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“Ethan…” she starts, taking one step toward me. I look her in the eyes and she stops dead in her tracks, anxiety written all over her face.
“You can go now, Brittney. I have work to do,” I dismiss her coldly, as if I wasn’t talking to the woman I love. This is the hardest fucking thing I have ever done. “Go,” I repeat, ice in my eyes and in my voice.
She runs her tongue over lips, and slowly, turns her face away. She starts walking toward the door, and I feel like shit. This is the worst fucking day of my life, that much I can tell you.
“Brittney, one more thing…” She stops and looks back at me, hope gleaming in her eyes. I look back at her, unable to say a fucking thing. But I must do it. I fucking must.
“Yes…?” she asks me, clutching the hard drive against her chest.
“You’re fired,” I say to her and close my eyes for the final bit. “Effective immediately. With cause.”
Brittney
“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.”
