25
JAKE
All my hopes of meeting Kiera again go down the drain when she sends in her resignation letter. I guess I expected that from her. It was just a matter of time before she quit.
I feel numb as I read the words on the screen. "Due to personal reasons, I won't be able to continue my position at firm..." The rest of the words kind of just blur together after that.
She's gone because of me. I can sense the disappointment of the rest of the team at her absence.
As I walk past one of the conference rooms, I hear one of my employees say, "I mean if she knew she was going to move on so quickly, why did she take on such a huge responsibility? Now we have to scramble to find a replacement or the museum project timeline is effed."
Bea has nudged me about the recruitment a couple of times. I told her to shortlist someone from the previous job position we put out. I don't really care who comes in. They'll be nothing compared to Kiera.
Everybody else knows that.
I know I have the power to bring her in if I want to. She can't just vanish into thin air, just announcing that she has quit.
Three days after she sends in the letter, I instruct the HR department to summon her into the office.
I know it's cowardly not to do it myself, but I know that she won't come in if she sees my name on the mail. She needs to do that by herself.
Unfortunately, although she does reply, it isn't to say she will be dropping in. Instead, I get worse news.
I spend the next few days thinking about my choices. Kiera is stubborn. Since she has decided that she doesn't want to see me, she'll do everything in her power to avoid me. I cannot force her hand either. She needs to choose me.
And she obviously hasn’t, and I cannot force her to.
Henry texts me a couple of times and insists that I meet him at the bar downtown. We used to meet there a couple of times a week, just the two of us, before work got too busy.
I know he’s not going to give up, and perhaps he’s the only person who’ll understand what I’m going through. Everything is eating me up from inside, and I need to talk to someone, or I feel like I’ll drown.
I felt lost the first time I lost Kiera, but this time, it’s different. I’m sick to my stomach with dread and uncertainty.
***
I’ve spent the last couple of days moping around. Everybody at the office has noticed it, especially Bea.
“Did something happen between you two?” she says.
“I don’t want to discuss it,” I say, staring at my computer.
She looks sad. “I’m sorry things went wrong.”
The door closes after her. I stare down at my hands.
I’m angry at Kiera, and more so at myself. Why couldn’t she trust me enough to tell me what was bothering her, instead of just up and leaving?
Did I freak her out by asking her to move in with me? I know things were happening way too fast, but I just wanted to ensure I was there for her and the baby. Maybe she felt overwhelmed when I left her alone in the apartment. I shouldn’t have made the meeting a priority over her.
But Soledad was so sweet, and once I got there, I found out that she was trying to track down and restore one of her grandfather’s old paintings.
“Kiera, baby, why did you leave?”
I need to know where she is right now. She had to physically mail in her resignation into the office. She hadn’t completed an entire quarter, and we required a correspondence address. Is she still in the city?
All I want to do is to show up at her door and talk to her. But how can I ask for forgiveness when I don’t even know what I’m asking for?
I shake out of it. We’re less than a month away from finalizing the deal for the museum project, arguably the biggest thing we can get right now. I cannot afford any distraction.
I've put Bea’s sister, Thea, in charge of the museum project for now. We have a short meeting with the new guy, Leo Valdez. Like Kiera, he had some experience working with reconstructed pieces, but he did mostly private dealings as a freelancer.
"Does everything make sense, Leo?" I ask him.
He nods, adjusting his glasses. "My predecessor did such a great job with everything."
"Kiera is very good at what she does,” I muse.
"Why did she leave?" Leo says. "She's obviously very passionate about this. "
"We don't really know," Thea says, giving me a look. Maybe she suspects that it has something to do with me.
I know some people were talking about my closeness to Kiera, and a few of them even managed to figure out our past ties. But my employees haven't questioned me yet.
We discuss some more about the project. The museum is still figuring out the timeline, but the project getting extended isn't necessarily a bad thing. The museum director assured me that everything was on track, and they were hoping to receive a large grant from both the government and a few of its biggest patrons. So, it looks like we won't start the project until the beginning of next year. But we still have to iron out the kinks.
Everything has to be perfect. And the worst thing is, Kiera left us the blueprint to follow along with her resignation. And she has been right so far.
My heart throbs just at the thought of her.
After the meeting wraps up, I head back into my office. Usually, I would stop by some desks and check out individual progress. But lately, all I want to do is wrap up work as quickly as possible and be on my own. All my actions have become mechanical. I think of nothing but Kiera.
I walk to the window and watch the city go past me. That’s when my phone starts to ring.
It’s Henry.
At first, I ignore it. I’ve been avoiding him since the day at the bar. I’m unravelling, and I don’t want him to see me like this. I know he’s disappointed in me, but I can’t help myself. Nothing in my world makes sense now that Kiera is gone.
Henry’s call goes to voicemail.
I have a couple of minutes to kill, and though I don’t want to talk to him on the phone, he is still my friend. He might need me.
So, I listen to his voicemail.
"It's Chris," Henry says. "He did something. We were hanging out the other day, he got super drunk, and he told me that he met with Kiera."
My heart rate spikes. Chris met with Kiera? When did that happen?
I immediately call Henry back.
"Met Kiera when?" I say as soon as he picks up the call.
"When you went to Spain. He paid her a little visit when you were gone. I think he might have told her something. I think he's the reason she left."
“I don’t understand,” I say, raking a hand through my hair. “Kiera was staying with me when I went to Spain.”
“He must have gone by your apartment,” Henry says.
“Why? He didn’t know about Kiera then.”
“Are you sure? Remember when you told us at the club that you were together? He was pissed, sure. But he didn’t seem surprised that you were with her.”
I think back to that night. I was so anxious about Kiera that I wasn’t paying attention to what happened.
“You think he told her something?”
“I mean, I’m not sure. He just mentioned he met with her, and I thought that was all so weird that I had to mention it to you.”
“You did right, Henry,” I say. “I need to go. I have to check something out.”
“Jake, just be careful. And don’t do anything rash,” Henry says, sounding anxious.
“You don’t have to worry about me,” I say and end the call.
I know what I’m looking for, but I pray I don’t find it there.
It takes me a couple of minutes to access the server.
I sometimes store expensive art at my apartment for safekeeping, so I’ve had security cams set up at the entrance and one in the hallway, and I have full remote access to it. I never felt the need to check it before. Until now.
I fix a rough timeline and search through archives for specific dates. It takes me about half an hour to fast-forward through the footage before I finally find it.
My heart sinks.
I watch as Chris waits outside my door. I fast forward through the clips until I see Kiera walking toward the door. She stops short when she sees Chris, so I know that she wasn’t expecting him to be there.
They go inside. They talk. My blood starts to boil.
I can’t see her face, and there’s no audio so it makes the whole thing a little difficult to understand. But they’re having a conversation now. Kiera is gesturing something to him, so I assume that she wants him to leave.
But then Chris holds up his phone and dials a number. I try to squint at the screen and even zoom in, but I can’t see it clearly.
He showed her something on his phone which caused her to react like that because after Chris leaves, Kiera comes out with her packed suitcase.
It’s evident to me that Chris being there, and Kiera leaving shortly afterwards is no coincidence. But the question is, what the hell did he show her?
I dial Chris’s number. He picks up immediately.
“Chris, where are you?”
“At my apartment,” he says. “Why?”
“I’m coming over.”
I don't waste any time leaving. I drive my car as fast as I can, weaving in and out of traffic. My heart is pounding so hard in my chest that I can hear it in my ears. I grip the wheel harder. A few cars I pass honk. But I don't care.
I need to find my answers. And I need them quick.
Chris's apartment is almost half an hour away from my office, but I reach it in record time. My body is shaking by the time I walk up to his apartment.
When the door opens, it's not Chris at the other side but a scantily dressed girl who looks surprised to see me.
"I thought you were Uber Eats," she says.
"Where's Chris?" I ask.
"Who's that, Maisie?" comes a voice from inside.
Before she can answer, I barge past her into the apartment.
Chris comes out of the room wearing nothing but boxers. He has a lazy smile on his face that disappears the moment he sees me.
"What's wrong?"
"What did you tell her?"
Chris's eyes widen. But I've known him enough to know that he knows exactly what I'm talking about.
"Jake, bro—"
I walk right up to him. "What. Did. You. Tell. Her?" I say, enunciating every word.
I'm so pissed that I can feel my fists shaking at my side, but I manage to keep my voice flat.
"Hey," the girl, Maisie, comes up from behind. "That's no way to talk to him."
"Maisie, stay out of it," Chris tells her before turning to me. "What the hell are you talking about?"
I hold up my phone which has a screen grab from the CCTV footage. I knew that he would try to deny it when confronted, so I brought proof.
His face pales.
"Where did you get that?"
"From my apartment where you visited my girlfriend?"
Chris scoffs. "So, she's your girlfriend now? When did that happen?"
"Chris—" I warn him. "Why did you go by my apartment? You knew I was in Spain. You and Henry both knew. So, why?"
"I'm sick of your accusations."
"What did you tell her? Why did she leave?"
He starts to laugh. "Spoiler alert, bro. If she left because of one little lie of mine, she never loved you in the first place."
My blood runs cold. He doesn't have to tell me. I connect all the dots. The phone he was holding up. Kiera's tears afterwards. Everything makes sense now.
"You told her I was with someone else."
He doesn't even try to deny it this time. "I was trying to save you. She would have ruined your life the same way she ruined mine."
"What did you do?"
"It was simple enough," Chris says, gesturing to the girl. "I changed my contact from Maisie's name to yours. I called her, she answered and told us you were not there at the moment. Woke the poor girl up, too."
What the fuck.
Chris starts to circle me.
"It was a test, and she failed it. Jake, don't you see? I always have your back." He leans in. "Even though you didn't have mine back in college when you let Kiera walk in on me. You wanted that, didn't you? You wanted her for yourself. But I'm not as selfish as you. I'll always be there for you, even when she isn't."
I ball my fists and look up to see Chris smirking at me. Everything goes red.
My fist connects with his face and sends him reeling into the couch.
Maisie screams, rushing toward him.
Chris groans as he starts to sit up, blood pouring out of his nose. "Screw you."
"Stay away from me, asshole. You're no friend of mine." And with that, I walk out of the apartment.
I drive around the city aimlessly. Blood still pounding in my head, giving me an awful headache. I remember Kiera's new address and decide to drive down there, picking flowers on the way.
I wait outside her apartment with a pounding heart, waiting for her to open. But when the door opens, a petite woman with flaming red hair comes out.
Wait, am I at the wrong apartment?
I've never actually been here before.
"Wait, you're Jake, aren't you?" the woman says before I can say anything.
And then it clicks. "You're Ellie," I say. "Kiera talked about you."
She scowls, folding her arms in front of her chest. "What do you want?"
"I just want to talk to her. Please, is she in there?"
"No, she isn't. And you should stay away from them for good."
"Ellie, is she okay? And the baby?"
"What do you want?"
Tears gather at the corner of my eyes. "I just made the worst mistake of my life.”
"You're just realizing it now?"
I shake my head. "I should have cut him off a long time ago."
"Yes, you sh—Him? Wait, what the hell are you talking about?"
"My friend Chris."
"You mean, Kiera's ex?" Ellie says. "Now what did he do?"
I give her a short rundown of everything that transpired after I left.
She claps her hand to her mouth. "Oh no. So, that was all just a misunderstanding?"
"Yes, and I didn't know that until a few hours ago. I need to talk to Kiera. Please."
"She's not here, Jake," Ellie says, taking a deep breath. "But I can tell you where she is."