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“That’s not a bad idea.” I pointed to the touchscreen display on my car and tapped Adrian’s number. I had him saved as a contact under “The Boss(hole)”. The line rang a few times, then we got his voicemail. I left a quick message telling him not to do anything till we talked to him, but it was a small comfort.
“It’s five minutes,” Elizabeth blurted.
“Five minutes what?”
“That’s how much time someone saves by going ten miles per hour faster on a thirty-minute drive. It’s five minutes faster for every ten miles per hour you speed.”
I narrowed my eyes. “So if you double the speed and go one-twenty, you’d be there in zero minutes?”
“Dammit,” Elizabeth swore. “I don’t know anymore. I was never very good at math.”
“Yeah, me either.”
We eventually arrived safely at Adrian and Juliette’s place. I knocked softly on the door, hoping I wouldn’t wake any babies. I waited about three seconds, then pounded as hard as I could. “Adrian! Open the—”
The door swung open and Juliette was standing there clutching a robe around herself. Her eyes were puffy from sleep but she still clearly looked like she was about to punch me. “Travis, what the hell—” she trailed off, noticing Elizabeth beside me. “Oh, hi. You must be Travis’ girlfriend. I’m Juliette.”
“What’s that about?” I demanded. “You were talking to me like a shit stain and you get all sweet and friendly with her? What if I told you she was the one banging on the door?”
“I wouldn’t believe you,” Juliette countered.
“That’s fair. But I need to talk to Adrian. Now.”
“Really? I didn’t guess that when you pounded on my door at two in the morning and screamed his name. He’s in his office right now.”
Shit. I rushed past Juliette, ignoring the way she called after me in annoyance. I heard Elizabeth briefly apologize then run to follow me. We went past the kitchen and through the double doors into his home office. Adrian looked up, his face lit only by the blue light of his computer monitor as he lurked behind his desk.
“Don’t do it!” I demanded. “We’ve got another plan in—”
“Do what?” Adrian asked.
“Don’t play dumb with me.” I rushed around to see what he was working on and found he was on YouTube. He hurried to close the tabs, but not before I could see he was uploading a video. I frowned. “Wait a minute, was that—”
“No,” he said.
“It looked a lot like you were—”
“No,” Adrian repeated. “Don’t do what? And what the fuck are you doing in my house? Where’s Juliette?”
He started to stand, but I gently urged him back down into his chair. “Sorry to interrupt your content creator dreams, but the lovely Elizabeth here might’ve sent you some documents a few hours ago. I needed to make sure you don’t do anything with them.”
He clicked a few times into his email and his eyebrows drew together at what he saw. “These are from Glass’ computer?”
“Yeah, but—”
“Why wouldn’t I run with this?”
“Because you’re a reformed asshole, remember? The new Adrian has a little sympathy for human beings and doesn’t just ruthlessly do whatever it takes to advance his own goals. He only sort of still does that.”
“I’m a reformed asshole who cares about the wellbeing of his family above all else. Including your desires to protect this woman I’ve never met.”
“I hooked her up with an old flame,” I said, quickly filling in the rest of my plan and the details.
“Jesus,” Adrian groaned. “This was your master plan all along? Some convoluted game of matchmaker you hope will have some off chance of diverting Glass from her desires to pay us back for putting her husband behind bars?”
“Yes?” I said.
“I saw it,” Elizabeth said, speaking up for the first time. “Mrs. Glass has been conflicted for weeks. Things with her husband are strained and she has been confiding in me about this man who got away. I think she was only pursuing this legal stuff because her husband was leaning on her to do it. If she realizes she can still be happy with Enzo, I think her husband is going to lose the last influence he had on her.”
“So what?” Adrian asked. “Then he’ll just push the case through on his own without her help. It seems like she’s already done the hard part for him. All he has to do now is tell the lawyers to keep going.”
“Oh,” I said, scratching my chin. “I actually didn’t think about that.”
Elizabeth’s expression fell, but then she lifted her finger, eyes brightening. “No. I know Mrs. Glass. She’ll have all of this under her direct control. And I think… I think she resents her husband for pushing her to do this. If that’s how she feels, I think she’s the type of woman who would make sure there’s nothing left for him to pursue.”
