I say these words as much for his benefit as my own.
There are all these thoughts in the back of my mind that have the possibility to stop me from believing the truth but the more that I can say stuff like this out loud, the stronger I become.
I'm afraid you can't be courageous if you're not afraid.
I take a deep breath and let him show me all of the technology and how it works.
After Jackie goes over it a few times, I connect all of the parts together myself a few times just to make sure that I know exactly what to do. He watches and nods approvingly. When we're done, I see Henry sitting on the edge of the bed with his head bent down.
“What's wrong?” I ask.
“I just really wish that you didn't have to do that,” he says.
“Me, too,” I agree.
“Maybe we can just go to the police? Maybe they can interview Taylor and Tamara and even Franklin and who knows what will happen.”
“You know perfectly well what they’ll say,” I say.
He shakes his head. I sit down next to him and put my arm around his shoulder.
“I don't want you to do this.”
“Of course not,” I say. “If we go to the police now, that girl is not going to tell them the truth. Even if she does, he’s going to lie. He's going to lie through his teeth and he's going to get every lawyer out there to lie for him. He's going to stonewall this thing just like all of those other assholes and he's gonna put so much garbage out there into the media that no one will believe her. Then he'll come after me.”
Henry glances up at me.
I give him a nod.
“You know that I’m right. He'll blame me. He'll know that this somehow came out because of me and he'll be right. No, before we go to the police, we need proof. We need a lot of evidence so that this whole thing can be completely irrefutable.”
“I'm just really worried about you,” he says quietly.
I squeeze his hand.
“I know you are but I'm going to be all right,” I say.
“I want to believe that, but how can I?”
“I can only do my best. I'm going to set everything up and you're going to have all of the recordings so that if anything were to happen…”
“Don’t you dare think like that,” Henry says, pointing his finger in my face. “I will not let anything happen to you. He will not find these cameras.”
“I know, I'm just saying in case…”
“There is no in case,” he says with rage in his eyes. “He will not hurt you. I will not let him.”
12
Aurora
I told Franklin that I was just going out on a short run, so unfortunately, I can't stay here long. As soon as I pack up the cameras and all of the equipment into my bag, it's time for me to leave.
“Are you sure that you can't stay longer?” Henry asks, holding onto my hand. “We can order some Indian food and have dinner.”
“I'd love to but I have to get back. Franklin’s working late today and I want to be able to set all this up before he comes home.”
“I understand,” he says with sadness in his eyes. He walks me to the door but I stop him from escorting me all the way downstairs.
“The fewer people that know about our relationship the better and that includes the hotel staff,” I say.
When I touch the door handle to open it, he kisses me. He buries his hands in my hair and presses his lips hard against mine. My mouth opens and I let him inside. The fire that exists between us does not fade. In fact, with his lips on mine, it starts to rage somewhere deep inside my core. If only Jackie wasn't here, the…
“Listen, I can give you some privacy. I have some work to do anyway,” Jackie says.
There's a hopeful expression on Henry's face but I shake my head no.
“I'm sorry but I really have to get back.”
Franklin isn't home when I get there and I let out a sigh of relief. I look at the clock. He said he would be late but this is quite late. I debate as to whether I should try to put something together now or just wait until tomorrow. I decide to do one room.
I set up the tiny camera just as Jackie had shown me and hide it behind the oversized plant in his office. I keep checking the time on my phone while I listen for anything in the hallway and make a quick decision to do the same thing in the master bedroom. The girl on the recording mentioned that Taylor was in his office. I had caught him with another girl in the bedroom. These are probably the main rooms where he would do something like this.
Before I get a chance to put up anything to block the camera, I hear the front door.
My heart sinks.
Shit, what the hell do I do now?
I hear his footsteps coming down the hallway and it's too late to take down the camera. I quickly move the picture frames from one side of the dresser to another and pray that he doesn’t notice.
“Hey,” I say, hopping onto the bed and pretending like I had been there the whole time.
“What are you doing here?” Franklin asks, looking tired and disheveled.
“Just lying down,” I say, shrugging my shoulders. “I’m not feeling very well.”
He walks over to me and sits down on the edge. He slumps his shoulders and when he looks at me, his eyes look weary.
My whole body tenses up. I force myself to relax. My phone is lying next to me and when I reach for it, he grabs it out of my hand.
“Are you seeing him?” he asks.
I freeze, not knowing what to say.
“Are you seeing Henry?” he asks again. This time his voice is more urgent, annoyed.
“I don't know why it matters,” I say. “You've been seeing everyone.”
“That has nothing to do with anything. I'm not sneaking around sleeping with my ex-boyfriend.”
“I thought that's what we had,” I lie. “You made it perfectly clear that you wanted an open marriage.”
“I did no such thing,” he says, furrowing his brow. “We never talked about anything like that.” His voice is loud and intense. If he's trying to intimidate me, it's working.
I reach for my phone but he closes his hand around it and pushes me away.
There's a lock and he doesn't know the password.
He turns toward me and glares. “Are you going to unlock this or not?”
I try to remember whether I have any incriminating evidence on the phone. I mean, there are messages between Henry and me but are there any messages about Franklin and what he did to that girl?
I don't think so but I can't be sure.
Shit, I have been so reckless.
“I need the code,” he insists.
I shake my head no.
He leans over to me, so close that when he opens his mouth, I can smell his breath.
“Tell me the code,” he says and a little drop of spit lands on my cheek.
I again shake my head no.
He doesn't ask again.
Instead, he grabs my hand and forces my thumb onto the fingerprint recognition circle. I wince from the pain.
He doesn't let me go until the phone unlocks.
I rub my hand tenderly trying to make the throbbing go away. He doesn't apologize and I swallow hard, waiting for what's to come.