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She decided helping one cause just wasn’t enough, so her current project involved several different organizations and causes in the area. It was aimed at each of them addressing a need for the other, while gaining support and funds from the community so they could all benefit. It was dizzying in its complexity and potential for good. It also left me with the thought that adopting a cat might not be a bad idea.
We finished eating and chatted for a bit longer before Trish checked the time and realized she needed to leave so she wouldn’t be late for her next meeting. I glanced through my emails to make sure there was nothing too pressing I needed to deal with before heading to Nick’s office. A few reply emails were enough to tide everything over for a few more hours, and then I left for the office.
I started feeling a bit nervous when I got to the office building. Up until that point I had only been thinking about the fact that he wanted to meet with me. It was just another step in my day. But without Trish there to talk to and just my own thoughts to keep my brain occupied, I started thinking about what he might want to say.
I hoped it was good news. The truth was, at that point I had pretty much accepted I might not get my money back. Of course, I wanted it. If I had my way, there would be some path to take where I could look in my account and see everything was fully restored. But after hearing Nick say that might not be an option and having a long talk with myself, I was resigned to the idea that it might not happen.
There was a chance, a good chance apparently, that what Justin did was irreversible, and I was never going to see a cent of my mother’s bequeathal to me ever again. I could live with that. Again, I didn’t rely on the money. It wasn’t necessary for my ongoing survival, and there weren’t any huge plans in my future hinging on it. The thought of not having it anymore was upsetting, and it might create some hassle if I wanted to embark on any big expenses sometime in the next few years.
But that didn’t really matter at that point. What I realized was really important to me was holding Justin accountable and making sure he was forced to face responsibility for the wrong he did and the hurt he caused.
Alright, so what I actually wanted was for him to have a smackdown. I wanted him to face massive legal issues for what he did. He skated by much too much in his life, and now I wanted him to have to deal with some actual consequences. Even if I never got my money back, just knowing he was dealing with fines, jail time, and whatever else they could do to him, as well as it being on his permanent record, would make me feel better.
As I opened the door to the office building, my stomach rippled a bit. It wasn’t nerves. Instead, it was a vague, rolling nausea suddenly taking over. I rubbed it to try to settle it down a bit. Brunch must not have agreed with me. A few deep breaths helped to calm it down enough so I could go inside. The sick feeling was lost in confusion and curiosity when the receptionist directed me to a meeting room, and I walked in to see Nick sitting at a long table with two other men.8NickIt really wasn’t supposed to unfold exactly the way it did. From the very beginning, I had the full intention of keeping the whole situation with Bryn to myself. It wasn’t actually work. We hadn’t talked about anything like her hiring me, or me becoming anything more than just somebody giving her some insight into her situation. That was all I was supposed to be.
And now that it wasn’t, I could only hope that she wasn’t going to be completely pissed at me. She had every right to be, of course. I was pretty certain I had reassured her I wasn’t going to start talking about it to other people. She hadn’t looked exactly pleased when we’d ended up telling Lindsey about it at the bar. But at least in that circumstance, she had taken the initiative to tell her. I hadn’t just blurted it all out. In fact, I had been pretty proud of myself for the restraint I showed and not telling Lindsey everything.
It had started with Gabe. After the conversation with my old boss about the investor, I had the whole thing on my mind. When Gabe called me just a couple hours after that conversation, I decided he had an actual stake in the whole thing. After all, he worked at this firm, too. That meant anything I was involved in, technically he was also involved in. Also, he would just have extra insight into it.
