She cocked her head suddenly to the side, gazing hypnotically at me the way a cobra might look at its prey before striking. “Isn’t it obvious?” Her eyes dilated almost completely black as they stared me down in the darkness.
“No. If it was, I wouldn’t have asked.”
She laughed, a laugh that ironically formed a knot in my stomach. “Because Nicholas Hunter ended up with the wrong girl.”
“And so now you’re punishing me? Because you couldn’t have him?”
“I’m a little drunk, I suppose. And part of me wants Nick to know that I’m the one who set him up! I can’t feel avenged if he doesn’t know why it happened. He needs to know what he did to me and how much it stung. He needs to know that I wanted him to pay dearly.”
“But what about me?”
“You’re just a causality of war, that’s all. I have no hard feelings against you. Nick embarrassed me, and now I must do the same back. Then we’ll be even, and I can treat him like family.”
She’s nuts!
I cleared my throat. “So let me get this straight. You just wanted Nick to feel embarrassed? And that will appease your anger?”
“Bingo.”
“What if I tell Mitchell everything I know? Or what happens if Nick spills the beans about you hiring the photographer?”
“Look at what I did, just because I was embarrassed. Imagine what I would do to you and Nick if you destroy my future marriage. I’ll come at you so hard, I promise you won’t know what hit you.”
Chapter 13
“You have to be fucking kidding me!” Nick said.
I closed my eyes as a priceless mid-century vase crashed into the wall, shattering into a million pieces; two others that used to be just like it were already crumbled on the floor.
“She just pulled you outside and admitted it?” Nick demanded. “She told you outright that she paid a photographer to take those pictures?”
Since it was the fourth or fifth time he’d asked the question, I answered with a tired sigh, “Yes, Nick.”
“Well, I just don’t get that,” he raged. “Why would she—”
“Apparently, she met you once a couple years ago, at some club. You were out for a night on the town, and she was hoping to be the girl who went home with you.” I sighed again, even more tired than before. “She kept coming on to you and even invited you back to her place, but you weren’t interested. You left with someone else.” Why she felt the need to tell me all of that, I would never know, but the shock had faded, and fatigue was settling in. So far, my magical trip to the Hamptons had consisted of just one exhausting trial after the next, and all I wanted was some sleep and to go home.
“I don’t remember her. Really.” Nick stared off into space, trying to place the woman in the long list of nameless people who’d wanted to fuck him over the years. “Not at all.”
“She had a crush on you for a long time. You guys run in the same social circles. I guess you rejected her in front of all her friends. She never got over it and plotted a revenge scheme.”
“She dated my dad to get back at me?”
“No. But when she learned you were his son, she plotted a little revenge, to teach you a lesson. She wanted to embarrass you in front of the entire world; the way she was embarrassed when you shot her down. She wanted you to feel the sting of embarrassment. She felt like that was fair enough revenge. But the photographer backstabbed her and went to Mitchell first for more money. And your father is way more powerful than she is. So there was little she could do once your dad obtained the flash drive. And Mitchell doesn’t know a damn thing.”
“Then I’ll tell him.”
“Your dad has possession of the flash drive now. Claudia is keeping quiet because she doesn’t want your dad to know she hired the photographer in the first place. Yet, she wanted you to know, so she could feel like she got a little justice, I suppose. Let’s just play your dad’s game and get the flash drive from him. If we involve Claudia, she’ll come at us hard. And we don’t need that kind of trouble.”
There was a brief pause before his face clouded and a fourth vase shattered atop the rest.
“The fucking bitch! What the fuck are we still even doing here?” He paced suddenly to the door, the pieces of shattered porcelain crunching under his designer shoes. “I know exactly what room she and Dad are in. I should just march in there and...” He trailed off suddenly when he saw me slumping against the wall. “Abby!”
A light sheen of sweat had broken out over my forehead, and I threw out a hand to brace myself as the room started to spin.
He was beside me in a blur, lifting me gracefully off my feet to rush me over to the bed. His eyes filled up with worry as he laid me gently down, stroking back my hair with one hand, with no regard for bobby pins this time, reaching for his cellphone with the other. “Honey, what’s going on? Are you okay?” His fingers flew expertly over the buttons, and I saw Harold’s name flash up on the screen. “Should I call the doctor? What are—”
“No,” I said quickly, already knowing that a doctor would come up with the same result as one of those cheap dollar-store pregnancy tests. “Don’t call anyone. Please. I just felt a little dizzy. It’s no big deal.”