Chapter 35 #2
“I’m signing it tomorrow,” I tell him, my voice final. Even saying it feels like I’m cutting out a piece of my own heart. This company is everything I’ve built, everything I’ve bled for. And I’m giving it away. For a woman who doesn’t even know I’m protecting her.
Hudson mutters something that sounds suspiciously like ‘dumbass’ then pulls out his phone. “Whatever, I’m calling Skyler. She’s been quiet all day.”
“Maybe she’s enjoying her break from you,” West says, without looking up from the contract. “Not everybody wants a status check from you every fifteen minutes.”
Hudson ignores him, pointedly putting the call on speaker. It rings. Then rings some more.
And then Jesse answers, his voice sounding weirdly tremulous. “Hello?”
“Hey.” Hudson frowns. “Where’s Sky?”
“Oh. Ah. She’s um… resting. You know. Napping. Because of the baby. Doctor said rest is important and, uh, no phones. Very restful. Lots of pillows.” He sounds almost frightened.
“Are you at my place?” Hudson asks.
“Um no,” Jesse replies. “At mine.”
“She’s napping in your guest bed?” Hudson says, looking more confused than ever.
“That’s it. Yep. I’d hate to disturb her, you know how cranky she gets.” Jesse gives a half-laugh.
“Is Ayda there too?” Hudson asks. He’s starting to look panicky.
“Yep. She is. Say hi to daddy, Ayda.”
“Hi Daddy.”
The relief that washes over Hudson’s face is palpable. It wasn’t that long ago when he came to New York for a meeting and his daughter disappeared, after all. “Hey baby. You okay?”
“Yep, Uncle Jesse let me have unicorn poop ice cream.”
West lifts an eyebrow, but carries on reading. He gets his pen and strikes through a clause, writing something so small I can’t read it.
“That’s good. How about Mommy? Is she okay?”
“Yup. She and Aunt Francie looked super funny when they started shouting at Uncle Jesse.”
I look at Hudson’s phone. “She got there okay?” I ask.
There’s a little kerfuffle. Jesse comes back on the line. “Sorry, gotta go. Unicorn poop emergency.” The call disconnects and Hudson frowns.
“Did he say if Francie was there with Skyler?” I ask Hudson, trying to figure out where she is.
He shrugs. “I’ve no idea.”
There’ve been no more calls or messages since she arrived. There’s a pang in my stomach that she must think I’m ignoring her. I wish I could just pick up the phone. Tell her the truth. But the truth might break her, and I’d rather it break me instead.
Still, just for my own peace of mind, I pull open my laptop and triangulate her cell.
“What are you doing?” Hudson asks.
“Tracking Francie.” Relief washes over me when I see she’s at the Captain’s House, as promised.
“Does she know you do that?” West murmurs. “Because that’s not stalkerish at all.”
“It’s the first time I’ve ever done it. So no.” I glare at him. “And I’m not planning on making a habit of it.”
Hudson leans in, squinting at the laptop screen. “Wait, that’s her phone? At my place?”
“Yep.”
“So why is Skyler at Jesse’s?” he asks, more to himself than to me. “When I asked her to bring Francie home she promised she wouldn’t leave her alone. And now she’s left her there without telling me?”
“I don’t know,” I murmur. Our eyes meet. And for the first time today, I try calling Francie.
And of course it goes straight to voicemail. She’s probably trying to get back at me for the radio silence and I don’t blame her.
“There’s something fishy about this,” Hudson murmurs. “I’m going to call Jesse again.”
“Wait,” West says, looking almost annoyed with us. “Do you still have a tracker on your car?” he asks Hudson.
“Yes.” Hudson nods. “It’s an expensive car.”
“So look it up, if it’s at Jesse’s then Francie probably is too. Now can I finish going through this without you two gossiping like it’s your job, please?”
Hudson is already pulling up the tracker on his phone.
It loads up and his eyes narrow, a frown pulling at his brow. “That can’t be right,” he mutters.
“What is it?” I demand, leaning over to stare at his phone.
And then I see it. The little dot, moving like it’s Pac-Man trying to escape the ghost gang. And nowhere near Liberty.
“Why’s my SUV on the mainland?” Hudson asks.
My stomach tightens.
“They left the goddamned island,” I mutter.
West leans back on his chair with a self-satisfied smirk that makes me want to throw something at him.
“This is what happens when you tell lies,” he says like he’s a school teacher.
Hudson looks at me. “Skyler and Jesse swapped phones,” he says. “To throw us off.”
West actually starts to laugh. The asshole.
I look at his phone again. There’s no doubt about it. That dot is still moving and it’s getting closer.
Skyler – and possibly Francie – are heading toward New York.
Hudson lets out a low whistle. “Skyler’s going to kill me,” he says. “For not telling her what’s going on. And I’m going to kill her for doing this with our baby inside of her.”
West finally puts his pen down, grinning like it’s Christmas morning.
“Well this should be fun,” he says.
Fun isn’t exactly the word I’d use.
Disaster would work better. Catastrophe even more.
I rub a hand down my face, the truth of the situation hitting me like a sucker punch to the gut.
I can feel it. Francie’s coming here to New York.
And she’s going to find out everything.
About the videos. The blackmail.
The fact I lied to her face.
God, what if she walks away? What if I lose her?
Not because of the breach, or the videos, or Annalise’s bullshit. But because I was too much of a coward to let her in.
I stare at the moving dot once more. It’s coming straight for me.
And so is she.