27. Savannah
Chapter 27
Savannah
“ I don’t know what Michael is up to, but it doesn’t mean you should throw away your chance at a fair trial. Hiring someone unfamiliar with your case at this point will only be—”
“Be what?” I thrust my hands on my hips. “Digging my own grave? Don’t you think the hole has been dug already, Peter? It started when I met Brandon and I agreed to marry him. But my biggest regret was allowing you and Michael to deceive me.”
He sighs.
I don’t care.
I don’t believe that he hasn’t been in communication with Michael either, because everyone I know has betrayed me, over and over again.
From the best friend, I thought I had, who I now know has been plotting something behind my back, to the stepbrother who got me to trust him again only to use that against me and don’t even get me started on Michael.
The thought of him makes me see red.
Out of everyone, his betrayal hurts me the most even though he is the one I know the least.
It’s because I fell too hard and too fast. The moments when I thought I was fighting with a man who acted nice to the world but was cruel behind closed doors, I was actually opening my heart up to him.
Little by little, his flaws became tolerable. Even charming. And I began to see the other side of him. The smart, sophisticated side of him that made me believe in him.
“I can’t believe I slept with him,” I mutter, shaking my head.
“You slept with who?” Peter asks.
“None of your business,” I spit. “If you have nothing more to say, I’d like to return to my office. Or rather, go home. Since there is nothing for me to do here anyway. I wonder,” I add cynically, “What sort of job will I get if and when I get out of prison?”
“Murder typically carries a life sentence, doesn’t it?” I ask.
Peter stands up. “You are not going to prison. I am working on something and if you would just trust your lawyer—”
“I will not,” I interrupt.
“The final hearing is the one after next. I had to beg you to attend the previous ones and you showed up to court late every single time,” Peter says disappointed.
I shrug.
My heart is pounding, and I am far from nonchalant as the reality of what my life will be like dawns on me, but I have promised myself I will not let anyone see me crumble.
Not even Alice.
“Because I know it is futile. The only reason I attend is so they don’t throw me in jail before my final hearing. I still have a few things to settle, you know,” I reply.
He comes to stand in front of me and I can see desperation shining in his eyes as he pleads for me to listen. A small part of me wants to.
But I don’t.
Everything just seems pointless now.
“What if,” he says softly, “What if Michael is working on your case but it is something he doesn’t want you or me to know about?”
Could that be?
No. He is a cold, cruel man who only thinks of himself.
I laugh harshly. “And what would that be? You think he knows who killed Brandon and framed me for it, and he has to make them trust him, to get a confession?”
Peter doesn’t say anything.
My chest thumps once. And then faster. And my mind, which was frightened minutes ago, begins to blossom with hope. With the possibility that maybe Michael hasn’t abandoned me and that he will keep his promise.
“He’s known to be reckless,” Peter adds. “I would not put it past him, and I don’t want you to, either. Okay?”
I bite my bottom lip. “Don’t do this to me.”
“Do what?” He touches my hand.
“Make me have hope. I have lived my life without it, depending on myself alone. I worked hard enough to make sure that wherever I found myself, I was better than everyone else. You will not make a fool of me now.”
He opens his mouth to talk, and I raise my hand to let him know that I’m not done.
“Give me proof. I need proof.”
He has nothing to say.
I sigh. “Right. Okay, I’m leaving. I will show up at the next hearing but please, do not attend. I cannot watch the pity in your eyes because it will make me weak and I need to be strong.”
Then I turn on my heels, with tears in the corners of my eyes and I walk away.
When I get to the office, I find out that Clarissa has left. I close the door hurry to my chair, and slump down, falling into a fit of sobs. I cry everything out—my fears, hopes, dreams, and desires. Everything I have lost in two decades over loving the wrong men and trusting the wrong men.
I quickly wipe my tears when there is a knock on the door.
Clarissa walks in, looking fishy. I know it’s because I am still in the office, so I gather myself in minutes, packing my bag and everything else.
This is the last time I will come to this office.
“Goodbye, Clarissa,” I say as I head to the door.
“What? Where are you going?” She asks.
Tears are pouring down my face when I turn to her. “I’m not coming back. My next hearing is in two days and then the final one is in less than two weeks. There is so much damning evidence against me from whoever is trying to frame me that it feels like prison will be my next stop after that.”
She flies to where I am, wrapping her arms around my slumping shoulders. There are no words, but I feel every shred of emotion in her tears. She hangs onto me for a few minutes before finally letting go.
“I feel silly but I will miss you,” she sniffs. “I still think you’re going to be fine. And if you are, promise you’ll come to see me?”
Even though I know it’s a lie, I nod. “I will. I promise.”
Then I walk away from her, heading out of the office where I thought I would be building my career.
As I get into my car, something occurs to me. It is a trivial thought, but I pick up my phone and go to the location app. When I was still on my drunk-every-night spree, Alice made it a point to tag her location to mine and vice versa.
She said that if I needed her, it would be easy for me to find her even if she couldn’t answer her phone.
The app shows me that she is three hours from my present location and in another state.
My eyebrows furrow.
What could she be doing there?
Meeting with the other person?
Before I can change my mind, I switch off my location tag, input the address her phone was showing, and take off.
Throughout the journey, my heart keeps pounding. I have a thousand questions and no answers. What will I find? What happens if it turns out that she is meeting with Eric and then I realize she is actually the person who framed me?
Or that they are cohorts?
The more I think about it, the more plausible it sounds.
My phone rings at one point and I switch it off when I see that it’s Peter.
I finally arrive at the place on my map, which turns out to be a café. Before I get out of my car, I spot them. My jaw drops when I see Alice and another person.
Michael and Alice.
Together?
My jaw drops as I watch them get into his car. Then I follow. Fifteen minutes later, Michael stops in front of a building. They both get out.
And I do the same.
“Michael,” I call out.
The look of shock on his face tells me that I’ve caught them red-handed.
“You,” I point to Alice. “And you,” I don’t bother pointing to Michael. “What the hell is going on here?”
Alice steps forward. “What? Are you that surprised to see us together? I like Michael—I’ve liked him since the first time we met at your office. So, I suggested we go out and it just so happens that he likes me, too.”
“Surely, you don’t think I stole him? Did he ever really belong to you?” She says smugly.
I am more than mad. I am…hurt. I feel it like a knife wound festering in my chest because I trusted her again. I should have known that Alice would pull something like this. Again. Why am I so freaking stupid??
I face Michael.
“I get that you can do whatever you want, and I can’t stop you. But is this why you bailed on my case? So, you could have time with Alice, or were you hiding her from me?”
Alice doesn’t let him respond. She takes one step closer and I can see the malice on her face.
“Take the hint Savannah you have never been good enough, even when Brandon saw you less and less you just never got it,” she says as she delights in words.
“In the end, he found someone else and in your overwhelming jealousy, you killed him.”
I’m stunned.
“I killed him?” I yell.
She shrugs. “I mean, who else? You have attachment issues, don’t you? You told me about it when we were in college, how you couldn’t let go of relationships. Obviously, you were livid that Brandon would want someone other than you.”
“And when he wanted the ring back, you begged him to meet you in that restaurant. Then you stalked him all the way home. That is why there is a video of you in his house close to the time of his death. You,” she points at me, “killed your ex-fiancé and I would appreciate it if you stayed away from Michael before you get any other sick ideas,” she rants.
The mask completely falls off and I regret everything—from telling Alice about my issues when we were in college to trusting her with my personal life and then stupidly forgiving her after she betrayed me.
“I told you,” I feel the need to defend myself, “that the attachment issue was due to me thinking there was something I wasn’t doing right. That my relationships ended because I wasn’t giving a hundred percent. And I told you that in confidence,” I continue.
“And it stemmed from the father I had, who was never satisfied with the results I produced. I told you that I was working on it in therapy, and you were the first to know when I was getting better.”
She snorts. “Better? That is what you told me to hide the truth. I see past your lies, Savannah. I have always been smarter than you. You are gullible and dumb to a fault. That is why I got Brandon and now, Michael,” she boasts.
I turn to Michael, who through the back-and-forth exchange has remained quiet.
My eyes are pleading, asking for an explanation.
“Why?” I ask. “You could have told me to stay away. You could have pushed me away instead of giving me hope. I… does Peter know about this?”
“Your brother?” Again, Alice responds. “He is as gullible as you are.”
I’m surprised that Michael has nothing to say, knowing the kind of person he is. I’m almost tempted to think that Alice has something over Michael, which is the reason why he is quiet.
But who would one-up the Michael Stone?
“Right,” I smile tightly. “Thank you for letting me know. I hope you two get exactly what you deserve.”
As I turn away, tears gather in my eyes. I blink stubbornly, forcing them to stay at bay. I have cried enough, and I will not waste my tears on people who do not deserve them.