Chapter Twenty-Four
Quinn
I force myself through the conversation with Bethany, maintaining the vulnerable facade I’ve rehearsed. Despite my internal disgust, I deliver each line with calculated precision, watching her eyes occasionally dart to my new laptop with barely disguised interest.
“This place suits you; it’s cute,” she says, her gaze moving around my office in a meticulous assessment. “A bit small compared to what we had, but…quaint, charming.”
I swallow the urge to tell her to take her insult and shove it up her ass. To remind her she’s the reason I’m in this “quaint” space rather than the expansive office we once shared. Instead, I channel the sweet, slightly desperate persona she’s been used to me having and what I’ve perfected for this evening.
“It’s a start,” I say with a convincing smile. “You know how it is—building from scratch after…” I trail off meaningfully, letting her fill in the blanks on her own.
Her red lips curl into what might appear as a sympathetic smile to someone who doesn’t know her. “Of course. Starting over is never easy.”
A few moments later, my phone buzzes in my pocket—right on schedule and so desperately needed. The predetermined signal from Nathan.
“Sorry,” I say, glancing at the screen with carefully manufactured concern. “It’s my new client. I should probably take this—high profile.”
Bethany’s eyes light up with unmistakable interest at the mention of the fact I have a client. “Oh, absolutely. Take your time.”
“I’ll just step outside for a moment,” I say, already moving toward the door. “Help yourself to water if you’d like. Bottles are in the fridge, behind my desk. I’ll be quick.”
The moment I close the door behind me, I’m filled with conflicting emotions—intense anxiety that our plan might fail mixed with a fierce hope that we’ll finally expose her.
I make it just outside to the front of the building when I see Nathan is already there, tablet in hand, his expression intense with focus.
“Has she taken the bait yet?” I whisper, moving to his side to look at the tablet’s screen.
Nathan shakes his head slightly. “Not yet.”
On the screen, I can see the live feed from the hidden camera. Bethany remains seated, scrolling through her phone with an air of practiced nonchalance. She doesn’t make a move toward the laptop.
“What if she doesn’t go for it? Could we have the wrong person?” I ask, anxiety creeping into my voice as Bethany continues to just sit there.
“She will,” Nathan assures me quietly. “If she’s the leak, there’s no way she’d let an opportunity like this pass by. Just wait.”
We watch together; I wait with bated breath as the seconds tick by. Bethany continues scrolling through her phone, occasionally glancing up at the door but otherwise staying perfectly still.
“C’mon,” I murmur under my breath, willing her to make her move. The longer I stand outside, the more suspicious it might seem.
Another thirty seconds pass with excruciating slowness. Then, finally, Bethany looks toward the door again, listening intently. Seemingly satisfied I’m still not back yet, she stands from her seat and approaches my desk with deliberate casualness.
I gasp as she leans over my laptop, her movements precise and practiced. She pulls something from her purse—a small USB device—and without hesitation plugs it into the side port.
“She’s doing it,” I whisper. “That bitch.”
We watch on the tablet as her fingers move swiftly across my keyboard, her expression focused and intent. After what seems like an eternity but is probably less than a minute, she begins the process of removing the USB.
“We’ve got what we need. Let’s go in.”
We move quickly down the hall and push the door open. Bethany jumps, startled by our sudden entrance and quickly shoves the USB into her pocket. Her expression shifts from surprise to carefully composed innocence in an instant.
“Oh! That was quick,” she says, sliding back into her chair with practiced ease. “Everything okay with your client? Nathan? Wow! It’s so good to see you.”
“Bethany, what are you doing to my laptop?” I ask directly, not bothering with pretense anymore.
She blinks with a confused expression. “What? Nothing. I was just checking my emails on my phone.”
While I keep my focus on Bethany, Nathan moves to my computer. From the corner of my eye, I see him checking the screen. After a moment, he looks up at me and gives a deliberate nod, confirming what we already knew.
“Really? That’s the story you’re sticking with?” I step closer, emboldened by knowing what I saw on the tablet. “Don’t pretend. I just watched you install spyware on my laptop—and I have it all on camera.” I point to the security camera hidden in the corner.
Bethany must see where I’m pointing because then color starts to slowly drain from her face. Her professional demeanor cracks momentarily.
“The spyware you just installed is identical to the one that was on Quinn’s old laptop,” Nathan interjects.
Bethany’s shoulders suddenly straighten, a cold smirk replacing her initial panic. “And if I did? What are you going to do about it? Ruin my reputation the way yours was? What exactly do you think you’re going to prove?”
“That you’ve been monitoring me,” I say, pulse quickening as I press forward. “That you’ve been stealing information, invading my privacy—You violated my trust.”
Her laugh is sharp, bitter. “Trust? You want to talk about trust? Sweet pea, when are you going to stop being so naive?”
I pause in disbelief. “Why? Why would you do this to me?”
Something in Bethany’s expression shifts, revealing a sense of resentment that’s been no doubt simmering beneath the surface. “Why? You really have to ask me why?” Her voice rises with each word, that careful control beginning to slip.
“We were once partners, friends. We built that business together,” I say. “Did that mean nothing to you?”
“We built nothing together.” Her filter finally falters, anger flashing in her eyes. “You’d always waltz into the office with your perfect smile and your perfect hair and your perfect boyfriend, and clients just fell at your feet. Do you have any idea what that was like for me?”
Nathan stands beside me, his presence clearly aggravating her further. “So you decided to spy on her? To sabotage her and steal private information?”
Bethany’s eyes snap to him, filled with undisguised contempt. “Oh, look—Mr. Knight himself, riding to your rescue. How gallant of you, considering you abandoned her at the first sign of trouble.”
Her attention turns back to me, something dangerous flickering in her gaze as she stands. “You had everything handed to you, Quinn. The looks, the charm, the wealthy boyfriend from the prominent family. You didn’t even have to try, and everyone loved you. Everyone wants to work with Quinn Sanders, the golden girl, the favorite one.”
I watch her carefully, recognizing the eruption of long-suppressed jealousy. “Is that what this was about? You…you were jealous of me?”
“Jealous?” She practically spits the word in my face. “I was sick of standing in your shadow! Watching you float through life while I worked and schemed and fought for every scrap of recognition from our clients. You didn’t deserve any of it—the success, the clients, Nathan. None of it!” She’s yelling at this point.
“So you sabotaged me?” The pieces are beginning to finally fall into place. “You ruined my life, my reputation, my relationship, my career—all because you were jealous?”
“You never played fair! So I took what was rightfully mine.” Her voice rises to a higher volume. There’s nothing left of her but pure rage as she steps closer to me. Nathan tries to pull me behind him, but I shake my head.
Bethany continues. “When I saw a chance to finally put you in your place, where your personal and professional life belonged, I took it. And it was beautiful to watch the beautiful, wonderful Quinn Sanders, the woman that had always been a thorn in my side, brought down overnight.”
The venom in her voice stuns me. Did I have rose-colored glasses on for so long that I didn’t see this side of her? I knew we had a toxic dynamic, but I never thought it’d be this deep between us.
“Your laptop was always there,” she continues, a twisted pride entering her tone. “Always open, always available. You made it so easy for me to put that program on there. Do you know how simple it was to see everything you did? Hear everything you said? Watch your every move?”
Nathan’s voice is tight with controlled anger. “You were watching us when I told Quinn about the NorthStar deal in her apartment.”
An even crueler smile spreads across Bethany’s face. “That was like catching lighting in a bottle for me. I have to personally thank you for that little tidbit, Nathan. The CEO’s brother, spilling company secrets right in Quinn’s living room. And all I had to do was make sure the story went all over the internet, made it to the right journalists, and all from her computer.” Her gaze shifts to me, triumph gleaming in her eyes. “I’ll admit, your boyfriend really helped me out with his posts on social media against you.”
The calculated malice of her confession hurts. “You deliberately set me up to take the fall.”
“And it went off like clockwork!” She doesn’t even try to hide her satisfaction now. “You should’ve seen yourself afterward— so confused, so broken. Your perfect life was crumbling. Your precious Knight wanting nothing to do with you.”
“That’s when you said we should go our separate ways professionally.”
“I had it all planned out. I’d take your clients and run the business you initially started into massive success. But then your clients said they’d rather work with you than me. So I simply provided some…enlightening information about you.”
“You manipulated them into working with you.” I’m shocked by her actions.
She nods. “Hearing through the grapevine that you’re struggling truly made my year.”
“And the article about Jonathan and Kiera?” Nathan asks, his voice calm but filled with some trepidation.
“You think I’d just stand by and watch you rebuild everything that didn’t belong to you in the first place?” Her laugh makes my skin crawl. “When I found out you’d landed the Knight Industries CEO as a client, I couldn’t believe it. Quinn Sanders, rising from the ashes, walking right back into the world she lost.”
“How dare you!” I yell at her.
She continues unbothered. “I was still watching you through that laptop. I saw the meeting at their house—all those intimate details about their love story just handed to me on a silver platter. It was too perfect to pass up.”
She leans forward, voice dropping to a near whisper. “There was no way in hell I was going to let you have a happy ending. That I’d watch you succeed on your own, rebuild your reputation, maybe even win him back.” She nods toward Nathan. “I had to remind everyone who she truly is. I had to make sure she stayed where she belonged—alone and with nothing.”
Her casual cruelty leaves me momentarily speechless. The depth of her hatred, the methodical way she’d worked to destroy me.
I stay silent for a long moment. Tears threaten to spill from my eyes. But I hold them back. She’s not worth wasting them on. “Was any of our friendship, our partnership, real? Or was it all just part of your plan?”
Something shifts in her expression. A glimpse resembling what once might have been genuine feeling. But it’s quickly gone again.
“Business is business, Quinn. Nothing personal. But I will say, watching you fall apart twice has been exceptionally satisfying.”
“Except it was personal,” I point out to her.
“Yeah, well, you left me with no choice.”
I pause, slowly nodding. “Well, I hope it was worth it for you.” I turn to Nathan. “Are we still recording?”
“Yep, and we got every word of that confession,” Nathan replies, pulling out his tablet and stopping the recording.
I can’t help but smile a little as I turn my attention back to the backstabbing bitch. “The police are going to find this all very interesting.”
Her eyes widen as she realizes what’s happened. “You?—”
“You honestly thought you’d reveal your masterplan to us and we wouldn’t be wise enough to record? Adorable,” Nathan finishes, already typing on his phone. “I’m attaching the video evidence of you installing the spyware just now, the evidence matching the spyware from the original computer to the new one here, and the now enhanced café security footage of you last year at the time of the NorthStar leak as of five minutes ago. Safe to say the police are going to have a field day with you.”
Panic finally breaks through her smug exterior. “You can’t?—”
“We can and, as of right now”—Nathan cuts her off, presses one more button before putting his phone in his pocket—“I just did. My head of security just sent the evidence to his buddy in the police department.”
“Say, Nathan,” I ask with pretend nonchalance, “how soon will the police be here?”
“Imminently, especially since his buddy works at the police station just around the corner.” He answers my question with the same tone, turning his gaze to Bethany. “Hope you look good in orange. I hear it’s the new black.”
Bethany’s eyes darken as they flit between us, calculating her options. Her shoulders suddenly straighten again, a last attempt at control. “You think this changes anything? You think a little legal trouble scares me? Please.”
“Scaring you was never the idea,” I say, finding a calm certainty in my voice. “It’s about making sure you can’t hurt me or anyone else again.”
A knock at the threshold of my office door interrupts our confrontation a few moments later. Two police officers enter, responding to Nathan’s message with surprising promptness.
“Bethany Wilson?” one officer says. “We’d like to ask you some questions about unauthorized computer access and installation of surveillance software.”
As the officers read Bethany her rights, Nathan takes the USB drive from her, uninstalling the spyware from my computer. She turns to me; her cold fury is all over her face.
“Don’t think for one second this fixes anything or brings back everything you lost. This proves nothing except that you’re too weak, too trusting and undeserving.”
I slowly step closer to where I’m right in her face. “No, it proves that despite your best efforts to destroy me, I’m still standing. And now everyone will know exactly who you really are.”
As they lead her away in handcuffs, I feel a huge weight lifting off my shoulders.
I did it. I’ve proven my innocence. I’m finally free.
When the door to the building closes behind them, Nathan and I are left in silence. The tension of the past hour has dissolved completely, leaving behind an awkward uncertainty. I’m still processing what just happened when Nathan breaks the silence between us.
“You did it!” His voice is softer than I’ve heard it in a year.
“I couldn’t have done it without you.”
He waves off my response with a shake of his head. “No. I just helped with the technical parts. What will you do now?”
“I’ll need some time to spread the word about what happened, try to undo the damage that Bethany has done. I’ll definitely be explaining all of this to my former clients she’d turned against me, which is going to be rather interesting.”
I pause, looking at him, really looking at him, and see the regret and relief etched in the lines around his eyes. The way his shoulders seem to carry an invisible weight.
“Quinn.” He says my name like a prayer on his lips. He takes a hesitant step toward me. “I don’t even know where to begin.”
“Nathan—”
“No. I have to say this.” His voice breaks slightly, raw with emotion. “I’ve spent a year blaming you, punishing you, when I should’ve trusted you. I should have listened.”
He caresses my face, then runs his hand gently through my hair, a gesture so achingly familiar it makes my heart clench. “I was so quick to believe the worst. Instead of standing by you, I abandoned you when you needed me most. I let my pride and my anger blind me to what should’ve been obvious—that you would never betray me like that.”
The sincerity in his voice, the naked vulnerability in his expression catch me off guard. This isn’t the controlled, confident Nathan I’ve known. This man before me is stripped bare, his defenses finally down.
“I threw away everything we had.” He lets go of me. He puts down his arm at his side as he continues, his voice rough. “I didn’t just fail to protect you—I became part of what hurt you. And then I tried to convince myself it didn’t matter, that I was better off without you, when the truth is I’ve been half alive since the day I walked away.
“I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness. Hell, I wouldn’t forgive me. And I’m not asking you to. But I need you to know how sorry I am—for doubting you, for not fighting for us. I’d take it all back if I could. I’d like to help you undo all the damage Bethany has done.” His offer is something I don’t expect.
“You’d do that?”
“I put you through too much shit to let you tackle this on your own. I want to keep making things right between us. And maybe in time…we can talk about us. If you’re willing.”
I consider his words, weighing them against the year of pain between us. The lengths he went to, to get to this very moment. At first, I’m grateful for him. But the fear that he’d drop me like he did again, the doubt that he’d take my side no matter what creeps back in again. How can I trust him? Sure, he’s been helping and still wants to. But as much as I still hold him in my heart, I don’t think I can risk another year of him hurting me as much as he did in the first place.
“I…I appreciate your apology and your wanting to make things right. And I’m especially grateful for your help today. In time, I’d like to talk about us. But what happened between us broke something in me. I can’t just dive back in like nothing happened.”
He pauses. Hurt and understanding cloud his expression as he takes both my hands in his. “I understand. I have no excuse. And I understand your hesitation about me. About us. I don’t blame you. I want you to have time to think things through.”
As I drive away, watching his figure grow smaller in my rearview mirror, I know I’m at a crossroads. The path forward isn’t clear yet, but for the first time in a year, I’m willing to consider there might be one.
Whatever comes next, at least now we both know the truth.