26. There’s No Going Back
26
There’s No Going Back
L ast night was one of the greatest nights of Nicole’s life. Feeling as loved as she did with Spencer was something she didn’t expect. Nicole couldn’t put a name to what she and Spencer had yet, but she knew that if it ended here, she’d be okay. He’d given her some of the best memories she could have hoped for, and more.
But knowing she would be okay if their night together was a one-time thing didn’t mean she didn’t hope for more. Her body felt the lack of his absence from the moment she left his penthouse. His warmth, his scent, his touch were gone, and she was cold, empty. No one, not even Kyle, had gotten so ingrained in her bones like Spencer had.
It wasn’t just a physical ache. It was an emotional one too. Being without Spencer felt as if she’d lost something special and irreplaceable. A lot of people had come and gone in her life. She would do anything for him to be the one who stayed.
Nicole spent her morning in the office, trying hard not to recall what they did on her conference table. She worked on finalizing a special surprise she had in store for Nessa. Her party was two weeks away, and Nicole wanted everything to go off without a hitch. The surprise would be the cherry on top of a perfect birthday .
As Nicole finished a phone call to a vendor, she got a call from Maya. A pit carved its way down her stomach. Something she never felt when Maya called. That was her first sign something was wrong.
“Hi, is everything okay?”
“I don’t know. Thomas called and said he wanted to meet with us to discuss an update over the case.”
“Already? We hired him less than a week ago.”
“I know. That has to be a good thing, right? He wouldn’t be calling us so soon with an update if he didn’t find something.”
That was Nicole’s thought process too, but she didn’t want to get her hopes up in case they were wrong. “When did he say he could meet?”
“In an hour. I gave him your address. I’m on my way to your apartment if you can meet us.”
“Yeah. I can duck out of here early, especially if this is as important as we both think it is.”
Never since the drive to the hospital when she gave birth to Maya was Nicole as worried as she was now. Thomas held the key to her future. His findings determined what their next steps were. Best-case scenario, he found something they could use to blackmail William into leaving them alone. Worst case, he found nothing, and they were down to their last option.
Nicole didn’t fear going to jail. She feared missing out on Maya’s life. 24 years wasn’t long enough. Not for Nicole, and she hoped not for Maya.
She parked outside her building and spotted Maya in her car waiting. “Mom, Thomas is late,” she said as Nicole approached her.
“It’s been three minutes.”
“I know, but I’m worried. What if something is wrong?”
“I’m sure everything’s fine. I’m sorry for giving you the worry gene. Along with so many other things.”
Maya unlocked her passenger side door and beckoned her mom to come in. She did, hugging her daughter. “Mom, please. I didn’t call you here to have you apologize for the millionth time.”
“I had to get one more in, in case everything goes to shit.” She noticed the curious look Maya gave her then and sighed. “If Thomas called this meeting to tell us William’s clean. I’m going to turn myself in to the police. I’ll say I forced you to go along with the cons and that you were an unwilling accomplice. It’s the only way to spare you and get rid of William’s leverage over us.”
“Absolutely not!”
“Maya, come on. You had to have known from the start this would be our last resort if the PI didn’t come through.”
“There has to be something else if this doesn’t pan out.”
“There isn’t. I have looked. High and low, and this is it. I don’t want it to be, but it is.”
“Why do you keep doing this? Shutting me out, making these decisions without me? We’re supposed to be in this together.”
“We are, and I’m sorry if you don’t feel that way, but I have to keep you safe. That’s what my job as your mother is. I didn’t do a good job of it for a long time, but that doesn’t mean I can’t start to now.”
“You’re using me as a justification for you doing this, and I won’t allow it.”
“You won’t allow it?” Nicole asked incredulously. “I’m not asking for your permission.”
“Do you hear yourself? You want me to give you my blessing to perjury yourself because you feel guilty for what kind of mom you used to be. I won’t do it. I won’t give you my blessing. You want to make things up to me? Stay here. Let’s book a therapy session. Don’t fall on your own sword to absolve yourself of your past sins. Nothing gets fixed by you doing that.”
Nicole looked at her daughter, the woman who was becoming more like her by the day. She felt proud, and yet ashamed. “William wouldn’t be coming after you anymore. That’s what’s fixed. I couldn’t protect you from him and the other men like him once. This is my chance to do that. If you have to spend even a day in prison because of me, I will never forgive myself. You still have your future ahead of you and I want you to live it, even if I can’t be a part of it.”
“Don’t say that to me. You promised me when I was a kid that nothing would ever happen to you. That I would never have to go through life without two parents like you did. Don’t abandon your promise to me now. I still need you, Mom.”
“Do you?” Shock flashed onto Maya’s face, evaporating her growing tears. “I’m not being accusatory. I’m really asking because sometimes it feels like you don’t. And I don’t blame you if that’s the case. I’ve put you in unimaginable situations that a mother never should have. I’ve done the worst to you and it’s made you stronger than anyone your age should have to be. But it’s also made you independent. So much so, I wonder how much you actually need me. Am I an anchor to you or dead weight you should have cut off a long time ago?”
Maya didn’t hesitate. “There have been times in my life where I’ve considered you both. I can’t tell you the number of times I wished you were a normal mom. Not this conniving con artist modeling me into her protégé. I wanted us to be normal, to have the typical mother-daughter relationship. Sometimes I wondered if I got away from you, I would get what I wanted. For me to be normal.”
“You had the chance to leave when you turned 18. I saved enough money for you to go to college and live that life. Why didn’t you?”
“I didn’t want to leave you.”
“I would have followed you,” Nicole said, earning a smile out of Maya.
“I guess I worried that no matter how normal I tried to be. People would see through me and see me as a fraud. I was scared to have what I always wanted in fear of losing it.”
Nicole understood how she felt. She felt it everyday running Taylor For You. “I’m sorry. You never would have had that fear if I didn’t raise you to be different from everyone else.”
“I made peace with it because I realized something. You were a normal mom in the ways that mattered. You comforted me when I was sad, scared, or lonely. You celebrated with me when I achieved a goal I was after. You held me and told me you still loved me when I told you I liked girls. I was angry the normalcy I longed for wasn’t the one I got, but I never once question your love for me. Please, don’t question mine for you.”
“I don’t. I question if I add any value to your life.”
“You did a number on me. There’s no sugar-coating that, but I know your heart, mom. It’s the same heart that gave me mine. Everything you’ve done, misguided or not, has been to give me a better life than the one you had. Look around, you accomplished just that.”
“No, honey, everything you’ve gotten you got on your own.”
“With the tools you gave me. You focus so much on the bad, but you don’t notice how much good you gave me too. I’m resilient, hardworking, and independent. I go after what I want because you taught me to. You didn’t teach me by throwing me into the fire. Through it all, I could always come to you. You were my partner. Even though you aren’t anymore, you’re still my mom and I’ll always need you. I want you in my life because I need you in it, not because I feel you have to be there. Don’t doubt that again, please.”
Nicole, teary-eyed, hugged her daughter. “Ugh. We need so much therapy.”
Maya laughed. “My therapist would have a field day with you. Just about any therapist would.”
“I bet,” Nicole said, pulling away. “I have so much making up to do for you. Please don’t think I don’t know that because I do.”
“You don’t have to go to jail to make things right with me. It’s not like you can braid my hair or paint my nails from all the way in there.”
Nicole grinned. “You’re the greatest thing I ever did, kid. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure there’s no blemish on your shine. Yes, including going to jail if that’s how the chips fall. I’m sorry if that hurts you, but I’m not leaving you alone. You’re in safe hands with Kennedy and Eric.”
“But they’re not you.”
“No one is, darling. Thank god,” she chuckled, cupping Maya’s cheek. She caught and wiped a tear before it fell further.
Maya pulled back and wiped her face with her sleeves. The sound of Thomas’s car pulling behind them made them pull themselves together. “Let’s see what Thomas has for us first before we jump to the worst possible scenario? Let’s not lose hope.”
“Alright,” Nicole agreed, knowing how much Maya hated her saying goodbye.
Thomas knocked on Maya’s window, and she rolled it down. “Excuse my tardiness, ladies. Didn’t mean to keep you waiting. I have news of your interest. Let’s go inside and talk.”
Nicole let everyone into her apartment and gave them water bottles to hydrate with. “Are you planning on keeping us waiting any longer than you already have?” she questioned Thomas.
“No, of course not.” Out of his satchel, he pulled out a file, but didn’t give it to them. “You said I could do whatever I needed to find dirt on William. Naturally, I started following him the day after you hired me. He visited a couple of places, nothing out of the ordinary. Until around 2 p.m. when he visited The Shaw Agency.”
Thomas took out the photos of William entering the business and passed it over to them. Nicole looked at it closely, searching for any familiarity. “I’ve never seen this building or heard of this place before.”
“Neither have I,” Maya added .
“He was in there about 20 minutes, and came back out, red in the face like he’d been in an argument. So I knew this wasn’t a one-time visit. He had a connection to the place. Didn’t take me long to find out that The Shaw Agency is of the private detective specialty.”
Nicole’s heart dropped. “William hired a private detective? To look into us?”
“We should’ve expected it. He has the money to afford one.”
“Why hire a private detective when you’re not after justice, but revenge? William said it to me himself. He doesn’t care about us going to jail. He cares about making our lives hell.”
“I had the same questions as you, so I dug deeper. William left on Friday on a business trip to New York. I couldn’t follow him there, so I looked further into the agency. It’s owned by a Neal Shaw, who is recently deceased. His son, Spencer Shaw, currently runs it. I haven’t found anything on this man except for some local articles about his father’s death. No criminal history, though the same can’t be said about his sister. Underage drinking and trespassing were the two I found.”
“Doesn’t sound like anything major.”
“Agreed, but with charges like that associated with the family, it makes their agency limited. People don’t want to test them when it looks like they can’t keep their own family in line. Makes you wonder why William sought their agency out instead of a more reputable one.”
“You think he’s having this guy do something under the table that a normal PI wouldn’t do?” Nicole asked.
“Most likely.”
“So, what do we do about it? Is there any way to find out what exactly this private investigator is doing for William?”
“I called the number listed on their website and posed as an interested client. His secretary answered. We had a conversation, and I asked when was the soonest I could be fit into Mr. Shaw’s schedule for a meeting. I got an interesting response. She admitted he was working an in-depth case that demanded much of his time, but he could work around it to fit me in. It sounded to me he was working an undercover case.”
Maya’s breath hitched. “So William hired him to spy on us, but for what? To dig up enough dirt to get the cops to come after us?”
“Maybe. Or he wanted to have someone infiltrate your lives to play you both like fools, like you did to him.”
Thomas said it with such finality. Not as if it was one possibility, but as if he knew it was the one. “You’re holding back on us. Why?”
“I’m giving you all the information you need to prepare yourself.”
“Prepare for what?”
Thomas gave Nicole the folder. “It’s all there.”
Nicole didn’t want to open it, but she had no choice. She flipped through the contents, stopping at a page detailing William’s purchases. “What am I looking at?”
“William’s finances since he’s been here in Philadelphia.”
Maya went to Nicole’s side and stole a peek over her shoulder. “See anything about him paying this Shaw guy?”
Nicole’s eyes scanned the list of expenses. “No.”
“What do you notice?” Thomas asked, patiently waiting for an answer.
She read it again. One discrepancy among the noise. “He’s paying for an Airbnb and renting a penthouse suite. This place right here.” She pointed the name out on the paper for Maya to see.
“It looks familiar to you, doesn’t it?”
“What?” Maya sounded confused. “No. I—”
“Not you,” Thomas clarified. “Her.”
Nicole knew the address before she read the name. She should of. Considering she spent her Sunday night and other nights like it there over the last month. Her throat became sand-paper dry while staring at it. The truth staring right back at her.
“You do recognize it,” Maya guessed. “Have you heard of it? Been there?”
Nicole couldn’t talk, her mind was racing. It was trying to figure out how this could be possible. How the person she thought she knew for the past few weeks wasn’t the real one. The man she thought was her friend, her lover, was an imposter.
Maya gave her the water bottle. Nicole took it and chugged it down. Thomas’s eyes were watching her as if he expected something from her. “Are you okay?”
“No. I’m not.” As showcased by her hand trembling as she put the cap back on the bottle.
“Maya, give us a minute.”
“No, she can stay.” Nicole didn’t want Maya aware of her mistakes, but how could she not let her stay when she begged Nicole not to shut her out? She needed to hear this. More than Nicole needed to spare her from it.
“I’ve been to this address before. As a guest of my client, Aiden Spencer.”
“That guy I met on Saturday? What does he have to do with this?”
“I think it’s obvious what Thomas is implying.”
Maya looked between her mom and the detective, reading in their expressions what their voices couldn’t. “His name isn’t Aiden Spencer. It’s Spencer Shaw, isn’t it?”
Nicole didn’t speak. She didn’t have to.
Thomas moved images he’d taken to the forefront of the file for them to see. Nicole couldn’t bring herself to look, knowing what would be there if she did. Images of Spencer coming and going from the penthouse. Maybe even some of Nessa with him. Or even her.
“When I found the address, I staked out the place on Saturday. He left the building in the morning with a little girl who he dropped off at a friend’s, then stopped by The Shaw Agency. I searched Neal Shaw’s son within the articles written about him after his death. The details matched. He was 28 when his dad passed, making him 30 now. This man is the same age, looks alike to Neal, and has the same name. Spencer Shaw and Aiden Spencer are the same person, and he’s working for William Harrison.”
Nicole thought she was going to be sick. All this time, William had been playing her from the very beginning. He planted someone in her life to manipulate and deceive her, to give her a taste of her own medicine.
For the first time she could remember, Nicole had been outsmarted, outmatched, and outplayed. Worse yet, William won. His plan succeeded. He wanted Nicole to worry that every shadow and whisper was him, preparing to launch an attack against her. All this time, she was on the lookout for the wrong enemy.
Maya touched Nicole’s shoulder, breaking her trance. “Mom, it’s okay. You didn’t know.”
“I should’ve. I always taught you to be careful with who you trusted. I should’ve taken my own advice. I let in the wrong person. Who knows what he has on us or what he’s going to do with it.”
“Actually, I’m not sure that’s something you need to worry about,” Thomas interjected.
“Why do you say that?”
“If we are to believe his secretary, he’s been working the long haul on this case. That means he hasn’t gotten anything substantial on you yet or not anything to William’s liking, at least.”
“No, that can’t be it. I…” She closed her eyes, not baring to see the look on Maya’s face when she admitted it. “I told Spencer I used to be a con artist. I told him about the marriage con we ran on William and others.”
“When was this? ”
“A week ago.”
“If he’d been recording you, you wouldn’t be free right now. It’s possible he’s looking for proof.”
Maya squeezed onto Nicole’s thigh. “Is that why he offered to put up cameras in your apartment and office?”
“These are my cameras. He didn’t buy them. Just installed them.”
Thomas rubbed his eyes, sighing. “That doesn’t mean he couldn’t have tampered with them. Connected them to his own system to watch and listen in on you.”
Nicole sunk deeper into the couch as the pit in her stomach grew into an endless black hole. “How could I be so na?ve? Of course, Spencer wasn’t a client interested in me or my services, but William’s puppet. I don’t know how I let myself believe he could want me when the signs were right in front of me the entire time.”
“What signs?”
“Him wanting to know me outside of a professional setting. Meeting me at the same bar. Wanting to spend time with me after I told him the truth about who I was. What I saw as a good, forgiving man was really just one who knew how to play me!”
Nicole stood, rubbing the tension out of her forehead. “Now isn’t the time to play the blame game,” Thomas reminded them. “What happened can’t be undone, but the plan hasn’t changed. Leverage of our own against William will get him to back off.”
“What about Spencer? Will he back off?”
“As long as he gets paid, I believe he will.”
“Great, so we pay him off. Then what?” Nicole was fired up and nothing would get her to settle down. “We still have nothing to—”
Both noticed Nicole stopped mid-sentence. “What is it?” Maya questioned.
She was staring at the camera on her living room ceiling, a memory coming back to her. “Let me see William’s finance sheet again. ”
Thomas picked it up and gave it over to her. “What did you just figure out?”
Scanning over the paper, Nicole found what she suspected. She dropped the paper on the coffee table and picked up her keys. “I have a hunch. Give me an hour to play it out.”
“Mom, what are you doing?”
Nicole paused, turning the doorknob, looking over her shoulder at her daughter. “Getting our leverage.”
* * *
The nerves Nicole drove with earlier were gone, replaced by rage. It was her fault for believing in Spencer and opening herself up to him. She was foolish and na?ve. Things she never allowed someone to make her before. Spencer and William would pay for that. All in good time.
Nicole entered the penthouse’s lobby and waited for the elevators. She hadn’t told Spencer she was coming. She wanted him off his game as much as possible. Like she had been in their entire relationship.
The elevator doors opened, and she stepped inside. The memories of their wild night inside of it were hard to push aside. She couldn’t believe she let a stranger into her bed after a first date. She was no longer the con she once was, and she was going to have to accept that. Too long out of commission. She’d let herself become too vulnerable, too trusting. Nicole wouldn’t let herself be played again.
Inside the penthouse, the light entered from the windows. The bright sunny afternoon contrasted with the darkness fueling Nicole forward. Her heels against the marble were the only sound at first. Then she heard him. His distant voice, coming from upstairs.
Spencer came from Nessa’s bedroom, dressed in a t-shirt and slacks. His tie hanging loosely around his neck like he just came home from a meeting. “I didn’t know you were stopping by,” he said from the top of the stairs. There was a not yet broken-in box in his hands.
He was packing. Was he tipped off? If so, by who? He leaned the box on the railing and met her in the living room. “I’m glad you’re here, though. I missed you today.”
Nicole didn’t go into the penthouse with a plan figured out. It was unlike her to fly at the seat of her pants, but everything she had done as of late was unlike her. What was one more thing?
The old her would have played along, not tipping Spencer off that something was wrong. Let him hug and kiss her as she tried not to cringe or gag. But the old her would’ve never been caught in a trap like this.
Nicole couldn’t do it. She didn’t have it in her to fake it with him any longer. So she didn’t. “You’ll get used to that feeling. Missing me, I mean. Because I won’t be here tomorrow. No, I won’t be here ever again. We’re done, Spencer.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Cut the bullshit. I know your name isn’t Aiden. That you’re not a millionaire tech genius, but a private detective who William hired to be his bitch. So how about you quit lying to me and let me do what I came here to do.”
Spencer’s shoulders dropped, and a deep breath left him. The first sign of guilt on his part. “Did William tell you?”
“Why would he have told me?”
“Because I quit. I ended our partnership today.”
“How convenient. The day I find out the truth. I know I’ve given you the impression that I’m gullible, but believe me, I am not.”
“I don’t believe you’re gullible.”
“But you must think I’m a fool, because that’s how you’ve played me. Tell me, did you and William have a great old big laugh when you told him you nailed me? Did he give you pointers? Did you compare notes?”
“It wasn’t like that,” Spencer insisted, gritting through his teeth. “He hired me to go undercover and gather proof of the crimes you’ve committed. That’s it. I knew nothing about him threatening you, nor did I help him with his plans to come after you.”
“Hard to believe that when you were going so hard for him. You defended him to me!”
“I was wrong to do that. William got into my head and made me consider for a moment that you could’ve been lying. Or that you made the note and story up.”
“How could you believe him even for a second? You saw me! You saw how broken I was because of his actions, and you thought I made it up?” Nicole couldn’t stop her voice from breaking at the end. To lose someone is hard. To discover you never really knew them after you bared your soul to them was another type of pain.
Spencer moved closer. His hand reached out to touch her. To comfort her, but she pushed him away. He had no right to offer her that. Not anymore.
“I had a momentary lapse in judgment, but it was just a moment. You’re right. I saw your pain, and I believed it. I also saw William dealing with the pain of what you did to him when I first met him. That’s what gave me a second thought about the truthfulness of your story. But, Nicole, after that one moment, I was yours.”
“Don’t ever repeat those words to me again. You were never mine. You came into my life to find evidence to put me in jail. You lied to me every second we spent together. I sympathized with you, trusted you, confided in you. If you wanted to take me down, you could’ve done that without sleeping with me. So tell me, what was the plan? Record a detailed confession from me? To make me tell you my deepest, darkest secrets as we laid in bed together?”
“I would never agree to sleep with a suspect to win a case. That was never a part of the plan. William believed you were money laundering and wanted me to gain access to your finances to prove it.”
“Money laundering?” She scoffed, not believing her ears. “That’s ridiculous.”
“I figured that out the more I saw of your business. Then he wanted me to tail you and I got this bad feeling I was being used. You were right. William didn’t hire me to send you to jail. That’s what he told me. That’s what I believed for a while, but when you told me about him threatening you, I put the pieces together. He was using me to get to you.”
“You figured that out and still didn’t quit until today?”
“You don’t understand. I needed the money. I’m not the millionaire I’ve been pretending to be. My father’s agency is on its last legs. It’s the only source of income I have. William was promising me a lot of money to get the case done. I needed it to support Nessa.”
“I know all about doing whatever you have to do to make sure your kid is taken care of. But you went too far. You should’ve fabricated the evidence William asked for. Get the money and end this charade. You didn’t have to pretend to want me.”
“You think I was pretending?” Spencer’s eyes pleaded with hers. Begging her to listen, to hear him. But his words weren’t the ones she wanted to hear. “Nicole, I fell for you during this. It was the last possible thing I’ve should have done because I needed William’s money. I needed it to save my father’s business and to create a safety net for Nessa. I didn’t need to be paid off to fall for you. I did that for free.”
“You expect me to believe that? Why would you want me? I’m a crook. You’re a “good guy”. The kind of man who takes in his niece, gives up his life to raise her and fight for his dad’s legacy. I’m the anti-thesis of what you’re supposed to want.”
“You think I don’t know that? That’s what I’ve been telling myself this entire time, but you were undeniable. My feelings for you, that’s real. That’s why I quit after what transpired between us last night. It’s why I have packing boxes upstairs, because I can’t be a pawn in William’s plan to destroy you anymore. I couldn’t continue on like I had. Not when I was falling for you.”
“If that’s true, why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was going to—”
“But held out because you knew you were in the wrong? That the foundation of our relationship was built on lies and manipulation. What a way to start a relationship, right?”
Nicole walked forward, her eyes looking around the wide room, searching. Spencer followed her as she scoped out the space. “I thought I was doing the right thing, taking on the case. Never did I expect I would feel anything but discontent for you. I was told you were a ruthless con woman who trapped her husbands into cheating on her. That you were a black widow. And it was a role you played well. So well, I believed it. But that’s the thing. I stopped believing it at a certain point. Once I got to know you, I knew you weren’t that woman anymore.”
“I don’t fault you for taking the case, Spencer. I’ve done worse things for money. It’s the fact that you couldn’t tell me. You couldn’t let me know what was happening. If you had told me the truth the second I accused William of threatening me, we wouldn’t be in this position. I told you the truth about who I was that night while you clung to your lies and let me believe you were in the dark about what was happening to me and my daughter. Then, as we got closer, you still didn’t confess it to me.”
“I know, and I’m sorry. More than you know.”
She turned to face him. “I’m not a black widow. I’ve never killed anyone. I’m not out to kill William or any other man. I’ve only ever been trying to survive and take care of my child. I’m not saying that to absolve me. My cons hurt people, good and bad. It was a decision I made and one I will have to live with. You and William may not have planned for you to fall into bed with me, but you did. You hurt me the same way I hurt the men before you. That’s the decision you will have to live with.”
Spencer reached out for her. His fingers touching her shoulder. “Nicole, please. Let me make this right.”
“The only way you could do that would be if you had a time machine.”
“I fucked up. I regret how I went about this, but I don’t regret us.”
“There is no us. I don’t know who you are, Spencer. I know what you have shown yourself to be, but the man behind the facade is a stranger to me. I won’t have people in my life that I don’t trust.”
Nicole shrugged away from him. She moved toward the kitchen, not finding what she was looking for. Spencer was a step behind her.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for something.”
“Nicole,” he pleaded.
“This isn’t some movie where you can apologize, and I’ll forgive and forget. I don’t know what you expect from me. At least when I conned my marks, I left. I didn’t expect their forgiveness.”
“I didn’t con you.”
“You stole from me.”
“I didn’t take anything from you.”
“No? What about my trust? My heart?”
“You gave those things freely.”
“I didn’t know who I was really giving it to.”
“No one has ever known the real you,” Spencer countered. “You’ve hidden yourself from everyone until me. Something about me made you open up. Not the millionaire cover, but something in my heart made you feel safe enough to show me the real Nicole. Who isn’t a black widow or a con artist, but a woman trying to be better. I see the good in you, Nicole. Try to see the good in me.”
“It’s too late.”
“It doesn’t have to be. Let me prove to you that what we have is real. We can move past this.”
“There is no moving past this. So stop, please. Just stop.” Nicole pushed past him and went up the stairs. Spencer wasn’t letting go as easily as she hoped he would, but she couldn’t deal with focusing on him at the moment.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m looking for something.”
“What?”
They stopped at his bedroom door, the scene of their late night romp. A room filled with love was now tainted by lies. “What are you looking for, Nicole? What can I give you so that you’ll forgive me?”
“Spencer, shut up,” she told him in a hushed voice.
She honed in on the ceiling above them. After their long night, Nicole stared at it for a long time before sleep welcomed her. There was nothing special about the ceiling. It was made of the same material as the guest bedroom and Nessa’s room. With a fountain flush mounted light in the center. The transparent glass of the fixture revealed the lights above the fan.
Nicole spent hours staring at it, thinking about the man lying next to her. His arms wrapped around her, their legs tangled, their breaths in sync. The room was dark and her mind was in a daze. Now, in the harsh light of day, she noticed it. A glint of the sun reflecting off the glass, shining through the fan blades.
She pointed to the ceiling. “Can you turn the light on?”
Spencer’s eyes followed hers, but he didn’t ask questions. He turned it on, and bright light bathed the room. Nicole shielded her eyes, letting them adjust before moving toward the light. She kicked off her heels and stood on the bed; the frame wobbling underneath her.
Spencer moved from where he was standing and holding his hands out near her ankle. Not touching her, knowing better, but there if Nicole needed it. She wouldn’t.
Nicole stretched her arms, her fingers inches away from the fixture. Standing on her tippy toes, she took off the glass light fixture. She dropped it onto the bed and reached up, her hand grasping the plastic. “Got it.”
Nicole got off the bed, meeting Spencer on the ground. She held the small camera in her hand. Spencer stared agape at it. “Nicole, I swear on Nessa’s life I didn’t put that there. Or know it was there.”
She believed him, but he could swim in the ocean of his guilt a while longer. “Get your laptop.”
He rushed out of the room. She could hear his heavy footsteps as he ran down the stairs. She inspected the camera while she waited for him to come back. The brand was none other than Wison, owned and founded by William Harrison.
There were probably other cameras in the house, having watched Spencer and Nessa the whole time they’ve been living there. William had installed the same cameras in the home they shared, but Nicole consented to that. She and Maya were aware of them being there for “safety”. They knew the cameras could prove helpful down the line for them.
Spencer and Nessa didn’t approve of this. This wasn’t done for their safety. Rather for William to spy on his good soldier.
Spencer returned, laptop in hand. Nicole set the camera down on the desk and opened the computer. She plugged the end of the device into the laptop and clicked a few keys. The screen was taken over with the view from the camera. She found its log and went back a couple of hours ago. Last night, to be exact.
With a click of the button, there she and Spencer were. Making love. Their naked bodies entangled. His mouth on hers, his hands on her body, and hers on his scalp. They didn’t hold back, and it felt good in the moment, but watching it knowing everything she knew now made Nicole want to hurl.
“Nicole, I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t put it there.”
“I’m still sorry.”
Her eyes stayed on the screen. More than the intimacy of the act itself, it was the happiness on her face. She was laughing, moaning, kissing him back with the same enthusiasm as he was giving. That’s what she had with him. A mutual adoration that was raw and pure. She would never have that with Spencer or another person again.
She unplugged the camera and them. “I’ll be taking this with me.”
“What are you going to do with it?”
“It’s none of your concern anymore. From this moment forward, we’re done. As friends and as anything more. Our only point of contact will be Nessa’s party, which will continue as planned because I won’t screw that little girl over because of you.”
“Nicole, William was paying for—”
“I’ll give you a refund to return to him. I’ll handle the costs myself.”
“You don’t have to. I’ll—”
“I’m not taking anything else from you, Spencer. I’ll do the party for Nessa and once it’s over, we’ll call it. That’ll be it for us. For good.”
Spencer reached for her again, his fingers curling around her wrist, his skin burning hers. “I don’t want to lose you, Nicole.”
She looked up at him, making sure he heard her when she said, “I was never yours to lose.” She walked away, and this time he let her.