Page 124 of Hale Yes
I thought I was entirely broken a few seconds ago, but the stricken look on Helix’s face feels like it’s going to snap my spine in two. “Please let me help you. I want to.”
I shake my head, slinging tears from my eyes. “No. Go.” The words are so raspy, they sound like I’ve inhaled a gallon of sand.
The muscles of his jaw look like they’re going to snap from the pressure. “I don’t want to leave you. I’ll sleep on the couch or in the guest room downstairs.”
Lifting my chin, I put on my best brave front, though I know my face is blotchy and my eyes are swollen. “I don’t want you here. I’d rather be alone than look at your face right now.”
To his credit, he only winces a little. “I can’t leave you like this. Please let me stay, Nicolette. We can figure out what to do tomorrow after we’ve both had some rest.”
I think that might hurt the worst… him offering to help me even though he thinks the worst of me. A stupider person might think that means he still has some love in his heart for me, but I can’t allow myself to even fathom that. No. Absolutely not. That would be a betrayal of my own heart.
“Go or I’ll call the police.” I purposely harden my voice. “Or did you bring them with you to arrest me?”
Helix cringes and shakes his head. “That’s not what I want. I tried to talk Bernadette into holding off on contacting the authorities until we get this straightened out. Because deep down inside, I can’t let myself believe you did this.” He reaches for me and then thinks better of it, letting his hand fall limply to his side. “I’ve never seen you cry before.”
I let out a half laugh. “Well, congratulations. You’ve done what others have tried to do and failed.” Swallowing hard, I say, “If you have any shred of feelings left for me, you’ll leave me alone. You are hurting me by being here right now, Helix.”
Staring at the floor, I silently will him to go. I sense him rise to his feet and notice his shoes only a few inches from me for a long while. His big body hovering over me pulls like a magnet, and it takes every ounce of my power to resist it. Then he brushes a hand across the top of my head before his footsteps retreat. I don’t allow myself a breath until I hear the beeps of the security system being engaged and the soft click of the back door.
Only then do I bend at the waist and press my forehead to the floor as a fresh wave of sorrow pools in a puddle of salty tears beneath my face.
I awaken on the floor of my living room with sunlight pouring through the thin drapes. It takes me all of thirty seconds before the disaster of last night floods back into me.
My entire body aches as I drag myself from the floor and go upstairs. But that ache is nothing compared to the utter devastation in my heart. It’s in a million pieces. I’ve lost everything important to me.
After showering, I slump onto the floor, the tiles cold against my bare ass as I stare at the wall for an interminable amount of time. I push the pain away and allow the anger to take over. Someone has royally fucked with my life, and I’m not going to sit here and take it.
With a renewed sense of purpose, I dress and head downstairs. My hair is still wet, but I don’t bother with it. Grabbing a glass of water from the filtered jug in my refrigerator, I down the entire thing in one go before pouring another and drinking it more slowly. I’m pretty sure I cried out all the liquid in my body last night, and I need to replenish.
A knock sounds at my front door, and my hair whips around, the wet strands slapping me in the face. I have the stupid wish that it would be Helix, coming to apologize and tell me it was all a big mistake. Or maybe an elaborate prank.
But it’s not. It’s the police.
“Dr. Nicolette Bell?” a portly officer with a round face asks. If I was meeting him under any other circumstances, I’d think he looked sweet.
“Yes.”
“Would you mind coming down to the station with us? We have some questions for you.”
Four hours later, the officers drop me back at my townhome. They were frustrated that I hadn’t said a single word except to inform them I wouldn’t answer any questions without a lawyer present. Over and over, no matter what they asked me, I repeated the same line until they grew weary of me.
As soon as I get home, I place a call to Gianna Bouvier’s sister-in-law, Kassie. She’s a bad-ass criminal lawyer in New York, and after I give her a detailed rundown of what I’m facing, she gives me the name of two attorneys in Houston that she trusts.
I open my computer and research both of them before deciding on Lina Davidson, a woman with the reputation of being a shark, and I set up an appointment for two days from now, the soonest they had available. The paralegal I talked to told me to give Lina’s name if the police contacted me in the meantime and to say nothing else.
Then I get to work. I’m not waiting around for someone else to save me, so I do the absolute last thing I should probably be doing. I hack back into the Hale Cosmetics security system.
I know how to do it cautiously so I remain undetected, but it’s going to take me a while to find what I’m looking for. I turn on Limp Bizkit’s “Break Stuff” and let the hard beat and lyrics inspire me.
Eighteen hours.That’s how long it takes before I finally relax back in my chair with a sigh. I’d taken bathroom breaks when I needed to, ordered two pizzas, which I ate with one hand, and took two catnaps on the couch. I also listened to a shitload of gangster rap and thrash metal. Other than that, I was digging, searching for the one thing that would exonerate me.
And I fucking found it. I may not have my job, and I may not have my man, but I do have one thing…
Validation.
Opening an encrypted and untraceable email account, I attach the file and enter Helix Hale’s email address. I’m not signing my name, but he’ll know it’s from me by my made-up address and the four words I type at the bottom.
Then I presssend.
