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I button up my pants and look at her, knowing exactly what I have to do. I go back to my desk, sit down in front of the computer and tap at the keyboard. Accessing the Illicit Escape code, I downloaded it onto a hard drive and then eject it. Holding it in my hands, I get back up and walk toward her.
“Take it. It’s the code,” I tell her, no emotion to my voice.
“But…” she stammers, her eyes widening in confusion. “No… I can’t… I won’t, Ethan.”
“You will,” I tell her harshly. “It’s the reason you came here in the first place, isn’t it?” I push the drive into her hands and she grabs it hesitantly. I notice that her hands are shaking, and my heart feels tight as fuck inside my chest. “Give it to him, and your problems will be solved.” Without saying one more word, I turn my back to her and sit at my desk again.
She stands there, looking at me with tears in her eyes, and fuck, I just want to fucking hold her tight, but I can’t. I fucking can’t.
“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.
