in, with a still-boxed smartphone and an appointment card in her hand.
“Well, I got your phone, which we can setup now, but Chad is acting like he’s too busy to come in and consult right now, so we’ll get to that later. For now, I’m going to write down my contact information so we can set up a time and date, and I’ll talk to Marcus for you about an appointment with the police, okay?”
I nodded. “Okay.”
“Perfect,” she smiled. “Now, let’s get your phone set up, and you’ll be back on the path to normalcy.”
I sat back in my chair, thinking of everything that had transpired in the last two days. “Back on the path to normalcy sounds great.”
The simple act of pulling into the parking lot of the building that housed Vivid Vixen held a certain sense of fulfillment that never seemed to go away. I was no perfect wife, no perfect daughter, maybe not even a great friend, but when it came to this company, it could never be said that I hadn’t put in the time.
Kellen had his mistress, and I had mine.
When I considered things in those terms – and I did, often – I could almost bring myself to sort of understand the way things so far south between us. Kellen’s departure from Barker Financial had been sudden, and ugly. There were charges, indictments, search warrants, frozen financials, scrutiny from the FTC.
Kellen’s dream job.
Here one day, and gone the next.
He struggled with it, mightily.
We used to stay up late at night, laying across the bed in our tiny off-campus apartment, daydreaming out loud about the future. For Kellen, it was always Barker Financial this, Barker Financial that. His singular focus worried me, but who was I to put a damper on what he obviously wanted so bad?
His focus paid off though. An internship right out of college, and then a low-level position. For ten years, he worked his way through the bullshit and office politics and landed himself a coveted senior financial advisor position. He was so, so happy.
But then he was so, so broken.
No one wanted to hire him.
Just him, out of all of the upper-level employees from Barker. Long after the public was done with the scandal and had moved on to something else, his name alone was tainted. It wasn’t as if he could just leave it off his resume, because how in the world would he have explained a missing ten years?
So he stayed home, and I didn’t mind.
He was finding himself, figuring out what he wanted. He bought a guitar he couldn’t play, turned our garage into a wood-working shed where he discovered a supposed saw dust allergy, painted canvasses that didn’t sell, tried to be a podcaster, etc., etc., but nothing stuck.
And in the meantime?
The mortgage had to get paid.
So I was grinding. In my mind, I was doing what I was supposed to – holding him down while he figured his shit out, and got it together. I hired corporate lawyers, took on investors, did what I had to do to build Vivid Vixen to a place where it didn’t even matter if Kellen had an income.
But that was a mistake.
Because, while the money didn’t matter, it did matter that the man I’d fallen in love with, the man I’d taken vows with, was a go-getter. He was handsome, athletic, funny, sure. To anyone who wasn’t deaf and blind, Kellen was sexy. But his drive to be successful, his work ethic, his pursuit of prestige in his chosen field… those were the things that set him apart, and really got my motor running. I didn’t need Kellen to be rich, or powerful.
I just needed him to do something.
But he wouldn’t.
Or maybe couldn’t.
But the longer he “tried to find himself” the less interested I became. I threw myself into work to avoid being at home, and while my marriage withered… Vivid Vixen soared. That wasn’t Kellen’s fault – it was mine.
Maybe I should’ve worked less, spent more time rubbing his shoulders and telling him it would be okay. Spent days on the couch with him, figuring out a new dream to chase. But I wasn’t wired for that, and again… it just wasn’t the type of man I thought Kellen was.
But, I hadn’t seen the pregnant mistress coming either.
Even though Crystal had been preceded by a long line of other women – some, the early ones, were only revealed through the marriage counseling attempt, others, he was blatant with – I somehow still held on to the notion that there was some part of him that still cared for me. Fourteen years of marriage had to mean something, right?
I shook my head as I climbed out of my car, clutching my brand-new phone and laptop. When it came down to it… no, fourteen years of marriage didn’t mean a goddamn thing. Vivid Vixen was the love of my life, and I couldn’t even bring myself to feel any sort of real regret over what my focus on it had done to my marriage. Guilt? Maybe.
But now… Vivid Vixen was all I had.
Inside the building, I made my way past security and up to my office on the third floor. The basement was our warehouse, where we kept merchandise stocked and ready to send out. The first floor was reserved for production, and the fourth floor – the most secure floor, for good reason – housed research and development.
Instead of taking the elevator straight to the third floor, I purposely got off on the second, and ignored lots of curious stares as I made my way past customer service, sales and marketing – I already knew, everybody wanted to see my reaction to the social media lies about the products. But they had their scripts and talking points, handcrafted by the queen of public relations – Chloe.
With any luck, they were the key to turning this whole thing around.
It was important, I thought, for them to see me looking breezy and unbothered by all of this, which was why I got off on two, and used the tempered glass staircase in the middle of the floor to make my way to the third.
I wanted to make an entrance.
As soon as she saw me, Kim jumped up from her desk, rushing to meet me as I entered the reception area that led to my office.
“Good morning, Mrs. Stuart,” she greeted. “I wasn’t expecting you today. Is that a new laptop?”
“It is,” I nodded, putting the box into her hands. “I need you to set it up for me, without connecting to the company network. You can tether it to the internet from my phone.”
One of Kim’s neatly groomed eyebrows lifted. “Why wouldn’t you want to use the company network?”
“Because it’s hacked. So, I also need you to make sure that R&D stops any type of automatic syncing of research notes, anything like that. Until I’ve gotten someone in here to get it all cleaned up, everything needs to be kept locally. No internet connections. Shut it down.”
Kim shook her head. “But we can’t work without the internet. What about customer service, and—”
“Well, obviously not that department,” I snapped, with more bite than I intended. “I don’t want to shut down operations – everybody should work as usual, except for the fourth floor. I don’t want to give them anything more than they already have.”
“Who is they?”
I pushed out a sigh. “I don’t know yet. I wish I did. I have a contact with the police who is working on getting someone to look into it, so we should know soon. And I’m sorry for snapping at you.”
“I didn’t take it personally,” Kim said, offering me a sympathetic smile. “I know it’s probably been a rough morning.”
I frowned. “I… what do you mean?”
Kim’s lips parted, and she took a tiny step backward. “Oh, I just um… I’m sorry. I assumed that because of the whole thing with Kellen this morning, you’d—”
“What thing with Kellen this morning?”
“Oh.” She cringed. “You… didn’t know.”
“Didn’t know what?”
She looked like she’d rather swallow razor blades than tell me, but she motioned for me to follow her to her desk. She put my new laptop down, and went to her own, where she typed in something in a search box that quickly pulled up what she’d assumed was causing me to have a bad day.
“I’m going to kill him.”
Those words were out of my mouth before I could even fully process what I was seeing, and the next moment, my phone was in my hand, and I was dialing his number.
“I’m going to kill you,” I hissed into the phone, as soon as he answered, sounding groggy and relaxed, as if he’d just woken up, even though it was almost eleven in the morning.
That only incensed me further.
“You lazy, pathetic, conniving, useless son of a bitch,” I jeered. “You couldn’t even give me twenty-four hours before you just had to go running to tell the press you knocked up your whore. I am sick of you, and sick of your bullshit, Kellen. I have tried, and tried, and tried again to simply fucking ignore you, and you just can’t seem to let me have any peace. Well, I am done. I hope you enjoy this, because this is the last time you’ll do something to hurt me, motherfucker. I promise you that.”
I should have hung up.
I should have said what I needed to say, and hung up the phone, but no. I waited for his response. And he… laughed.
A long, hearty laugh, that only made my blood boil hotter.
“Oh, Monica, sweetie. We both know that’s an empty threat. See, if you could get rid of me, you would’ve already done it. But you won’t, because you know what I’m taking with me when I go – half of the only baby your bitter ass will ever have. So really, you aren’t gonna do shit, but sit on the phone cry and take whatever the fuck I decide to do.”
“We’ll see about that.”
Then, I did hang up, and only barely repressed the urge to launch the phone at the wall. I took a deep breath, then turned back to Kim.
“When did this news break?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe thirty minutes ago? Chloe called the office looking for you, said you weren’t answering your cell phone.”
“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath. I’d left it silenced on the ride from FSE so that I could have some time to think and reflect without any interruptions, but apparently that wasn’t in the cards for me today.
“Set up the laptop for me,” I told Kim, then stalked into my office to call Chloe.
We had yet another crisis to figure out.
It would have been nice to talk to Wick.
No – I needed to talk to Wick.
This was our… thing. It had become something like a habit – Kellen shows his ass, I call Wick and complain about it. It was a wonder, honestly, that he hadn’t simply stopped talking to me because he was sick of hearing me whine about my husband, but he always took it in stride. He served as the sounding board that I desperately needed – the male perspective that I wouldn’t have considered otherwise.
He was the only reason I even remotely understood my own damned husband.
Understanding him didn’t make me feel any better though.
In fact, I would have much preferred being confused by his current actions, than knowing for certain that his hatred of me ran so horribly deep.
But when I was talking to Wick – when it wasn’t about Kellen – it was easy to completely forget him. And forgetting him… was exactly what I needed to do.
I couldn’t make myself dial the number though. I couldn’t make myself send that text, because everything was so all over the place, between Kellen’s bullshit and the hacking and the social media scandal thing, my head was swimming with questions and mistrust and…
Fuck!
Out of sheer frustration, I smacked the steering wheel of my car, then immediately regretted it as pain radiated through my hands. I pushed out a sigh as I pulled away from the stop sign and into my neighborhood, navigating to my house. In my driveway, I put the car in park and turned it off, taking the time to gather up my things from work, and the two bottles of wine I’d stopped for on the way home.
I managed to maneuver my keys into my hands as I approached the walkway that wrapped around the house, but stopped in my tracks as soon as I turned the corner, putting the front door in my line of sight.
It was already open.
A quick glance around showed no strange vehicles on the street, and it was broad daylight. Surely there was a good explanation for this, something better than the current theories floating around in my head. It was really just a crack.
Hell… I’d left in such a hurry last night that it was possible I’d left it open myself.
With that in mind, I took a deep breath and shook off my unfounded alarm. I’d had enough craziness in two days to last a whole year – there was no use in inventing more.
I stepped inside and locked the door behind me, then headed straight for my kitchen, dumping the contents of my hands onto the counter. Grabbing the bottles of wine, I bent to put them in my coveted specialty cooler. When I straightened, I brought an already chilled bottle with me, to open and enjoy while I ran myself a bath.
It was going to be glorious.
But as soon as I took a step deeper into the kitchen, the pointed toe of my heels collided with something on the floor.
Glass.
My eyes went wide as I actually looked around the airy, bright kitchen, with all the open shelving I’d insisted on. I’d spent good money on pretty glass dishes and drinkware, special shelving for my beautiful custom wine glasses to hang. The shelves were empty.
It was all smashed on the floor.
I didn’t waste time thinking – I just moved.
Straight to my bedroom, straight to my bedside drawer.
As soon as the gun was in my hands, I raised it to eye level, ready and willing to kill anything that moved. My stomach lurched as I surveyed my bedroom, realizing that someone had to have been in here too – my lingerie drawers were hanging out of the dresser, with their contents strewn haphazardly across the floor.
I swallowed hard as I eased open the bathroom door with my foot, checking there before I looked under the bed and in my closet, confirming that no one was there. Room by room, I checked the whole house, growing more and more agitated by the destruction I found.
Irreplaceable art ripped off the walls, priceless glassware smashed on the floor. In my office, the bookshelves had been destroyed, pages ripped from treasured signed copies of my favorite novels. In fact, as I looked around, it seemed that the only thing of value that hadn’t been touched… was the computer.
My heart leaped into my throat as the doorbell sounded, and I tightened my grip on my gun. Carefully – quietly—I made my way back to the front of the house, then cautiously looked through the peephole.
There was no one there.
I switched positions to hold the gun with one hand as I reached for the deadbolt. Just as I was about to turn in, I noticed a tiny white envelope on the floor in front of the door. I furrowed my brow as I bent to grab it, maneuvering it open with one hand.
My frown deepened as I read the single line of typed text on the card.
PARTAKING ALL OTHERS.
There was no signature or anything to indicate who it was from, on the front of back of the card. A second look at the envelope made me realize it had come from a local florist, which only confused me more.
I dropped the card and envelope onto the table where I usually left my keys, then unlocked and opened the door.
A prickle of fear ran up my spine as I took in the huge bouquet of long-stem roses smashed on my doormat. The deep crimson blooms mingled with the mangled remains of a black vase and the water that had been keeping them fresh was already leeching color from the petals, almost making it look like my front step was covered in blood.
I couldn’t slam the door closed fast enough.
My hands were shaking as I rushed to the kitchen to dig my cell phone out of my purse. I dialed 9-1-1 at first, but then cleared the numbers from my screen, shaking my head. It would probably be better to call Chloe first, since having my home taped off as a crime scene was sure to invite yet another scandal I didn’t really need. Not to mention, just the thought of having police crawling all over my home felt like yet another violation.
I stared at the phone for a few seconds, trying to calm the thoughts racing at light speed through my head. After a moment, something clicked, and I dialed a number – a new number that I’d just gotten today.
Relief settled over my shoulders when Renata LaForte’s chipper voice came over the line.
“Hi,” I started, not realizing how shaken up I was until I heard the tremor in my own voice. “This is Monica Stuart, and um… you mentioned earlier, that you had connections, in the local police force?”
“Yes. Well, Marcus does. What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
I let out a huff. “I… um… someone broke into my home, and I just… I would like to handle it with as little fuss as possible, because I have enough going on already, and—”
“Say no more. I’ll talk to him, and he’ll get somebody over there as soon as possible. Are you okay?” she asked again. “Are you there now? Are you sure they’re not still in there?”
“Yes, I’m in the house, but no one else is. And I have a gun.”
“You know how to use it?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Keep your finger on the trigger until the police get there.”