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“I told him it worked on all his data.” I feel the need to defend myself. I hadn’t been trying to trick Nick. I hadn’t once looked through the data despite the fact I’d known it was there. The only times I’d ever accessed his files was when he’d lost his laptop and I’d needed to pull the data down into a new one.
Maybe if I’d looked I would have known he was cheating on me in so many ways.
“Did you know her?” Heath’s tone is grim as Emma pulls up pictures of Nick with another woman. She’s blonde and far prettier than me. She looks like the kind of girl who’s super impressed with a Bugatti and some jewelry. I do know her.
“She worked in sales.” I don’t still love Nick. There’s zero affection for the man in my heart, but I ache for the me I’d been at the time. I hadn’t even had a hint that Nick was screwing one of the sales support staff. She answered phones. There’s nothing wrong with that, but Nick was the guy who constantly talked about how he needed a woman on the same level, a woman who could keep up with him in business. This was a bit of fluff looking for a husband to take care of her. Again, nothing wrong with that, but I wish he’d been honest about what he really wanted.
Heath puts an arm around me. “I’m sorry you had to see that. Especially since it doesn’t help us.”
Nick cheating on me would bring shrugs and nods and conversations that began with well, of course he did. It’s not illegal to be a douchebag.
“Look for anything concerning Lance Norfolk,” a familiar voice says.
I turn and CeCe’s still here. Everyone else, with the exception of my mom, has gone home with promises to help more tomorrow, but CeCe is still here. Somehow she looks perfect at two in the morning. Not a hair out of place, and her makeup looks like she’d just put it on. Mom is half asleep on Lydia’s couch, and Lydia is fully asleep in her lounge chair. Thomas had taken Lady Buttercup home and was probably circling the block, waiting for CeCe’s command.
“He didn’t know Lance Norfolk back then,” I say. As far as I knew he’d met the well-known corporate raider the night of CeCe’s party. “Nick didn’t have a lot of ties to New York before he met me. He’s always been a West Coast guy. He wouldn’t have any reason to know him.” The idea slices through me. Lance Norfolk is exactly what I’d said he was. A raider. An investor who likes to take apart companies as much as he likes to build them up. How far did this go? What had he done to me? “You think he knew Norfolk all along. Norfolk is the one who got him the job, not old fraternity contacts.”
“I’ve been looking into it. I think it’s very possible. I think it’s how Lance works,” CeCe explains. “I’m curious. The fact that Lance is quietly funding him means something. Lance doesn’t invest in any company he’s not sure he can steal at some point. He’s very careful. I’ve not known him to go into business with someone so quickly.”
Heath is already typing away, resetting the parameters for Emma’s search.
I’m shaken at the idea that there might have been more to my “failure.” I join CeCe out in the hall as Heath works behind us.
“Are you okay?” CeCe asks.
I don’t know that I’ve been okay for a long time. “I’m finding out that my whole life was a lie, but I think I already knew that.”
“And now you’re questioning if he’s a lie, too.” CeCe says the quiet part out loud. There’s no question which he she’s talking about.
I look back, my voice low so Heath can’t hear me. “I don’t think he’s a lie. I think Heath is exactly who he says he is. The problem isn’t Heath. It’s me. I worry I can be a lot for any guy. Lydia thinks I should jump in with both feet.”
“Yes, you do that often,” CeCe replies.
“I do not.” I’m careful. I think through every relationship I’ve ever had. I’d made a thorough list of pros and cons before moving in with Nick.
“You went into business with Heath the day you met him. You had the idea for Jensen Med on a Tuesday and an LLC filing by Thursday morning. That game you programmed. Same thing. You had the idea and it was available for sale within a year. You leap all the time,” she points out. “You follow your gut, and your gut is usually correct. Deal with the Nick problem. Confront him and get some closure no matter what we find. He’s noise in your head. Once you shut that noise out maybe you can listen to your gut again. I think it’s important that you and Heath continue the way you’re going.”
