GONE - Part Three (The GONE Series Book 3) (2 page)

"You need to go home to rest, Lilly. Take the weekend to yourself and if you still need more time, it's yours, with pay."

"I can quit, Alec."

He rests his hands on my shoulders. "You're not quitting."

"You can fire me. You have every reason to."

"I'd be an idiot to fire you." He chuckles softly. "Shit happens. We're going to help you get through this."

The words buoy my sprits enough that I feel part of the weight I've been carrying the past hour lifted from my shoulders. "I'm still not sure how this happened."

"Did you put together the slideshow yourself or did someone help you?" Lance asks from where's he's been seated on a chair by the door. He saw Clive out and then shut the door with an unceremonious thud the moment he left the room. It's obvious that Lance believes Clive is involved in what happened today.

"I put it together." I cross my arms over my chest. "I saved it on a flash drive that I gave to Cheryl from communications. She was handling all the media stuff."

"Cheryl?" Alec glances past me to Lance. "Who is that?"

"Cheryl's worked here for eight months." Lance scrolls over the tablet in his hand. "I've got her personnel file here if you want a look."

Alec motions with his right hand. "Give it to me."

I stand in silence as I watch him scan the screen. "She's a grandmother. Why would she put up that picture?"

Lance reaches to grab the edge of the tablet. "I can run a more extensive background check on her if you want."

"I want you to go find her now."

"I've got it," Lance says excitedly. "Should I take someone to back me up?"

"Back you up?" Alec cocks a dark brow with the question. "What the fuck does that mean?"

"What if she won't cooperate with me?" Lance spits the words out quickly. "I mean…what if she realizes that we're on to her."

"Christ, Lance." Alec points directly at the door. "If you can't handle a sixty-year-old grandmother, you're fired."

I feel a surge of laughter at the words. I pull my hand to my lips to try to contain the urge to chuckle.

Alec stares down at me as we both hear the door close behind Lance. "This isn't the end of the world, Lil. We'll take care of whoever did this to you. You can count on that."

***

"Did you get an offer on the house?" Garrett Ryan, the attorney that has been helping me for the past few years asks.

"No." I smooth my hands over the denim of the jeans I'm wearing. After Lance drove me home, I’d changed quickly and hopped into a taxi with the hope that Garrett would be able to squeeze in a moment with me before he took off the for weekend. He's one of the best probate attorneys in all of Manhattan and getting in to see him typically takes weeks.

"My assistant told me that you said it was urgent when you arrived."

I take a deep breath. "I'm in trouble, Garrett."

"What kind of trouble?" He glances at my face, his eyes locking on mine. "What's happened?"

Ever since Garrett became my legal counsel when I turned eighteen, our correspondence has been mainly limited to the occasional email or phone call about my grandmother's estate, my parent's house and the life insurance proceeds from my mother's policy. I've never touched the money. I can't bring myself to do anything with it knowing that it's the result of my father's unrestricted rage.

"Were you arrested?"

I smile knowing that it's likely one of the first questions when a client shows up unannounced in a panic at their lawyer's office. I'm tempted to ask what he thinks I'd be arrested for but I'm here for one reason and one reason only. "No, it's nothing like that."

"Tell me what it is, Lilly." He grins at me. "The first step is the hardest. You need to confess if I'm going to help you with anything."

I soak in his features. I've always thought he was very handsome. I felt a misplaced emotional connection to him after my grandmother died and he took time out of his life to help me pack up her things. It was a kind gesture that I absorbed as more than that. He set me straight by explaining how much he cared for the woman he was dating at the time. He let me down, effortlessly and easily, even though I never revealed that I was crazy about him.

"I can start guessing if you want?" He sits up straighter. "Do you have a bunch of unpaid traffic tickets?"

"I don't own a car, Garrett."

"Did you steal a chocolate bar from the bodega by your place?"
              I can't contain a small smile. "I'm trying to eat less sugar."

"You didn't punch someone on the subway, did you?" His gaze slides over my face. "We won't have a case unless he was feeling you up."

"I want to punch someone," I mutter under my breath.

"Who?" He tilts his chin up. "Did someone do something to you?"

I have to tell him. I got in the taxi with every intention of being mature and professional about this. It's just a picture. I need to just spit the words out so he can tell me what my next step should be. "I…there's a picture of me…I'm naked and…"

I'm so startled by the sudden ringing of my smartphone that it falls from my palm onto the carpeted floor of his office. I reach down, fumbling for it, all the while aware that I just confessed to there being a nude photo of me in existence.

"Do you need to get that?" He's on his feet now, peering over his desk to where I'm on my hands and knees on the floor.

I hit the mute button after I see Clive's name flash across the screen. I look up into Garrett's face. "No. I need you to help me. I've ruined my life."

"I'm going to need to see that picture, Lilly," Garrett says as he helps me back into the chair in front of his desk.

"Why?" I push my phone into my purse. "I told you that I was nude. Don't you believe me?"

"I believe you. I just need to know what we're dealing with." He sits down in the chair next to me. "Tell me about the picture. Did someone post it online?"

"I'm not sure," I answer honestly.

"You're not sure?" He clears his throat. "I'm your attorney. You don’t need to be embarrassed. I can help but only if I have a clear understanding of what's going on."

I'm telling myself that he's right. My mind knows it but the knot that has formed in the pit of my stomach isn't agreeing with that. "I'll start at the beginning."

"It's a good place." He pats his hand over my knee.

I lean back in the chair hopeful that the slight bit of physical distance I've created between us will help me feel less exposed. "I met a guy named Parker when I was testing out a dating app. That was months ago."

"Did you send him a picture over the app?"

I reach for my neck, my fingers searching in vain for the necklace my mother gave to me on my fourteenth birthday. "The app didn't work so we started emailing."

"You emailed the picture then?" His tone is patient and soft even though it's almost six o'clock and his day should be done by now.

"No, I snail mailed it. He asked me to send him a Polaroid picture." I drop my hands to my lap. "I did that. I sent some other things with the picture."

"What other things?" He leans back in the chair, crossing his legs. "Did you send more than one picture?"

"Just the one." My index finger darts into the air. "I sent a letter and the panties that I was wearing in the picture."

"So you weren't completely nude in the photograph?"

My hand leaps to my chest. "My breasts…they show in the picture. I'm wearing panties though."

"You sent the picture to this guy Parker." He drums his fingers against his thigh. "What did he do with the picture?"

"Nothing," I say. "He actually gave me his brother's address so I mailed the picture and other stuff there."

"What's his brother's name?"

"Clive Parker," I blurt out without hesitation. "Clive Parker is the one who had my picture."

***

"Sorry about that, Lilly." He places his smartphone on his desk. "I was supposed to meet my buddy, Nathan, for a drink. He's in town from Boston."

"We can do this another time," I lie. I want to do it now. I've confessed so much already that I'm worried that if we agree to meet on Monday that I'll retreat into a cocoon and hide away forever.

His brows rise. "I know it's not easy to talk about this. I'll see Nate tomorrow. This is more important."

I'm grateful that he understands the urgency that I'm feeling. I've heard the muffled rumbles of my phone ringing from inside my closed purse. I know, without question, that it's Clive. I have to understand my legal options before I talk to him again. I owe that to myself. "I really appreciate you taking out this much time for me."

"You said that Clive Parker had the picture?" His brows rise. "You don't mean the Clive Parker that owns that tech company, do you?"

I stare down at my fingernails. I've come this far and leaving out any relevant details isn't going to change what happened earlier. "Yes, I mean him."

"You sent a Polaroid picture of your exposed breasts to Clive Parker?"

"Yes," I answer wearily. "I didn't know it was his address. The Parker I was emailing with is Clive Parker's half-brother."

He traces a path over his left eyebrow with his fingers. I can tell that he's trying to absorb everything that I'm telling him. "So Clive Parker has that picture?"

I scrub my hand over the back of my neck. "He did. He told me he destroyed it but I don't know if he has."

"He's a high profile businessman," he says curtly. "Is there a reason you don't believe him?"

There shouldn't be. I shouldn't have to question anything that Clive has told me after what we've shared together but I can't deny what I saw with my own two eyes. "I had to give a presentation at work today…"

"Where are you working now?" he asks, seeming genuinely interested. "When you emailed me about selling your folks' house, you mentioned getting a job but you didn't say where."

I can skip the part about working at Corteck for a hot minute because it's not relevant. "I'm working for Hughes Enterprises."

''Impressive." He kicks his foot out to tap my leg softly. "You put other kids your age to shame."

I smile at the suggestion than I'm a kid. I searched online for any tidbits I could pull up about Garrett before I took the train from Boston to New York to meet him the first time. He's younger than Clive and the fact that he views me as a child makes me instantly aware that Clive may see me as naïve and easily fooled. "I've worked really hard to get to the place I am."

"What happened at work today?" he presses on.

"I was giving a presentation at a media event. I had to introduce two new apps. One was developed at Hughes and the…" my voice trails when I realize I'm rambling. "None of this matters."

"It all matters," he says patiently. "Did something happen with the picture at work?"

I swallow past the growing lump in my throat. "There was a slideshow."

"Lilly?" He taps my leg with his hand. "Tell me."

I pull all the courage I can find into the next breath I take. "I was talking and then I turned around and the picture of me… that picture was on the screen."

I walk back into his office after spending the past five minutes in the restroom splashing cool water on my face. Telling Garrett about the picture wasn't easy but it was necessary. I feel a small sense of relief knowing that I'm doing what I need to do to protect my reputation.

"I'll talk to Alec Hughes," Garrett pauses as he looks down at his smartphone. "Do you think he'd be available to talk to me tonight?"

"I think so," I offer. "It happened at his company's event."

"You're okay to get home on your own?" He motions towards the door of his office.

"I am." I'm surprised that my voice sounds as calm as it does. I've been dreading this moment since I left my apartment earlier. I know Clive will be waiting for me there.

"Can I get Parker's email address before you leave?" He doesn't bring his gaze up from his phone's screen. "Or do you have his number?"

"Parker's in Dubai." I tilt my head to the side. "Clive sent him there a few weeks ago on some work project."

"Did you have a personal relationship with Parker?" He looks directly at me. "I mean, was there ever anything between you two beyond the picture and emailing?"

"No." I shake my head violently from side-to-side. "I only met Parker in person once. It was at the bistro."

"He came to see you at work?"

I had one foot out the door and now I'm being pulled back into the pit of my mistakes. "He was there. Clive called him down there."

"Clive Parker was at the bistro?" He exhales audibly. "You've known him since then?"

"I met him at the bistro." I roll my shoulders back to try and get more air into my lungs. I feel out of breath.

"Have you seen him since then?" His voice is husky. "Have you seen him since you moved to New York?"

"Yes," I whisper. "I've seen him here."
              "I'm missing something." He crosses his arms over his chest. "Fill in the blanks."

I want to but revealing my intimate relationship with Clive isn't something I thought I'd have to do. I'm not ashamed of it. The gnawing ache in the back of my mind that's telling me that Clive has been manipulating me this entire time won't stop. It's only becoming stronger and stronger the more I try and ignore it. "The blanks?"

"Lilly," he says my name slowly. "I'm a lawyer. I can tell when people are withholding. I'll help you but you need to be honest. I can ask you or I can ask Alec Hughes."

Shit. He's one hundred percent right. Alec will tell him that I'm dating Clive.

"I've been sleeping with Clive Parker." My eyes plead with his. I don't want his mouth to fall open or for him to launch into a lecture about how Clive is too old for me and I should be dating someone my own age.

I see his jaw flinch slightly but anything other than that is masked behind his experience as an attorney. "Is it serious or more of a casual thing?"

I'm tempted to ask if this particular line of questioning is relevant to my nude picture or not, but I opt for the honest answer. "I don't know."

"You don't know?"

Any semblance of trying to appear to be a mature adult who is complete control of her life just flew out the window. "I thought it was serious but I'm not sure after what happened today."

He runs his hand over his chin. "You said earlier that Clive was the last person to have the picture of you?"

"Yes." I tip my chin forward. "He told me he destroyed it."
              "But you saw it today?"

"Everyone saw it today," I mutter under my breath.

His eyes rest on my face. "This isn't my area of expertise, Lilly. I don't think we need to file a copyright notice. I'm certain you already own it. I'm going to consult with a colleague on your legal rights regarding the picture, but…"
              "Thank you," I interrupt knowing that what he was about to say isn't something I'm certain I can do.

"Stay away from him for the time being." He rests his hand on my elbow. "Until we have a better understanding of what happened and who is behind it, I'd strongly advise you to steer clear of Clive Parker."