Jared

 

 

 

This has undeniably been the longest night of my life. I didn't even know where I was going when I left the building.

Luckily, a man of my standing doesn't need to bother himself with such mundane details. I didn't want to bother my driver for the night because it would mean dragging staff into this fucking mess when I wasn't ready for it yet.

So I called a cab and asked that I be driven around town in endless circles, blocking any attempts by the driver to start a conversation with me.

"I need time to think," I told him. "Alone."

"Got ya’, buddy," he said, winking at me through the rear view mirror. In any other situation I would have reminded him that I'm not his buddy, but I refrained from doing so last night because it would have prolonged my interaction with him. I gave him money up front, probably a lot more than he would have earned all night without having to spend most of it with me as his customer. It bought me the time and space I needed.

I watched the city pass by, observing the bustling night life in one area while staring into almost complete darkness in another. Cities have always fascinated me for that very reason. They have a distinct way of combining lively energy and dark contemplation in a confined space, co-existing and breathing the same air as the other.

Going to a bar would have been the obvious choice, but I didn't want to be among people. I didn't want to risk sitting at the bar, sipping on a lonely Scotch and having to worry about being roped into a dumb conversation I didn't want to have, or be seen by someone who could inflict further damage than what has already been done.

I needed to be out of my house, surrounded by life as it went on without the devastation caused by the woman who almost made me believe there could be such a thing as a second chance for me. A woman who betrayed my trust just as Elsa did all those years ago.

Maybe all of them were right. Maybe the devil did find a host in me. Maybe I don't deserve better than this. Darkness attracts darkness.

I should have known.

That's what infuriates me the most. I should have fucking known!

I was skeptical from the get-go. I had a bad feeling about her right from the start, and I was proven right.

My thoughts whirl around the same circle of thoughts again and again, bouncing against my skull as I try to let go of them. I can't get rid of them, I can't even think clearly for hours.

I let myself be chauffeured around town until dawn announced the beginning of a new day.

The first of many days that I will have to spend without her.

Without my Button.

I don't dwell on the thought, though, and tell the driver to take me to my office when he infers that he'd like to call it a night. I leave him with a generous tip, and he throws me a look that is a little too friendly for my taste. Too much sympathy, too much pity. I hate being looked at like this. I hate being pitied.

It's still way too early for anyone but the cleaning ladies to be around when I march into my office as if it was the most natural thing to do at this ungodly hour.

I sit at my desk, checking my phone that has been turned to silent for the entire night. There are calls and text messages from her, all trying to convince me that I'm wrong, that whatever I’m thinking right now is not the truth.

Unfortunately, it is.

I turn off my phone and begin pacing up and down the length of my office like a caged lion, before I decide that a lack of sleep is as equally mind-numbing as rage or intoxication.

I lay down on the couch in my office and doze off within a few moments.

My sleep is cut short when a familiar voice cuts right into a vivid nightmare that tortured me during my short rest.

"Jared, you idiot!"

I frown in surprise at the sight of my assistant Silas standing before me, his hands on his hips and head tilted to the side as he tried to mimic my position.

I hurry to sit up straight, fixing my hair in a futile attempt to appear proper.

"What the hell, man," Silas hisses at me, shaking his head. "What the fucking hell?"

I wave him off.

"Rough night," I say. "But nothing you have to worry about. It's all under control."

I get up from the couch and move over to my office chair, taking a seat at my desk.

"You turned your phone off," Silas says in an accusing tone, walking around the desk and building himself up in front of me. "You can't fucking do that, Jared."

"Calm your shits, it was just for a few hours."

"What the hell is going on?"

"Nothing," I assure him, leaning back in my chair and trying to be as nonchalant about the whole matter as I possibly can. "All you need to know is that the girl is gone. I don't need her. On the contrary, I've decided that she poses an unnecessary risk. My campaign is better off without her."

Silas rolls his eyes.

"And no, before you ask," I hurry to say, "I won't be looking for a new one. I'm sure we can do this without a fake girl at my side, don't you think?"

Our eyes meet across the desk, and I try to make sense of his expression while he processes my words.

"What happened?" he wants to know.

"Nothing that concerns you."

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Jared, of course this concerns me," he insists. "But you don't have to tell me. Would you allow me to guess?"

I look at him, knitting my eyebrows. "Whatever you may think, you're-"

"She was approached by the press, wasn't she?" he interrupts, causing me to shut up and be all ears within a split second.

"She was approached by someone who offered her a lot of money to sell him some dark secrets about you, wasn't she? She had a very lucrative offer to sell you out, and you think she was ready to do it?"

I continue to fixate on him with a frown. "She told you?"

Silas shakes his head. "No, Jared, she didn't tell me. She didn't have to tell me because I already knew about it before it even happened."

"What?"

I can practically feel myself going pale as he speaks.

"What the fuck are you talking about, Silas?"

He looks at me, biting his lip and turning around to close the door before he deigns me with an explanation.

"You know, I've had my doubts about her, as have you, with her being a reporter and all," he starts. "I didn't trust her, and I didn't like the way you were with her. She grew to be a little too special to you, Jared, and that could pose an actual problem, if she can't be trusted."

I glare at him, twirling my hand to beckon him to go on when he adds an unnecessary pause for emphasis.

"So I wanted to make sure that she could be trusted and that she was sticking to the contract, even if someone presented her with a pretty lucrative opportunity, offering more than you were willing to offer her, a temptation that would be impossible to refuse if she was the person I thought she was," he continues.

"What are you trying to say?"

"I staged it," he says. "I hired a guy to make her believe there was money to be made, a financial gain bigger than what you've promised her, if she was ready to betray you. We did some research on her. I even sent the guy by her old office. It was a pure coincidence that she showed up that same day, getting into that argument with one of her colleagues. Our guy saw it, and we thought it was time to make our move. She seemed unstable and troubled."

My blood is boiling. She never told me about this. I know that she went back to her co-working office a while ago because she had to clear her desk. But she never mentioned that she ran into any trouble that day.

My heart is racing, beating in loud and aggravated beats against my rib cage. I doubt that a person could feel any more betrayed than I do right now.

"You paid someone to trap her?" I ask.

Silas sighs. I growl with anger, jumping up from my seat ready to storm the fuck out - or to burn this entire place down.

"Look, I knew you'd be mad," he says, raising his hand in a placatory gesture. "But let me finish because I'm pretty sure you're going to like this last part."

"Oh, you think?" I bark at him. "Why is that? Because now at least we know that she's a fucking traitor?"

"No, no, no," he hurries to say, shaking his head. "Because she didn't take the bait."

I freeze, staring at him in disbelief. "What did you just say?"

"I just heard from my contact, the guy I hired," he says. "I mean, it didn't look like she was going to take it to begin with. When he first talked to her at that event, she basically told him to fuck off and leave her alone. But she appeared shocked and confused. The fact that she took his business card left us with a hint of doubt."

"She took his business card?"

"She did," Silas confirms. "But as it turns out, it was only to tell him to fuck off again and make it very clear that she was not interested. And this time, she was very firm about it."

We remain in a silent stare, Silas waiting for a reaction and me trying to process what he just told me.

"But... you never set her up in the first place?" I want to know. "You just sent this guy?"

He nods. "I don't know what else has been going on between you two, but all I can say is that she didn't bite. It didn't sound like she was considering it for even a second."

I huff. "Yet she waited until this morning to call him."

"To tell him again," Silas clarifies.

I turn away from him, sighing and rubbing my temples.

I need to go home. Right fucking now.