82. Aarya
Aarya
“Ihave a bad feeling about this.”
“Don’t worry.” I pace the floor of the break room, holding my phone out in front of me. “Everything is going to happen according to plan.”
Brittany nods from her seat at the table. “Don’t stress, Chanora. We got this.”
Tonight’s the night Brittany and I are going to catch creepy Carter red-handed.
While he was out running an errand earlier, we snuck into his office and scoped out the perfect spot for me to hide while still being able to record the video from my phone.
Brittany is dressed in her usual work attire—high-waisted black slacks and a silky pink button-down—so as not to draw attention with anything overtly sexy.
Not that it should matter what a woman wears. Men shouldn’t take a cute outfit as an open invitation to touch a woman.
“Well, I’m not letting you do this without backup,” Chanora says. “Call me from Brittany’s phone and keep me on the line while you record the video from your phone. Just in case anything goes wrong.”
“Nothing’s going wrong.” I square my shoulders and lift my chin. “We’re taking this guy down, and that’s it.”
“Come on, you don’t want to make me worry when I’m with child.”
I roll my eyes. “I’ll call you once it’s over, I promise.”
“Just be careful.”
We end the FaceTime, and I glance at Brittany. “You ready for this?”
She nods, pulling at her collar.
“Are you sure you want to be the bait? I can do it if you’d rather—”
“No.” She stands from the chair. “I can do this.”
“Okay. Let’s go. Carter should be back any minute.”
I lie and let Eddie know he’s off duty for the night because Alexander will be picking me up from work.
Then I head into Carter’s office, and tuck myself inside the closet behind his desk.
I’m able to hide behind one of the walls inside, and peek my phone’s camera through one of the slats in the closet door.
Brittany hands me her unlocked phone before scurrying out of the office to wait for Carter.
While I wait for them to enter the room, I make sure my phone is set to silent so it doesn’t go off and alert Carter that I’m in here.
Luckily, New Jersey has a one-party consent law, meaning we can record Carter without his consent and use it as evidence in a case against him.
I’ve thought of everything. There will be no surprises. This plan is fool-proof.
We’re finally going to nab this asshole.
After several minutes, Carter invites Brittany into his office, closing the door behind her.
Show time.
Carter remains standing, facing Brittany, instead of asking her to take a seat. “I’m so glad you waited for me to get back so we can talk.”
If she’s nervous, she doesn’t show it. She tucks her hair behind her ear, acting coy. “I just wanted to tell you how much I love working here. I’m so grateful you hired me.”
His back is to me, so I can’t see the look on his dumb face, but he reaches out his hand and lays it on her shoulder. “You’ve been doing a great job. I can see that you’re willing to put in the work to move up the ranks.”
“I am,” she says as she nods. “I’m a hard worker. I’ll do anything you need me to do to help out around here.”
Ha. Way to bait him right into that one.
“Hard-working and beautiful.” His hand moves off her shoulder, and his fingers trail down the buttons of her blouse. “That’s a deadly combination.”
My stomach lurches, and I have to bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from gagging.
Brittany’s throat bobs as she swallows. “Sir, I’ve been thinking. I know you kissed me the other day, but I want to keep things professional between us. I don’t think you should do that again.”
Good job bringing up the kiss for the camera, Britt.
“Ah, come on.” Carter pops open the top button on her blouse, and moves to the next. “It’ll be our little secret. We can still maintain a professional relationship.”
She takes a small step backward, and puts her hand up. “I don’t feel comfortable with that. You’re my boss.”
“That’s right. I am your boss. And don’t you want to please your boss, Brittany?” He inches forward with each step she takes away from him. He reaches out and grips the back of her neck. “I think we can make this a mutually beneficial partnership.”
Brittany told me to wait until after he kisses her to make sure we have it on camera. I told her she didn’t have to take it that far, that I didn’t want her to do something she wasn’t comfortable with, but she insisted.
I keep the camera pointed at her while Carter kisses her, and then she pushes him away. “Carter, please. Stop.”
But he doesn’t stop. He lunges for her again, shoving her against the wall like she said he did the last time.
I make sure to get the struggle on video before bursting out of the closet. “Gotcha, motherfucker.”
Carter spins around, eyes wide as the realization of what’s happening sinks in. “You stupid little bitches.”
“I don’t know, Britt. We just caught our boss sexually harassing us with video evidence. That doesn’t sound too stupid to you, does it?”
She grins. “Nope.”
I expected Carter to get angry. I expected him to beg us not to release the video to anyone. What I didn’t expect was for him to slap the phone out of my hand, and wrap his fingers around my neck.
Brittany screams as Carter slams me against the wall, his hand like a vice. I point to my phone on the floor, trying to tell Brittany to grab it and keep recording.
But I don’t know what Brittany does next. I barely register what Carter’s threatening in my ear as he crushes my windpipe. My vision gets hazy, and my limbs feel heavy.
The last clear thought I have is: Chanora was right.
And I don’t know if I’ll get to tell her that.
My eyelids droop closed, but then the hand around my neck releases me.
“Get your fucking hands off my wife.”
My eyes pop open as I fall to the floor, clutching my neck and gasping for air. I blink to clear my vision, but when I look up, I blink again because I can’t believe what I’m seeing.
Alexander is punching the shit out of Carter.
“Alex,” I choke out, struggling to push to my feet.
Brittany tosses her arm around me and helps me up. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
“No. Wait.” My throat is raw and my voice sounds like I swallowed gravel. “Alex, stop.”
Alexander stands over Carter, who’s barely able to keep his arms up to shield his face as Alexander’s fist connects with his jaw again.
“I’m going to break every bone in your body if you ever come near my wife again. Do you understand me?” he shouts.
Carter’s only response is an agonizing groan.
Fuck.
“Alex, enough!” I shout as loud as my throat will allow me and move to stand in his line of vision. “Think of Giuliana. Please, you can’t do this.”
At the sound of his daughter’s name, he freezes. His hand, raw and bloody, drops to his side as his wild gaze flicks to mine.
Guilty tears roll down my cheeks as he steps over Carter’s body and crashes into me, pulling me into a suffocating hug.
“Are you okay? Fuck, baby, tell me you’re okay.
” His hands come up to cradle my cheeks, his eyes bouncing around my face before he tilts my chin to inspect my neck.
“I got here as soon as Chanora called me. She said you were in some kind of trouble. What the hell is going on?”
I swallow, my throat dry, as a sob bubbles out of me. “I’m okay. You weren’t supposed to be here.”
Brittany steps closer, and holds out my phone. “The screen is a little cracked, but the video is there.”
“Video?” Alexander echoes.
I can’t bring myself to look at him. “I was trying to catch Carter harassing Brittany. We came up with a plan, and—”
“You planned this?” His voice is too calm, too quiet.
Another tear rolls down my cheek as I nod. “It worked. I got the video. Now he can’t harass us anymore. Now—”
“You put yourself in danger. On purpose.” He pauses. “And you didn’t talk to me first.”
I wrap my hands around my midsection, hugging myself for comfort. “I just wanted to put a stop to this.”
“Where’s Eddie?”
My chin hits my chest. “I sent him home.”
He glances around the room, taking a minute to speak again. “I’m parked out back. Take Brittany and go wait in the truck. I’m going to have a chat with Carter.”
“But—”
“Go wait in the truck, Aarya.”
I clamp my mouth shut at the sound of his clipped tone, and lead Brittany out the door. We don’t say anything, but she clings to my hand as we walk outside and get in Alexander’s SUV.
I twist around to look at her in the back seat. “I’m really sorry I involved you in this, Britt.”
She shakes her head, wiping at her tear-stained face. “I wanted to do this with you. I wanted to catch Carter just as much as you did.”
“I shouldn’t have put you in this situation. He came on to you like a monster. Are you okay?”
“I’m okay, really.” She lifts her eyes to mine. “What do you think is going to happen now?”
“I don’t know.”
Several minutes later, two police cars and an ambulance pull around the back entrance of the gallery, without lights and sirens.
Alexander must have told them to keep things quiet so as not to alert anyone passing by of what’s happening inside.
The last thing we need is the media to get their hands on a picture of what Alexander did to Carter’s face.
After Brittany and I give our statements and show the cops the video of what Carter did, he’s arrested. The sight of him being shoved into the back of the police car brings me only a sliver of satisfaction.
The EMT examines my neck, and then the three of us are back in Alexander’s SUV.
He doesn’t look at me the entire ride to drop Brittany off at her apartment, or on the way back to his house.
I’d rather him yell at me, or tell me how stupid I am, or lecture me about my safety. Anything but this crushing silence.
I wait until we pull into his driveway and he kills the engine before I turn to him. “Please, say something.”
His head falls back against the headrest and he releases a long sigh. “It doesn’t matter what I say.”
My lips wobble. “That’s not true.”