Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 105708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
“Don’t speak,” she orders, her voice breathless. “It won’t help you. And it just hurts me.”
“I don’t want to hurt you. I would never hurt you.”
“And yet you did.”
“Where are you? I’ll come to you and explain.”
“You made me trust again, and now you made sure that I will never trust anyone ever.”
Rita and North walk into my office. “Get the fuck out,” I snap.
Rita’s eyes go wide, and North is already tucking tail and running. Rita backs out and shuts the door.
“Where are you?”
“Was it the mercury? Were you after a big payoff? Of course you were. Money loves money.”
“What mercury? Faith, talk to me.”
“So you can lie again. And again. And again.”
“We have to talk. Where are you?”
“I don’t want to see you, Nick. Not now or ever.”
“I love you, Faith. I love you so much it hurts.”
“Liar,” she says, her voice quaking.
“Faith—”
“Don’t find me. Don’t call me. And let me be clear. If you show up at my work, at the winery, at my home, I will call the police. Don’t test me. You think you’re a badass, but liars aren’t badasses. They’re just bad people. I left your BMW in the parking lot of your new apartment.”
She ends the call. I try to call her back, and it goes directly to voicemail. “Fuck.” I call again. And again. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” I face the window and press my hand on the glass, my head tilted downward. “Fuck. I cannot lose her.”
I straighten and dial Beck. “Mercury. This is about mercury. I don’t know how or any details except that. Connect the fucking dots. I need answers. And hack the autopsy report. I need that now, too.”
“Faith knows.”
“Yes, she fucking knows.”
“Then Bill is behind this. He showed up near her office, and I couldn’t get through to you to tell you.”
“So he told her who I am and that there is mercury on the property.”
“He made her believe you want the property for the mercury.”
“Obviously. He turned his intentions into mine, and my damn lie allowed it to happen. Where is she now?”
“She went to Sara and Chris Merit’s apartment.”
“Of course. The one place I can’t get to her, and she knows it.” I scrub my jaw. “At least she’s safe. Get me answers. I can’t go to her and make my case without answers.”
“I hack that report daily. It hasn’t been input yet.”
“You have mercury now. Connect the dots.”
“If he believed that connected the dots, he wouldn’t have given it to her.”
“Connect the fucking dots.” I hang up and dial Abel.
“Hey hoe, what the fuck is up?”
“I don’t care whose house you have to go to or what you have to do, but you get me those autopsy reports.”
“She knows.”
“Yes. She knows. Get me the reports.” I hang up.
My phone rings, and it’s Chris Merit. “What the hell did you do, man?”
“It’s not what it seems, and I’m not going to explain that to you. All I will say is that I love her. I love her the way you love Sara. I ordered her a ring. I bought an apartment to customize a studio for her.”
“Well, I’m not an advice kind of guy, and she’s not saying anything other than you betrayed her in an unforgivable way.”
“I didn’t cheat. I knew who she was before I met her and didn’t tell her. At the time, I didn’t plan on fucking her, let alone falling in love with her. And that’s all I’m saying.”
“Fair enough. What’s your move?”
“What I want to do is pick her up, tie her to my bed, and make her stay until she listens.”
“You do that and you had better have a way to justify lying to her, because this cuts deep. She’s not good, Nick. You hurt her. You hurt her bad.”
“I know. And that guts me.”
“Get your ducks in a row and give her some time to process.”
“Right. Time. A barbaric form of torture.”
We end the call, and I say “fuck you” to time and waiting. I text Faith: Your uncle set me up. It’s not what it seems. I love you. I want to marry you, Faith. Please talk to me.
I get an error message. She’s blocked me.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Faith
The first night without Nick…
I lay in Chris and Sara’s spare bedroom, staring at the ceiling, an invisible knife carving holes in my heart. I replay the conversation I had with Bill, and the implications. And then I replay the conversation with Nick, how sincere he sounded. God. I’m a fool. And he’s such a good liar. Everything he did felt real. We felt real.
I have no place to live. I need an apartment and clothes. I have no clothes. I don’t have a car. At Nick’s recommendation, I gave both of the cars to Kasey. Nick made me dependent on our life together. I roll to my side and tell myself not to cry. He’s not worth it. I don’t cry. I won’t cry for him. But somehow my cheeks are wet.