Page 135 of Faithful

I don’t care, I tell myself as I touch Leigh’s shoulder to let her know I’m leaving. She nods and continues her speech.

I follow Charles Heller across the room and into the corridor that apparently leads to the restrooms.

He disappears behind a door with a wooden black-and-white sign that has a figure of a man in a tux on it.

Taking a deep breath, I shove my hand into the inner pocket of my coat to ensure the flash drive is still there.

It is. Its coolness against my fingertips is intensely calming.

Now or never, Dylan.

Another deep breath, and I yank the door open and step inside.

Surprisingly, there’s no one else except for Heller. He’s in front of the mirror combing his hair, and I walk up to him and stand close enough to catch a whiff of his cologne mixed with a light scent of sweat. He doesn’t smell bad per se, but my stomach still spasms.

I feel nausea coming on, and I force myself to speak before my courage runs out. “Mr. Heller. Can I get a minute of your time?”

The man turns his head, his thick eyebrows forming a severe frown. “Excuse me?”

“You don’t know me.”

“No, I don’t,” he says in a voice that’s unexpectedly firm and youthful and very commanding.

My poor heart stops beating. “But you know Kai Delisa,” I whisper, taking another step forward to close the distance between us. I read somewhere that this is a good intimidation technique, getting in a person’s face and not giving them a chance to escape. Frankly, I despise every single second of this conversation, but I think of my goal. I think of the freedom that’s waiting for me at the end of this dark path.

All the color leaches out of Heller’s face at the mention of Kai. “I’m not certain what you’re insinuating, young man, but if you don’t stop talking right now, I will get security to escort you out.”

Oh, so he’s really scared.“Mr. Heller, you have nothing to worry about,” I say to reassure him, holding his gaze.

He doesn’t respond, just stares at me, jaw tight.

“I won’t talk about your secret, but I know someone who has photos of you and Kai…” I pause, trying to remember how exactly I was going to put all my thoughts into two sentences. I’ve never been good with speeches. I guess it’s another thing I didn’t inherit from my father.

“Speak,” Heller says through gritted teeth.

Now I feel sick to my stomach for real. Subconsciously, I understand that what I’m doing is far from honest. It’s not blackmail, but it’s not a friendly request either.

Finally, I push the words out. “My father, Gavin Watson.”

The air around us becomes sharp, and it’s so quiet inside the restroom that I forget about the fact that the door behind me may open at any time and people may misinterpret the situation.

“I see,” Heller mutters. His face remains collected, pale but collected.

“I know you don’t want those photos to ever come out.” I keep on talking despite the raging pulse in my ears and the tremor in my hands. “I don’t want them to come out either, but I’m powerless against my father, so I have something that can help you handle this delicate situation.”

Heller takes a long, deep breath. “Okay.”

Then I hand him the flash drive.

* * *

“Do you think he’ll go for it?” Leigh asks me later that day when we’re back at the apartment.

“I’m not one hundred percent certain, but I believe he will,” I confess, trying to erase the meeting with the shipping tycoon from my mind, trying to replace it with images of Kai. “He was nervous at first, but then he kinda just let me talk and took the drive and questioned why I was giving it to him.”

Because you can shut him up with what’s on this flash drive. He’ll be ruined and facing jail time if the things I discuss on here come to light.

* * *

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