“You didn’t want to be a mom?” I ask.
Nikki pauses for a moment before answering, like she wants to say the right thing but then just decides to be honest. “No. I never pictured myself being a mom. Of course, I never saw myself working here forever either,” she says. “I wanted to be a photographer.”
“From the sounds of it, you’ve accomplished that dream,” I say, and she swallows hard.
“So you know it was me?” she asks, but it’s more like a statement that she knows the answer to.
“I know it was you. You took the photos of the night I caught Ashlyn at my house, and you took the ones Sigma is plastering all over the internet. Not only that, but I have camera footage proving it. So, if you don’t want to get arrested for trespassing on more than one count, I suggest you tell me everything. It’s one thing to drop my son off on my doorstep, but it’s another to break into my home at all hours of the day and night.”
She takes a deep breath and lets it out. “I’ve been a fan of yours for a while,” she says. “But I am sure you knew that. After we broke up, I was heartbroken. I thought we had something special, but I guess it was a one-way thing. Then I found out I was pregnant. I didn’t know what to do, so I just got a job here so I could support myself. I couldn’t wrap my brain around the idea of being a mom. I thought maybe when he was born that feeling would change. Except it didn’t. If anything, I felt less attached,”she explains while peeling the label off her beer bottle. I nurse mine and keep listening.
“That’s when I started taking photos. I’d made a little money off of some I shot around town and at the gym of celebrities, but nothing that would pay the bills. I knew if I could get photos of you, good ones, they would probably be worth a lot. I already had access to your house because you never changed your alarm code.”
“I didn’t think I needed to,” I say, and she gives me a shameful look before going on.
“I also knew how to get past security. So I snuck in one night to take pics, but right when I was about to start shooting, I saw Ashlyn falling through the rafters. I couldn’t believe I wasn’t the only photographer there that night.”
“Wait,” I stop her. “So you were there too? Unrelated to each other?”
“Yep. I was about to go in for some closer shots when she fell into your hot tub. Then I was ready to leave, but you two started getting heated. And while I didn’t love watching it, I knew other people would. I’d get money?—”
“And revenge,” I say.
“But it kind of backfired. You two became an overnight sensation, and I was stuck at home taking care of a child you didn’t know about, looking for the next photo op.”
I nod, trying to wrap my brain around all of it. “So you’re really willing to just give him up?” I ask, and her eyes grow teary.
“Is it terrible if I say yes? I’m not cut out to be a mother.” Nikki’s voice is shaky as she answers the question.
“He was healthy when you dropped him off. Warm and clean and fed,” I say.
“But I still dropped him off. Without looking back,” she says.
I take in a breath and hold it for a moment before letting it out. “You do know that last string of photos led to our break-up, right?”
“I figured as much.”
“Was that your intention?” I ask.
“Not initially. Deborah, the manager of Sigma? She came to me. I don’t know how she found me, but I’m sure it wasn’t hard. She told me Ashlyn quit, and that she knew I could get good photos. She offered me a lot of money to do it. And seeing as how I was feeling a little jealous of Ashlyn and the whole situation, I guess I did it a little out of spite.”
“That’s wrong though,” I say.
“I know. I also know that you two are good together, whether I like it or not. I think you should fix things with her, and we can all move on. That is, unless you still want to have me arrested.”
“I’m not going to have you arrested,” I tell her. “But I also don’t know if I can fix things with Ashlyn either. I accused her of taking all those photos, or hiring someone to do it. I came here to get your side of the story. And now that I’ve heard it…I was thinking maybe you could help me.”
Nikki just stares at me for a moment. “Help you? How?”
“I love her,” I say. “And I’m sorry if that’s hard for you to hear. But right now, she doesn’t want to hear it either. And I wasthinking…maybe she won’t listen to me, but she might listen to a woman. A woman who also loves Bentley.”
“You want me to talk to Ashlyn so that she’ll forgive you for accusing her of taking photos for Sigma that I took?” she asks.
I know how it sounds. But I’m also desperate.
“Yes,” I say.
“And why should I do that for you?” she asks. “Or are you blackmailing me? Either I talk to Ashlyn or you show the cops the camera footage, is that it?”
