AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He pointed at my office. “Can we sit down? I don’t love doing this in the middle of the street. It feels like we should at least have the illusion of privacy.”
Unable to think past Sylvie poisoning me, I opened my office door and walked back inside. Michael followed me, locking the door behind us.
“Why would she do that?” It didn’t make any sense.I met her once. I could really annoy people, but killing me with a cupcake seemed a bit much.
“She thought she was in love with me.” He stepped away from me to look out the window and then turned around. “She was why Tito shot Stephen, and why he would have killed you.Shewas his boss.”
I sank into my chair. Everything hurt, and I tried to make it make sense…
I remembered Tito talking about Michael mourning me… “What he said…about your love life. It makes sense now.”
“Yes.” He nodded and took one step toward me. “I realized it on the treadmill, and then I came out to find you poisoned.”
I rubbed my eyes. I wanted to cry but not in front of him. I didn’t trust him with my tears, so I would just fake it until I got home. “Thank you for letting me know.” I rose, brushing my hands down my legs. “It’s nice to know the threat is over.”
“Yes.” He nodded. “But that’s not why I came to see you, Bridget. I mean it is, because your safety is the most important thing. I’m hoping you’ll let me explain some more.”
I had to make him stop or I wasn’t going to survive it. “No. Thank you. I think this should be the last time we talk. I understand things much better now. You made yourself very clear the day you left the hospital while I was still recovering, so I don’t think there’s more to say.”
I opened the door and motioned for him to leave, but he didn’t budge. He stared at me.
“I didn’t leave. I mean, I get it if you don’t want to see me anymore. That I can completely understand. But I can’t let you leave here thinking I left you at the hospital.” He rocked back on his feet and rubbed his eyes. “That much you have to hear.”
I stopped moving. It made no sense. Was he just lying again, but why? “Michael, Roy told me you left. I remember that quite clearly. I asked him if you stayed because you told me when Stephen was shot how you always stayed at the hospital when someone you cared about was hospitalized. I remember it vividly, so I asked him…were you there? Because he told me you had left hours before, and that told me everything.”
He visibly swallowed. “Roy lied.”
“What?” My head swam and for a second, I wasn’t sure I could stay upright.
“He lied. We were sure Sylvie was monitoring us in every way by then. She was smarter than me, better at it than me at that point. We had no choice but to make her think I left the hospital. She would’ve heard the same thing that I told you, because she was clearly listening to every word we said. My leaving was meant to signal to her that we were done so she would leave you alone.” He took a step toward me. “But I couldn’t leave you, Bridget. I really couldn’t. I exited the hotel, got into a car. Drove a distance. Went into a car wash. One of my guys, Bryce, he turned out to be trustworthy, switched places with me in the wash, and took off in the car. I then made my way back to the hospital, where I stayed until you were released.”
How was that possible? “No one saw you.”
“Despite all evidence to the contrary when it comes to you, I am actually really good at my job most of the time. I stayed in a room a door down from you. The old woman was comatose. I read to her. The nurses thought I was her grandson. It was right next door and Roy left a bug in your room so I could hear everything.”
I winced. Pretending I hadn’t wept for days would be pointless then, since he would’ve heard the whole thing.So much for dignity and a little bit of pride.
“Roy feels like shit about that. Not that his feelings should be your biggest concern. But he did it because I asked him to in order to make Sylvie stay away from you.”
I supposed it made sense. I hated it but the logic was there. “Why bother? You told me how you felt.”
“Bridget,” he walked toward me again, definitely close enough to now be in my space. I closed the door.Ridiculous that I held it open like that.“I’m a very good liar. You are absolutely not.”
I barely got through Amanda Hill, and in that case, I told mostly the truth. I couldn’t sell Michael as my husband in Russia. I sucked at lying.
“Roy and I managed to concoct a plan in the boiler room of the hospital after they took you back to stabilize you. We had two minutes, so we decided to assume that she could hear everything, all the time.” He visibly swallowed. “So I said,” his voice actually broke when he spoke, which was so un-Michael-like, it startled me—"that I had to find a way to cut off ties with you. I knew you would have to believe me if we wanted to sell it to Sylvie. It was the only way it would work. If you didn’t believe me, you would do something that would trigger her. She was a genius. Evil. But, yeah, super smart.”
I almost couldn’t believe what I heard. My head pounded as I stared at him, but he didn’t look so wonderful himself. How did I miss the immense dark circles under his eyes, or the way that he wasn’t still. Well, still for most, but for Michael, he seemed slightly jittery.He’s no more okay than me.
“So you said what you said…because youknewit would hurt me.” I wanted to make sure I understood. “You used all the weaknesses I revealed to you and turned them into weapons you used against me?”
He laughed, but it had no mirth. “I don’t expect you to forgive me. I really don’t. I wouldn’t forgive me. But, yes, I did. I listed your biggest insecurities, sure you’d call bullshit. I said you weren’t good enough, how you were too much, and how you told me to reconsider things. I did. I pulled it all out. To tell you the truth, I thought, given enough time, you might realize how ridiculous I sounded. Because of that, I knew I couldn’t wait. I talked to you right away, when you first woke up, so your defenses would be down and drugs would muddy that clever mind of yours. I did that intentionally. You should hate me for it, but I didn’t mean a word of it.”
“To save my life, you decided to hurt me beyond how anyone had ever hurt me before.”
When he answered, it was in a whisper. “I did, Bridget. I’m so sorry. I’ll go now. I just wanted you to know…everything. And to see if you are well. Are you? Well? I can see that you have exploded, work wise. Your business is incredible, and the name was brilliant.”
I tried to swallow and couldn’t. “Figured it was time to own the name that brought me so much pain. I’m sure you know all of this. Your spy network or whatever likely kept you filled in about my every move.”
