Chapter 5
The next morning, I went to an office tower in Midtown Manhattan.
Not to see Adrian. To see his archrival—who also happened to have been two years ahead of me in college—Damon Kerr.
Damon’s company, Kerr Technologies, and Adrian’s Locke Holdings were the two biggest competitors in the industry.
For years, Adrian had used every dirty trick in the book to crush Kerr Technologies.
And I just happened to be holding a few “secrets” Adrian didn’t want anyone on earth to know.
I’d stumbled on them while I was playing “Mrs. Locke.”
At the time, they’d only frightened me. I’d never thought of using them.
But now, everything was different.
I walked into the Kerr Technologies building, and the receptionist asked if I had an appointment.
I said, “Tell Mr. Kerr that Nora Locke is here to see him about Locke Holdings’ latest bid.”
The receptionist made a call, clearly skeptical.
In under a minute, Damon’s executive assistant came down personally to get me.
His office was on the top floor, with an incredible view.
When he saw me, he looked a little surprised, but mostly like something had just clicked.
“Nora. It’s been a long time.”
He poured me a glass of water himself. “Sit.”
“Damon.”
I nodded and got straight to the point. “I’m here to make you a deal.”
“Oh?” He raised an eyebrow. “I’m listening.”
I took a flash drive out of my purse and slid it across the desk to him.
“This is every gray-area transaction Locke Holdings has made in the last three years. How they cooked the books, how they bribed city officials. And… the minimum bid for the Brooklyn waterfront parcel next week.”
Damon’s eyes changed instantly.
He picked up the drive, his face suddenly serious.
“Why would you give me this?”
He looked at me, his expression complicated. “Do you know what happens to Adrian if any of this gets out?”
“I know.”
I answered him calmly. “He’ll be ruined. He might even go to prison.”
“Then why—”
“I’m just taking back what’s mine.”
I cut him off. “I married him for three years and gave up everything for him. He handed me five million dollars and thought that would get rid of me. Damon, do you think three years of my youth are only worth five million?”
Damon fell silent.
“Consider this a sale.”
I went on. “I don’t want money. I want you to agree to one condition.”
“What condition?”
“At next week’s bid, I want you to beat Locke Holdings completely. I want Adrian left with nothing.”
When I said it, my heart didn’t even flutter.
Maybe, when love disappears, hate turns out not to matter much either.
I just wanted to grind him into the ground in the one place he was proudest of.
Call it the last funeral for my dead love story.
Damon looked at me for a long time. So long I thought he was going to say no.
In the end, he nodded. “All right. You have a deal.”
He paused, then asked, “Is it worth it?”
I smiled and didn’t answer.
Was it worth it?
I didn’t know.
All I knew was that I didn’t have much time left.
[55:03:21]
…
When I walked out of Kerr Technologies, I felt light all over, like a boulder had been rolled off my chest.
I didn’t go home. I took a cab to a cemetery outside the city.
My parents were buried there.
In the photo on the headstone, they were smiling, warm and kind.
I laid the fresh lilies at the foot of the grave, crouched down, and gently wiped the dust off the stone.
“Mom, Dad, I’m here.”
The tears came without any warning.
“I’m sorry it took me so long to visit.”
“I got divorced… from Adrian. You never liked him, did you?”
“You were right. He… wasn’t a good husband.”
I kept talking and talking, like I needed to pour out every bit of the last three years.
A breeze swept through the cemetery, and the pines and cypresses rustled like they were answering me.
[If you were still here and saw me like this, would you be disappointed?]
[I turned the daughter you loved most into a joke.]
[Mom, Dad, I miss you so much…]
I was crying so hard I couldn’t breathe when I sensed someone stop behind me.
I didn’t have to turn around to know who it was.
That familiar cologne, sharp and cold. Adrian.
“Nora, what game are you playing now?”
His voice was as cold as ice. “Putting on a sob story at your parents’ grave, so I’ll go soft?”
I turned around slowly and looked at him through a blur of tears.
He was wearing a perfectly cut black suit. He stood tall and straight, and somehow it made the whole cemetery feel even more grim.
How had he found me here?
Oh, right. He could see my location.
When we got divorced, I’d forgotten to turn off the location sharing on my phone.
“What are you doing here?”
I wiped my eyes and asked it coldly.
“What am I doing here?”
He acted like that was the funniest thing he’d ever heard. “If I don’t show up, are you going to finish selling off my whole company?”
He held up his phone. On the screen was a screenshot.
Damon had sent it to him.
Adrian, your ex-wife sold you out for a very good price. The Brooklyn parcel is mine.
