“W-what does that mean?” I stammer.
“Nothing. I’m going to work. You should, too.” He turns and heads out of the door.
“Seb.”
He turns back.
I open my mouth to say something, but I stop myself. I don’t want this to come out nastily. “Promise me that you won’t do anything… I.” I search for the right words. “Illegal.”
He raises an eyebrow. “Are we going to fight again?”
“No.” I shrug. “I’m just worried about you making a bad decision out of anger.”
“Like what?”
I widen my eyes. I don’t want to say it out loud.
He rolls his eyes. “If I did kill her, she had it coming.” He turns and walks down the steps.
What does that mean?
“That means no, right?” I call.
He gives a subtle shake of his head, and I have no idea if he’s disgusted in me for assuming that’s the plan, or if he’s impressed that I can foresee it.
“Promise me!” I call. “Seb, I mean it.”
He exhales heavily and gets into the back of the waiting car. I watch it drive away, while my mind goes into overdrive.
Right, the gig is up, bitch.
Today, I am busting your lying ass if it’s the last thing I do.
That’s if Sebastian doesn’t have you killed beforehand. And I kind of have to agree with him. You really do have it coming.
I smile and wave as Sebastian’s car pulls out and drives off, and then I run inside and call Jeremy.
“Hey, babe.”
“Oh, my fucking God, Jez. Everything is turning to shit. Can you meet me for breakfast? I need a crisis meeting.”
“Okay, usual place in forty minutes?”
“Yep, see you there.”
An hour later, Jeremy and I are eating breakfast, and I run my hands through my hair.
“This situation is spiraling out of control,” I say quietly. “We can’t find her. We have no confirmation if the baby is his or not, or if there even is a baby, and now he’s retracted the blackmailing charges against her when I know for certain that he is going out of his head with worry.”
“Why would he do that?” Jeremy asks. “I don’t understand.”
“I don’t know. It’s fucking strange.”
“It is.” He thinks for a moment. “What does your gut tell you about all this?”
I exhale heavily. “That the baby isn’t his, and this is just another attempt from Helena to get more money and upset him.”
“Okay, let’s go back. What are the facts? What makes her story seem plausible?”
“Well, on that night Sebastian called her, there was an eight-minute call from his phone to hers on his register. Then, when he woke up, he didn’t remember anything, but there was a bottle of champagne as well as two wine glasses on the table. And the bed sheets…”
“What about the bedsheets?”
“Sebastian said that, at the time, he thought it was just the smell of strong laundry powder.”
Jeremy rolls his eyes.
“Don’t.” I put my head into my hands. “I know how this sounds.”
“It sounds like he called her for a booty call.”
I think on that for a moment.
“But he wouldn’t have.” I frown with renewed determination. “They broke up because their sex life was shit. He wouldn’t have called her for sex, I know that for certain. If he wanted sexual satisfaction, he would have ordered prostitutes. He has a thing for them.”
Jeremy gives a subtle shake of his head, disgusted. He’s still traumatized about the possibility that Bart slept with two.
My mind begins to race at a million miles per hour.
The more I think about it, the more this story just doesn’t add up.
“I mean, she tried to blackmail him with video footage but why would she go to all that trouble if she was already pregnant, you know?” I say.
“Yeah, you’re right. A baby is the ultimate blackmail tool. It’s not something you throw in when you don’t get the cash handed over.”
“True!” I cry, “That’s so true. Why would you try and blackmail the father of the baby you were carrying?”
“So, maybe she did set him up, which means Bart is an actual fucking scuzbucket,” Jeremy agrees.
I widen my eyes, and I want to say, I know that for sure, but I won’t. “How would she have set him up, though?”
He thinks for a moment. “She had the drinks spiked, got him to his room, had him open his phone, and she called her own number from his phone.”
“Yes,” I whisper. “She could have done that, couldn’t she? I hadn’t even thought of that.”
“She could have left all the evidence to make him think that he did it.”
“But surely…” My heart drops. “Surely she would know that we would find out who the father is as soon as the baby is born.” My shoulders slump. “What if it is his baby? What if this is all some grand plan to tie Sebastian to her for life?”
“It could be.” Jeremy sighs, and we stare at each other for a while. “If we just had the security footage of that night at the hotel. I know Bart asked the hotel for it, but they said there wasn’t any.”
I frown. “There has to be some. It’s a five-star hotel. It’s the law.” An idea comes to mind and my eyes rise to Jeremy. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Jez, but what if Bart didn’t want the footage to come out? What if he never even asked for it?”
Jeremy frowns. “You know, that’s a strong possibility.”
“You think?”
“Bart looks after Bart, and if he thought for a moment that there might be something on those tapes that would make me leave him for good, he wouldn’t deliver it, no matter what the consequences. I know he wouldn’t.”
I drag my hands through my hair. “Shit, maybe I should call Penelope and ask her to look at the tapes. I haven’t told her anything about the baby allegations, but maybe it’s time I did.” I look at my watch. “Damn it, I have to go to fucking work now.”
Jeremy’s eyes hold mine. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“That we both just got severe stomach viruses?” I wince.
“Exactly. I’m shitting through the eye of a needle right now, aren’t you?”
I burst out laughing. “You’re what?”
He chuckles. “You get my drift.”
“Not the needle drift, that’s for sure.” I laugh.
I take out my phone. “My God, I’m so getting fired. Since I’ve been with Sebastian, I have had so much time off.”
“Who cares? You’re going to have your own law firm one day, and they’ll all be eating your dust.”
I smile over the table at my dear friend. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For always being here for me. It means a lot.”
He gives me a beautiful, broad smile. “What are friends for if not to have fake sick days, bust cheating assholes and conniving ex-wives with?”
I laugh and raise my coffee cup to him. “Cheers to that.”
I knock on Penelope’s door, and she opens it in a rush.
“Hi.” She leans in and hugs me.
“Penny, this is Jeremy. Jez for short,” I introduce them.
“Hey.” She smiles.
“Hello.” He shrugs nervously.
“Come in.” She gestures into her apartment. “Excuse the mess.”
Much to our surprise, Penelope had the day off. When I called and gave her the dates and hotel details, she said to come straight over.
So, here we are.
She pulls two extra chairs up to her computer.
“Here are the hotel details and date. We’ve been told that there is no footage.” I shrug. “I’m not sure if there’s even anything to look at.” I hand her a piece of paper, and man, do I feel sick.
This could be the answer, but it could also be the confirmation I’m dreading.
Either way, we have to know.
Penelope begins to type furiously. Jeremy and I sit in silence as we watch on.
Ten minutes later, she hits enter. “Okay, let’s see what we’ve got.”
We hold our breath as we wait.
“Why didn’t you call me before?” she asks me.
“Because this is illegal. Besides, we were told there was no footage.”
“By whom?”
“My boyfriend, who incidentally woke up with two women,” Jeremy answers.
“Hmm.” She types at the speed of light.
My heart is hammering hard.
Please, please, be innocent, I silently pray.
Something comes up, and she hits enter. Something rolls on the screen. “We’re in.”
“What?” Jeremy and I sit up. “You got into the security system?”
“Yep.” She types more things in. “Piece of cake.” She picks up the piece of paper and reads the date. “Do we know the room and floor?”
I scratch my head. I look to Jeremy, and he shrugs. “I don’t, sorry.”
“That’s okay.” She brings up a second screen and logs into the reservations.
“Holy fuck,” Jeremy whispers in awe. “This is the motherload of fucking motherloads of spying.”
Penelope smirks proudly. “Right?” She scrolls down. “Here we go. Sebastian Garcia, room 313, level 3.” She flicks back to the other screen. “What time are we thinking?”
I think for a moment. “He last called me at 8:20 p.m., so sometime after that.”
“Okay.” She scrolls down and hits play, then she narrows her eyes in concentration. “So, this here…”—she points to a door on the right of the screen— “is his room.”
We all lean in and watch.
A man walks down the hall and out of sight. Two women walk out of a room and get into the elevator.
The elevator opens, and we see a security guard struggling with someone. He puts his arm around a man to help him.
“Sebastian,” I gasp.
He’s so out of it, highly intoxicated and unable to walk alone.
The security guard walks into his room with him, and then he walks back out alone after another minute.
“So, that part of the story is true,” I whisper.
Jeremy smiles and taps my leg. “Told you.”
Penelope speeds up the footage and we all sit and watch. She goes forward one hour… then two, and then three.
“This has to be, like, midnight by now.” I frown.
Penelope points to faint numbers at the bottom of the screen. “That’s the time there. It’s 11:42 p.m., do you see?”
“Yes, okay.”
A man walks down the corridor and looks left and right, eventually stopping in front of Sebastian’s door. Penelope puts the footage onto real time.
We all sit up and lean into the screen.
He looks left and right again and brings a key out of his pocket. He swipes it through the lock and steps into Sebastian’s room.
“Who’s that?” I whisper, wide-eyed. My blood runs cold just knowing that someone was with Sebastian while he was unconscious.
“It’s not Helena, that’s for sure.” Jeremy puts his arm around me and pulls me close.
We watch on and wait. Ten minutes. Twenty. Thirty.
“What’s he doing in there? This is a long time,” I say.
The door opens slightly, and the man peers out to see if the coast is clear. He walks out, and we get a full-frontal view of his face.
“Gerhard!” I gasp.
Jeremy’s mouth falls open. “That fucking snake.”
We watch on as he walks to another room before disappearing into it.
“He was staying on the same floor,” I whisper. “What the fuck?”
“How else would he have gotten up to the floor? It’s all secured.”
Holy shit.
Penelope speeds up the footage again and we watch on while I hold my breath.
3:00 a.m.
4:00 a.m.
5:00 a.m.
I begin to hear my heartbeat in my ears. This seems promising.
7:30 a.m., and the door opens. Sebastian strides out, dressed in his suit. He marches down the hall and gets into the elevator.
“It was a set up.” Jeremy claps his hands in glee.
Tears of relief fill my eyes, and I drop my head into my hands. “Oh, thank God.”
Emotion overwhelms me, and tears fill my eyes in relief. “He was set up.”
Penny laughs. “Stupid fucking bitch. We’ve got you.”
Wait a minute. That means…?
My eyes meet Jeremy’s, and he exhales heavily. “I know.”
“Penny, can you look up someone else for us, please?” I ask.
“Sure.”
“The name is Bart McIntyre.”
Penelope flicks through to the book screen and looks up his room. We watch on in silence as she flicks through to his floor.
She puts the fast forward on, and we wait. Bart walks out of the elevator on his phone.
“Do we have audio?”
Penelope frowns.
She plays with some dials, and then Bart’s voice comes to life. He appears tipsy but nowhere near as bad as Sebastian was. He walks toward the camera and stops right in front of it.
“Goodnight, babe, I love you.” He smiles as he listens to whoever is on his phone.
“Is he talking to you?” I whisper.
Jeremy shakes his head. “No.”
My eyes flicker to his.
“We had a fight earlier that night. He wasn’t talking to me.”
Bart listens and then smiles. “When I get home, baby, you’re going to get it good.” He listens and laughs. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll call you when I get back to my room. I’m still with the boys. It won’t be for a few hours.”
His wife.
Jeremy drops his head in sadness.
My mouth falls open. Oh no.
Fuck.
Bart hangs up and then instantly dials another number. This is like watching a car crash happen. You know it’s really bad, but you can’t look away.
“Hello, Felicia, this is Bart,” he says. “I’d like two girls to my room. 624, please.”
He listens and then flashes a dirty smile. “No, I want the ones that were downstairs in the bar just now. Not the two I had last time I was here.”
I put my hand over my mouth. Dear God, this is worse than I ever imagined.
Jeremy’s jaw ticks as he watches the screen.
“Yes, make it quick, please. I’m horny as fuck.”
My eyes widen.
What?
This isn’t happening.
Not only is there proof that Bart is still sleeping with his wife, but he also regularly sees female prostitutes, too.
What the actual fuck?
Mind blown.
We all stare at the screen in silence, unsure what to say.
“And now I know why he would always cause a fight when we were in Bath,” Jeremy whispers sadly.
Oh, my heart.
I put my arm around Jeremy and pull him close.
Penelope lets out an audible gasp. “What a fucking cockhead.”
Bart walks into his room and closes the door behind him. Penelope goes to close the screen down.
“No,” Jeremy says. “I want to see this with my own eyes.”
She speeds it up and, and forty minutes later, the lift opens, and two gorgeous girls walk out. Penelope puts the footage into real time, and we sit in silence. The scantily clad girls knock on Bart’s door, and he opens it with only a white towel around his waist, ready and waiting.
“About time,” he says.
They walk past him into the room, and he slaps one of them on the behind as they pass him. He says something that we can’t understand, and the girls both laugh out loud. The door shuts behind them.
Wow.
Penelope closes the screen down, and we all sit in silence, shocked to our core.
“And now I know,” Jeremy whispers through his tears. He’s staring into space, visibly devastated.
I hate that my joy came at the cost of his heart. I get a lump in my throat as I watch him. I always knew Bart was a scuzbucket, but to see it like that is so raw and hurtful. He never deserved my beautiful friend’s love.
Not even for a day.
“I’m sorry, baby,” I whisper. “I’m so, so sorry.”
The car pulls up at the press conference in Winchester, and I practically jump from the car. I came straight here. I wanted to tell Seb the good news myself.
I walk into the packed hall at the university and stand at the back of the crowd.
Sebastian is on stage, standing at a small podium and delivering a speech.
“As you can see…” He glances up and sees me standing at the back. A frown crosses his brow, and I smile as I go up onto my toes with excitement.
He regains his focus and goes back to his speech. I tap my toes, waiting for him to finish.
Come on.
Hurry up.
I’m bursting at the seams to tell him the good news.
He didn’t do it.
He never went there, he never …the happiness beams out of me.
Eventually, he says the words I’ve been waiting to hear. “Thank you all for coming today. I look forward to a long and prosperous relationship. Education is key for our future.”
Everyone claps, and I smile proudly. With one last nod, he leaves the stage.
I stand on my tiptoes to look over the crowd. How do I get back there?
My phone rings:
April’s Fool
“Hi,” I answer.
“Mrs. Garcia, what are you doing here?” His deep voice purrs.
“I have news.” I smile. “How do I get to you?”
“I’ll send someone out to collect you. Go to the side door.”
“Okay.” I hang up and practically run to the door to wait.
Moments later, the door opens, and one of his guards appear. “Hello, Mrs. Garcia.”
“Hi.”
“This way, please.” He stands back so that I can walk in, and then he closes and locks the door behind him. We walk down the corridor, and I see Sebastian waiting for me. I practically run to him and jump into his arms.
He frowns, surprised by my greeting.
“Where can we talk in private?”
“This way.” He opens a door, and we go inside. He turns to me. “What’s this mood swing?”
I smile broadly. “She lied.”
He frowns.
“Helena was never in your room that night.”
“How do you know?”
“Penelope hacked the security system from the hotel. I watched the footage this morning. The only person who went in your room all night was Gerhard.”
His face falls. “Gerhard?”
“They’re in this together, Sebastian. We have proof.”
“But there is no footage. Bart checked.”
“Bart lied.”
“What?”
“Bart didn’t even look for footage because he was trying to cover his own sleazy ass.”
Sebastian’s face falls as he stares at me. “There’s no baby?” he whispers.
“No.” I smile. “We’re free.”
His nostrils flare, and he sucks in deep breaths as his emotions overwhelm him. I put my arms around his neck, and he drops his head into my shoulder.
Tears fill my eyes as we hold each other, the relief between us palpable.
I’ve never felt such an overwhelming relief.
“I’m sorry you had to go through this.” He squeezes me tighter.
“We made it,” I whisper, and I squeeze him right back.
Our lips meet, and a door opens behind us. “We need to go,” Bart’s voice interrupts us. “Your schedule had us leaving ten minutes ago. You’ll be late for your next appointment.”
We both turn to look at him.
“Hi, April.” He fakes a smile. “I didn’t realize you were coming today.”
Sebastian’s jaw clenches as he glares at him.
Bart looks between us, sensing something is off. “What?”
Sebastian takes my hand in his. “Go home, Bart.”
“Huh?” He frowns. “Why would I go home?”
“Because you’re fired.”
