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My head started spinning.
My mind flashed to cooking with Juanita. Then talking to Orson.
Suddenly I was on the phone talking to what seemed like an old friend Bartholomew Williams.
I remember Bart now. He was married to a friend I went to high school with. We were the only two girls in auto shop at school. We even worked together at my grandfather’s shop together. Julian did not like him because he owned a competing company.
I needed someone I could trust so I called him. Bart agreed to run some tests himself and my engines passed with flying colors. He even asked if we could strike a deal. He said he would hold a press conference stating I was the creator, and he would purchase my engines. The only catch was that I would have to work for him instead. I could not do that to my husband or my grandfather, so I turned him down.
I was going to tell Julian about my meeting, but he found out first.
I heard the front door slam while I was in the kitchen with Juanita laughing about something. He showed up in the doorway and gave Juanita the rest of the day off.
“Bart’s? Really?” He slammed the memo onto the white marble counter.
I picked up the memo and scanned through it.
“This is nonsense,” I told him.
“Is this nonsense too?” he asked shoving his phone in my face.
Someone had gotten a picture of me walking into Bart’s building and attached a nasty headline questioning my loyalty to my husband and grandfather. I was appalled.
“You went there, didn’t you?”
“I did. I’m not some invalid who can just sit at home while the world tells me my creation is horse shit. What did you expect me to do? I can’t even set foot into my own shop, my grandfather’s shop.”
“You know it is not like that. You know what I’m doing is all in your best interest.”
I frowned. I thought he would just shrug it off as more nonsense and me visiting an old friend.
“My best interest? Julian, you have me under constant watch day and night. I’m not even allowed to breath without you knowing about it. I came to you countless times to let us do a test run then hold a conference and show everyone the claims are wrong. But what did you do, you just pulled them all from the market. I don’t need to be coddled Julian. Do these hands look like a woman who sits on the couch watching soap operas?”
“But Bart?”
“He’s my friend, and you know it. Yes, he tried to offer me a job. A pretty good one at that, even eventually part ownership. That’s more than I get with you. You were grandfather’s favorite, so you got the business. I’m just some stupid girl who’s supposed to keep you happy. No one gives a shit how I can race or that I’m a genius with engines. Nope, I have a vagina so I can’t do anything great. Thanks for the reminder.”
Julian sighed and stretched out his arms.
“Fuck off,” I threw over my shoulder as I walked away.
“Rylie…”
If the world did not believe me, at least my husband should.
I asked Bart for more help because I did not want anyone to find out. I asked him to help me figure out who was behind all of the terrible news circulating online. If Julian would not figure it out, it was up to me. I had to know who was tarnishing my name and causing Julian to look like the hero saving his stupid wife who apparently did not belong around cars.
Even though it was a memory flooding my brain, I could still feel the rage that burned inside of me. My anger quickly turned into mixed emotions.
I had sneaked out of the house wearing a baseball hat and sunglasses. Two streets down, I got into an Uber I had called. The man dropped me off exactly where I asked, Walmart. No one would suspect seeing me in a Walmart.
My first stop was the pharmacy then the bathroom. My leg was nervously tapping the floor as I watched the time speed by on my clock app. When it hit zero, I glanced at the back of the toilet.
Two pink lines.
What great timing. I decided to keep it to myself until all of this blew over. Hopefully it would be soon.
It was Julian’s baby they ripped from my body…
