“This is it?” Simon says, leering at the USB drive in my hand. “That’s the software programming for the I.E.?”

I nod.

“That’s exactly the code that Ethan was studying,” I tell him, my voice flat.

Simon let's out a high-pitched squeal of glee and rubs his hands together.

“Finally!” Simon shouts to himself. “That man will get what is coming to him!”

I remain silent as Simon takes the USB drive and kisses it in delight. He looks to me. “They called me shady, you know?” he asks me. “They said I was too sly. All my life, people like Ethan have walked all over me. Because everyone seems to think that just because he’s handsome, he deserves a chance. Or because he’s nice to people, it’s okay to be an idiot. Or because he’s got a good heart, it makes up for being stupid.”

I back away slightly.

“I never had a shot with them!” Simon yells, and I’m thinking it's more to himself than with anyone else. “They thought I was too smart. Too sneaky. Ugly, you name it. But this will show Ethan. This will show everyone. Mr. All-American just got brought down by sneaky ol’ me!”

“Is that all you need then?” I ask Simon, eager for this to be over.

“Just one last question,” Simon says, turning to me. “How’d you get it?”

I look at Simon with a mixture of dread.

How do I tell him that I got on my knees to Ethan.

That tears streamed down my face as I told him how I’d been working for Simon the entire time we’d been together.

That when Ethan and I went out to dinner, it was because Simon was paying me. That when Ethan was fucking me, it was because I was trying to get undercover. That when we fell in love, it was because it had been arranged to be so.

That the only reason his baby is inside of me and I haven’t told him is because he or she only came to life because I was running a con.

That the whole thing was designed to steal Ethan’s greatest creation.

How am I supposed to tell Simon that even after telling Ethan all this, and breaking down and confessing how now I’d gotten in way over my head—not knowing what to do. Whether to run and hide or stay and suffer.

That after all that, Ethan just handed the USB drive to me. Told me to take it. And never come back to work again.

I mean, how would you tell Simon?

Oh, wait. I just remembered who I’m talking to, hun. You would never have been in this situation in the first place right?

Because you would probably have never gotten into the limo. You would have probably never made the choices I did. Probably never have had to worry about trying to run away from a man like Robert McIntyre.

“Well?” Simon asks again, “How’d you get it?”

“Switched it after sex,” I lie shrugging. “He was asleep, didn’t notice.”

“Well they’re going to notice pretty soon,” Simon says.

“I’m not going back, so it’s no bother for me,” I tell him and turn around to walk out.

What? It’s true.

Ethan basically fired me. From his company. And I’m pretty sure from his life.

Have you ever been in a crowd of people but felt utterly and completely alone?

Well, hun, welcome to me right about now.

I mean, that overcast sky might as well just open up and start raining right about now as I walk down 7^th Avenue because that’s my mood.

As if deciding to play a cruel joke on me, I hear something that seems like light rumbling as I approach 52^nd Street and 7^th Avenue, and the first bits of water start to fall on my head.

Great, now even Mother Nature is deciding to hate me.

The bits of rain quickly turn into a downpour as people scramble around me. The skies darken even farther as I approach Columbus Circle, the horses whinnying along Central Park South.

I’ll tell you one thing though, hun. It’s a good thing it's raining. Because the tears kind of get washed away when I see the giant billboard next to the Trump International Hotel & Tower advertising Illicit Escape.

Right there, holding the futuristic glasses, is my smiling face. The tag line, “Revolutionizing Pleasure” written in a sexy font.

I’m glad you can’t see my tears.

It's in these moments that the biggest city in the world becomes the loneliest place on earth.

But it’s nothing that I don’t deserve after everything I’ve just done.

***

The next week is basically like that day. Cold, sad, depressing, and rainy.

I don’t know if you’ve ever been like this. I mean, I had a chance to be happy. I had a chance to settle down with a man that truly, really loved me.

I know what you’re going to say, though. I had an impossible choice. It was either protect myself from Robert or run again.

And why exactly did I sell Ethan out?

Because I didn’t want to run. Because I wanted to stay in New York City and make a home for the baby that I’m carrying. Hoping that Ethan would understand.

I mean, I did go and tell him—at the end. I confessed to lying to him, trying to steal from him, and taking his heart under false pretense.

And what did he do?

He gave me everything I wanted.

He gave me the computer coding for the software that runs the Illicit Escape. He let me keep my home.

He gave me everything I asked for.

But it turns out, while I was on my knees pleading to him to show me mercy, I never once asked him to forgive me and hold me.

To take me back.

But isn’t that the story of my life?

Always thinking about myself?

Leaving teaching to get into modeling full time? Not even thinking about the people who were relying on me when I began to split my time as an elementary school teacher and a model.

And then when a better offer came along, not even considering the implications to others when I moved into porn.

Maybe I deserved someone who used me as casually as Robert did. Maybe I never hit him, but I abused others with my lack of consideration just the same. I never thought about them. Only what was good for me.

That’s why when I finally found out about him, I never gave a second thought to thinking about his wife and child. I just drove.

Got out of there.

I could have gone to the police, maybe?

If not that, I could have tried to warn others. His wife had said there were other women, hadn't she?

And then in New York.

From the very first time Simon came into my life, I’ve thought about myself first and foremost.

Sure, hun, if you’re saying I had to think about the baby at the end, I’ll agree that I thought about the baby.

But there had to have been another way than asking Ethan to give up what he’s worked on for so long.

I just never bothered to see what it was.

To his credit, Ethan seems to keep going full speed ahead with the release.

Only this time, Conners Media, led by Simon has also stepped to the plate. They announced two days ago that they too would be releasing wearable technology designed to let the user experience porn through virtual reality. They call it Wicked Wear.

Ethan seems to not even care, if that’s the right word.

Maybe the plans are so fully committed that he has no option now but to see things through.

In the last week, there’s been a media blitz, including front page ads in the the New York Daily Journal, television spots, a marquee every hour at Madison Square Garden, skywriting, giveaways during lunchtime with Illicit Entertainment starlets, and a massive launch party in Times Square.

It’s the launch party that has the entire city, and possibly nation talking.

It’s being filmed live in Times Square and being carried by all the major networks.

The network morning TV show, Today USA is even carrying it live.

But that’s not why everyone is tuning in.

In perhaps the only nod to Simon, Ethan has challenged him to publicly put his product head to head against his.

He says that the entire nation should be allowed to decide for themselves who has the better technology.

Today USA is even planning on doing snap polls in the moment as people see the products matched up.

I’m a little unsure heading up to the launch date how they’re going to even do the matchup. I mean, are they going to put the glasses on people and ask which one makes them cum faster?

Seriously, if you’re laughing, so am I—but it’s a morbid laughter.

Because I know that with the code that Simon has, he’s had a week to tweak it and make it better. Whereas Ethan probably is looking to alter his software so as not to seem like a copycat product.

I don’t know if this is Ethan’s last ditch plan to bluff his way out of an impossible situation. To keep his head high after being stolen from and hurt by someone he let get too close to him.

All I know is that while I don’t want to watch, I’m probably going to end up tuning in like everyone in the country. If for nothing else than to pray for a miracle.

That’s until the morning of the launch, when I get a phone call.

I look at the phone and my heart skips a beat.

It’s Ethan.

With trembling hands, I answer.

“Hello?” I ask, a bit shaky. The butterflies are in full force in my stomach.

“I’ve sent a car for you, babe,” Ethan says. “I want you to get in it.”

“Why?” I ask instinctively. After a week and a half of no contact, to call me out of the blue and tell me to get in a car.

I’m sorry hun, but the last time I got into a car, it was with Simon, and do you remember what happened?

“Listen to me, babe,” Ethan says into the phone. “I really really really want you to get into that fucking car.”

“Where is it going to take me?” I ask him.

“It’s going to bring you to my place,” he says confidently. I wonder if he’s that hard up for sex that he needs me again. “We’re going to watch the product launch and the match up together.”

Well, let’s just say that’s a surprise.

I honestly don’t know what to say here.

I swear to you – this is just too much.

I’m just a simple girl from Southern California. I’m not someone who normally plays these games that billionaires play. I’m at the end of my wits.

I’m all check-mated out.

“I just got word the car’s outside, Brit,” Ethan says.

I’ve been silent, but I know that if there’s even a sliver of a chance that I can go back and reclaim the father of my child I’ll take it.

“I’ll be right down,” I tell him, my mind made up.

If there’s even a chance for him and I, I’m going to do everything I can to take it.

For me, yeah. But for him as well. And most of all, for the baby.