Page 17

Chapter Seventeen

Sera

The next morning, I visit Ellie at the hospital. She’s been an in-patient since she began her treatment before we left for Vegas. Her condition is in the relatively early stages, but it still breaks my heart when I see the spaced-out look in her eyes as she struggles to focus. For a moment, it’s like she’s forgotten who I am.

But when she smiles, the woman I remember flashes through her features. She becomes the IT teacher again, full of life, passion, protectiveness. She has her own room in the private hospital… Graham said that insurance is covering it, but our insurance isn’t that good. Is it really covering all this?

“Sit, dear, sir,” she says, gesturing to two chairs with views of the hospital’s spacious grounds.

Guilt attempts to stop me from doing what I have to do, from acting on the plan I developed last night after the video-call sex thing. Okay, so that was a distraction. I didn’t plan on it, though. I was going to tell him about Damien’s email to Graham, but then I started panicking, my mind spinning into how ugly the future could get, and I realized I couldn’t do it.

So I went the sexy route, capitalizing on the hunger in his eyes. The second he saw me, it was there, a fierce desire to claim me. I wanted to make him feel good, too.

“How have you been?” I ask.

“Nevermind that ,” she says with a smile. “How was…” She pauses. “Vegas?”

Minor lapses, pauses, moments of forgetfulness are how it starts, which will expand until there’s no Ellie left.

“It was great, actually,” I say. “I’ve got some pictures. Do you want to see?”

“Sure,” she replies with a smile.

I take out my phone, showing her some snaps of the conference.

“Sorry, do you mind if I use your bathroom?” I ask, handing her the phone. “You can choose your favorite. I might print it out for you, so you can hang it up. Just a thought.”

Ellie smiles… a little strangely? If I didn’t know better, I’d say she was nervous. I bury that thought. Instead, the little observational gremlin inside my head notes her slow decay.

I walk away from both thoughts and step into the en-suite – noting how expensive this place must be with its waterfall shower – and use the bathroom. My stomach has been a mess since I found that email yesterday. It’s like my body is rebelling against any idea that Graham could be in on the sabotage.

My mind whirs, though. I can’t stop it. It gets like this when I sink into a meaty tech idea and it’s doing the same now.

Ellie hands me the phone when I return. “I love the one of you before your speech.”

“I grabbed that from social media,” I say. “An audience member took it.”

Her eyes grow misty. “I love you, Sera. I’m so proud of you. I want—I need you to know that.”

“I know it… and right back at you,” I say with a soft smile.

We sit in comfortable silence for a while. At least, this should be a comfortable silence. But the question I have to ask is staining the experience. I don’t want to do it, but I need to sort this out.

“Ellie, have you ever heard of Damien Whitaker?” I ask. “Has Graham ever mentioned him?”

She laughs shakily. “My memory isn’t what it used to be…”

“I know,” I murmur, looking closely at her. Is this her condition, or she is hiding something? I hate feeling like this. But I can’t ignore the puzzle pieces. “I thought you might remember something. I don’t want to put any pressure on you.”

“I don’t know,” she murmurs. “Damien, you said?”

“Yeah, I’ve got a picture,” I tell her, flicking to the photo I saved and showing her my phone. The more I look at him, the more certain I become he was the man who spilled the coffee on my laptop, the douche who started this whole thing.

She looks at it for a few moments, then shakes her head. “I’ve never seen him before.”

“Okay, that’s fine.” I put the phone away. “This place looks great… well, as great as a place like this can, anyway.”

“Yes, it’s wonderful. I’m so thankful to Graham. But I know he’d do anything for me. I know he’d…” She cuts off with a sob, covering her mouth, her eyes becoming misty again. One sob follows another, and soon she’s full on crying.

“It’s okay,” I say, rubbing her arm. “I’m right here. Everything is going to be okay.”

“I’m so sorry,” she says between sobs.

“Sorry? You have nothing to be sorry for.”

Unless she knows something. Unless she’s hiding the truth from me.

“I don’t want you worrying about me,” she says. “I want you to take care of yourself. You’ve been through so much. I still remember the computer-crazy shy girl you were, scared to ask to stay late. I remember how shocked you were when I gave you a little attention. You appeared starved for it.”

“That’s because I was.”

“Can we just sit here for a bit?” she asks quietly.

“Sure.”

We hold hands, looking out at the grounds. Soon, Ellie falls asleep. I hold her hand a while longer, then drape a blanket over her and head to work. I go straight to Graham’s office, nerves threatening to stop me, but I can’t, won’t, let them.

Graham looks up at me, huge bags under his eyes, his hair in disarray, like he’s frustratingly run his hands through it. He’s a mess.

“You haven’t been sleeping,” I say.

“No,” he mutters.

“Why?” I grit out a little too forcefully.

“Is everything okay?”

“Why haven’t you been sleeping, Graham?”

“Sit down, Sera. Has something happened?”

“I visited Ellie on my way to work. She’s doing well, thank God. But something stuck out to me. That place she’s staying at, the place she had to move into – the place our insurance apparently covers… It’s like a palace. It’s?—”

“ Don’t ,” Graham cuts in, baring his teeth like a freaking animal. I’ve never seen him like this before.

I take a step back. “Excuse me?”

He plants his fist on the table. Is he trying to intimidate me? Is it working? “I’m saying this for your own good, Sera. Ellie and I care about you, but you need to stop this right now. You can’t go any further. Go back to your desk and forget about this. This line of thinking ends. Here. Got it?”

“Or what? Are you going to hit me, Graham?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Am I free to leave?”

“I’m saying this for your sake,” he says, sounding exasperated. Well, too bad, so am I.

“You’ve just admitted you were involved.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Sure, you don’t,” I say, running from the room and right past my desk, tears sliding down my cheeks as I rush into the stairwell.

I could keep it together when I was in there with him, but this is too much. Mom and Dad betrayed me by being… well, Mom and Dad. I never thought that Graham would do the same. I always believed they were different. But if he did it for money – for Ellie – maybe I can get my head around that.

When I call Luke, he rejects it with a text.

Luke: I’m in a meeting.

Sera: I lied to you yesterday. I’m sorry. I need your help. I think Graham was involved in the sabotage. When are you free to talk?

Luke: Woah, slow down. You think he was involved?

Sera: I just confronted him, and he basically confirmed it. I’ve never seen him so angry. Yesterday, I found an email from Damien on his computer.

I type quickly.

Sera: I planned on telling you, but I was scared of getting him into trouble. But I can’t do this alone.

Luke: It’s lucky I’ll be in Tampa tomorrow.

I gasp.

Sera: What, really?

Luke: That’s what this meeting is about: East Coast business. I’ll be with you soon. I have a little spot where we can meet. It’ll be perfect. Do nothing until then. We’ll work this out together.

Sera: Am I supposed to just go on like everything is normal?

Luke: Yes. Until we can meet. When we’re together, I’ll lead the way for my little vulnerable princess.

That last line is… weird.

Sera: I’m not little or vulnerable, Luke. I just need help.

Luke: Yep. Gotcha. Sorry about that. My head is in a million places. I’ll text you the time and the location. We’ll do this together.

Sera: Okay, Luke, thank you. That means a lot.

I take a moment to gather myself, drying my cheeks and breathing slowly for a minute, trying to diffuse some of the panic. Luke will be here tomorrow. Together, we’ll fix this.