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He takes a step back like I’ve done something threatening. “You can’t hurt me. I came out on top. You’re the one who got her ass kicked. And I’ll make sure your little company means nothing. And when you start the next one, I’ll be there, too.”
Heath is so right about this. I might be making it worse because I realize the opposite of love isn’t hate. Not at all. It’s this indifference I feel for him. I’ve done what I can as a human being to make amends for the wrongs I did to him.
And now I can settle all the accounts between us without regret or guilt.
“I don’t suppose you want to apologize for cheating on me.” I’ll give it a shot.
Ooo, I do feel something. I feel a building wave of anticipation. He might have been hurt by some of my actions, but his response has been nothing but malevolent.
“I never cheated on you,” he lies, stepping right into my trap.
“You never dated Kelly Belton from sales? Because you sure took a lot of pictures of the two of you.”
He stops, and I can see his brain turning. “Where would you have gotten pictures of us? Did she come to you? That little bitch.”
“Not at all. As far as I know she’s still in California looking for the next you. I got the pictures from the backup system.” Yes, this is the part I’ve been waiting for. I’ve gotten the martyr part out of the way, and I’m ready to let my justice warrior off the leash. “You know the one I set up for the house. The one that saved the data from all your personal electronics. Including your phone.”
He physically pales. “No. It just charged my phone.”
I reach into my bag and pull out the user agreement he’d signed. It’s a copy. I’d originally done it because I didn’t want him to sue me if the data got lost. I should have known then and there the relationship was a mistake. “Nope. I made it clear at the time that it was all electronics. You knew. You even used it once when you lost a bunch of music off your phone.”
“I didn’t think…” His jaw tightens as the ramifications hit him. “That’s not right. That’s my data. You don’t get to use my data against me.”
It’s seriously the most naïve thing I’ve ever heard him say.
There’s a knock on his door and the admin pokes her head through. “Lance Norfolk is on the line and he…you should probably take the call.”
Ah, CeCe has excellent timing. “CeCe and Lawyer are paying your friend a visit this morning. I know. I should know the lawyer’s name, but she seriously only refers to him as Lawyer. Sometimes I think CeCe went to the Karen Walker school of public relations. I’m sure, though, that Lawyer is extremely good at his job and is informing Norfolk that he will be handing over evidence to the feds later this afternoon that you two colluded to bring the value of Jensen Medical down so he could have one of his shell corporations scoop us up. I’m sure we’ll call that person Agent.”
Nick ignores my sarcasm. “You can’t be serious.”
I am so serious. I was the naïve one back then. I never dreamed he would do something like this. I’d blamed myself for everything, and I’m pretty sure he’d known that would happen. I hadn’t gotten to know the real him, but he’d known me. At least that version of me. “It was clever, but it didn’t take long for Hacker to put things together. He wasn’t happy to have to leave the rave he’d been at, but CeCe made it worth his while. And you should know there was a lot of discussion about hacking your systems now, but I said no.”
“You can’t prove anything.”
“Oh, I can. Did you record the conversations so you could cover your ass?” I ask. “It seems like you were smart enough to not trust Norfolk entirely.”
The room goes silent, even the admin going still as though she knows what’s happening in front of her will change things.
“You can’t download those conversations. They were private,” Nick finally says.
“I bet they were so private Norfolk didn’t know he was being recorded.” Norfolk would sue him into oblivion whether or not the feds came calling.
“California is an all-consent state.” Nick leaps on the possibility. “You’re right. Norfolk didn’t know he was being recorded. You can’t use them.”
I’d already fixed this for him. He doesn’t have a great memory. “But this wasn’t a phone conversation. You used the personal recording function on your phone to record a private meeting you had with Norfolk. I’ll have to pull your phone records, but I listened to the conversation. You were here in Manhattan, and New York is a one-party consent state, and even if you somehow find a way to get it thrown out, I can prove you sold all your stock in Jensen right before you announced we were broke. You were the only C-level employee who did it. Norfolk did as well. He owned quite a bit of Jensen Medical stock through a couple of different companies.”
