41. Alexis
Alexis was done with her pity party. It had been three days, and she’d given herself enough time to cry and rage about the crappy hand she’d been dealt in life. Which was a slight overreaction considering she’d had such a privileged youth—at least from a financial perspective. And Jack had been a great father until Rick’s case.
She was just bitter now because she could see Jack wasn’t a good person. It was horrible he’d treated her well while secretly behaving badly behind the scenes.
But after Evelyn finally told her what Theo had already shared, she knew she had to get out of bed and take charge.
She could have looked for another house-sitting gig, but she didn’t want to potentially face the same issue she was having now. She wanted stability and to be in control of her living situation.
She’d had enough of being passive. She would no longer let the world toss her around, and she wouldn’t run as soon as things got tough. She would go into every future situation with her eyes wide open.
The first thing she did was sign a lease on a small studio apartment in an old building in the city. She didn’t even care that her new place was the size of one of Evelyn’s small bedrooms. It was her place, and her place only. It was the first time in her life she’d felt a real sense of independence.
After her last visit to her family home, she’d seen that Jack hadn’t thrown away any of her belongings. It was stuff she’d bought with her own money, and she didn’t think it was fair to let her dad keep it all. So, instead of risking what had happened last time, she roped Theo into helping her again. But instead of calling to check Jack’s schedule, he agreed to drive her to the house and act as lookout.
Thankfully, she was able to load everything into Theo’s car without running into Jack. But she was so fired up over recent events that she almost wanted him to show up so she could confront him.
She pushed the last box into the back seat and closed the door. She then looked at Theo, who was sitting in the driver’s seat, beaming at her.
‘All good?’
‘I think so.’
Something occurred to her. Maybe she should see if Jack had left any incriminating evidence lying around in his study. That way, she could help the authorities if they contacted her.
‘Actually, I think I forgot one thing. I won’t be long.’
‘Take your time. You’re just asking someone who normally commands over a thousand dollars an hour for a photoshoot to work for free.’
‘I feel very lucky, then.’
He shook his head good-naturedly. ‘Off you go. I’ll call if I see any sign of Jack.’
She hurried back inside and headed for Jack’s study.
The sight of the large teak desk in the centre of the room made her heart contract. She’d always loved that desk, and when she was younger, she’d told Jack she wanted it. He used to let her draw pictures opposite him when he wasn’t working on anything urgent.
She wiped the memory from her brain and walked over to the filing cabinet. It was locked, but she knew the key was taped under the bottom drawer of the desk. Jack wasn’t aware she knew that particular secret.
She quickly pulled it free, unlocked the cabinet, and yanked the top drawer open.
It was full of client files, but none that interested her. She moved onto the second drawer, and it looked to be filled with personal documents like hers and Jack’s passports. She snatched up her passport, also finding her birth certificate and taking that too.
The bottom drawer contained a small wooden box with several USB sticks inside. She picked one up and read the tiny label printed on the side.
Jamieson.
Why was there a USB with Rick’s surname on it?
She picked up another. Beckingsale.
Levi’s family.
She tucked both USBs into her pocket and closed the filing cabinet. She wasn’t sure how often her father checked the box’s contents, but hopefully it wouldn’t be for a while.
She returned the key to its hiding place and hurried out to the front door, pulling it closed behind her.
She ran to the car and jumped in, adrenaline coursing through her veins. ‘Go, go, go!’
Theo looked at her worriedly. ‘What did you do? I hope you didn’t set a bomb or anything.’
‘Not a literal one.’ She held up the USBs. ‘But depending on what’s on these, they could be just as damaging to Jack.’
‘I don’t think I want to know.’
‘If there is anything to know, I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough.’
‘You’re scaring me, Lexi. But I kind of like it.’
He drove them back to the city and helped her unload her boxes into the lobby of her new building. This wasn’t the kind of place where you’d be reported for temporarily leaving a mess. Alexis smiled sadly, remembering Levi’s self-righteousness when he’d seen her moving into the penthouse. It was kind of cute now.
The next step in Operation Stop Being a Victim was to help Levi. She wasn’t sure if he’d ever forgive her, but she wanted to at least show him she’d do practically anything to set things right.
After farewelling Theo—she’dhave to buy that man a huge gift once she was settled—she slowly took everything up to her apartment. She’d left some of her clothes at the penthouse because she still needed to look after Tofu until Evelyn returned, but she’d moved everything else to her new place. And with the things she’d brought today, it would finally feel like home. Her home.
She switched on her laptop and sat on the couch. The two USBs lay beside her, ready to be plugged in.
She suddenly felt nervous. What was on these things? She was almost certain it wasn’t going to be a bunch of business invoices. At least, not legitimate ones.
Since Levi was a priority, she accessed the Beckingsale USB first.
It was information from a case almost twenty-five years ago.
For the first time in months, Alexis was grateful for her legal training. She skimmed the documents and discovered they featured one of the surgery’s clients attempting to sue for malpractice. An email thread between Jack and Levi’s dad discussed how Jack had aggressively gone after the patient in court, and when that appeared to be failing, Rupert had told Jack he’d pay whatever it cost to make the problem go away.
So this behaviour was even going on back when she and Levi were kids? This was the legal trouble Elias had mentioned when he’d made the connection about the teddy bear?
She wondered why Jack had kept this information on a USB stick hidden in his filing cabinet. Was it leverage in case Levi’s family ever tried anything against him? But wouldn’t Jack be implicated just as much?
She removed the stick and plugged in the Jamieson one. She thought she knew this case well, but she’d never seen any of the files that were stored here.
It was evidence refuting Rick’s alibi on the night of his wife’s murder.
Why hadn’t this made it to court?
Alexis felt ill. How much had her father tampered with the case? And what about the guy she’d seen with the briefcase?
This was worse than she’d thought. Or perhaps it was similar to what she thought. She no longer put anything past Jack.
But how could she use this information?
She might have to consult with Valentina. Maybe she’d give the Beckingsale file to Levi and let him do with it what he felt best—but Rick’s case was different. It was personal on so many levels.
She’d run from her father after the court case, but she wasn’t going to run anymore.
She needed to do the right thing.