Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 77220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
“Exactly. Now you know why I’m sitting on your couch in my wet underwear in the middle of the night. There is something here that doesn’t add up. There is a whole and we each have a half, but until we put them together, we can’t make heads or tails of it.”
I took a deep breath, fighting for the fragile control that I could feel slipping away. Was he really telling the truth? But I saw the photos. I turned to face him, tears glittering on my lashes.
“How about you start? Start with missing my birthday dinner. Where were you that night?”
“Robert had made an insinuation at a meeting earlier in the afternoon that he believed I was stealing money so I was at home trying to get my affairs in order and prove it wasn’t me when the police arrived with their trumped-up charges. I was framed for embezzlement, but I didn’t have the time to prove it at the time.”
“At no point did it occur to you to call me?”
“Forgive me, but I had bigger issues to deal with,” he said sarcastically. “At the very least, I expected you to call at some point. Then I would have been able to explain what was happening. But you never called.”
“So why did you plead guilty then?”
“Since you didn’t give a damn it seemed to be the smartest thing to do at that time. It freed me from Robert’s ability to ever again profit from my work.”
I shook my head. “Right, so I’m to believe Robert, your best friend, framed you?”
“Don’t be so quick to defend him. Who do you think first put the idea into my head that you were just all about money?”
“I’m sure you misunderstood him. Robert is a gentleman and would never sink to mud-slinging. Anyway, if you loved me, why would you believe the worst of me?”
“I could ask you the same thing, Savannah. If you loved me, why would you be so quick to believe I was seeing someone else?”
“I have evidence of your cheating. You have no evidence of my greed.” I bit my trembling lips.
“What evidence?” he pounced, his eyes fixed on me.
“I went looking for you, Max.” A hot tear rolled down my cheek and I dashed it away furiously. “I went to your office to look for you. Robert said you had left the office upset. I found the photos of you and that-that woman!”
“What woman?” his shout echoed around me.
“The woman who was blackmailing you and you had to steal the money from the company to pay her off. That woman. So, if you want to know why I did not call, I was busy wrapping my mind around the fact that the man I loved and wanted to spend the rest of my life with was not only a cheat, but a thief, so forgive me if I didn’t come with guns blazing to bust you out of jail!”
“Even if you believed I was cheating, why did you not come to see me and call me a cheat to my face? At least you could have given me the chance to defend myself face to face. Instead, I sat there, day after day, waiting for you to show up, and all I could think was that Robert had been right about you all along. It broke my heart.”
“You weren’t the only one whose heart was breaking! While you were on trial, I was holed up in my mother’s house recovering from the miscarriage caused by the stress of you cheating and stealing!” I screamed wildly at him. The moment the words were uttered I wished I could take them back.
His face was as white as a sheet as he whispered. “What did you say?”
Gut-wrenching sobs such as I had never had since my miscarriage came out of nowhere. I stuffed my fist into my mouth as the tears continued to pour down my face. I squeezed my eyes shut, blotting out his shocked face. All that could be heard in the strange silence were my sobs. When at last I felt as if I had regained some control, I looked at him as he continued to stare at me. He looked shell-shocked. Frozen, unable to move or do anything.
I took a deep breath. “I was eight weeks pregnant, Max. I had found out the day before my birthday and planned to surprise you with the positive test. I had it wrapped in a cute little box and everything.”
My voice broke once more and I closed my eyes. I could not bear to look at him anymore. The tears continued to roll down my cheeks, but my voice was now shrill and accusing.
“I waited for hours. You never showed up. God knows how much longer I would have sat there like some lovesick fool if Robert hadn’t turned up to wish me a happy birthday. He told me you had left the office hours ago. I was so worried I begged him to help me find you. He offered to take me to the office to check if you might have gone back there. I was so distraught I thought going through your desk would give me a clue what had happened to you. That’s when I found those disgusting photos.