Ch 1-10

Summary

Jennifer Caffrey is trying to do the impossible: live two lives without letting either one destroy her. By day, she’s grinding through her first year of medical school at Columbia—top of her class, running on caffeine and stubbornness, desperate to prove she can stand on her own without her husband’s money or protection. By night, she’s pouring drinks at a broken-down dive bar, chasing normal like it’s oxygen. But “normal” doesn’t exist when you’re married to Adam Caffery—the man the world would call a monster, and Jennifer would call home. And it definitely doesn’t exist when her new case-study partner is Elliott Winters: a rich, razor-tongued heir with a talent for pushing every one of her buttons… and secrets he’s willing to bleed to protect. Then the phone calls start. The watching. The threats. Someone wants in—wants to become the mysterious ninth member at Adam’s table—and they’re willing to burn Jennifer’s entire life to the ground to get it. Every move she makes tightens the noose: her marriage, her future, her safety… even her conscience, as she starts to realize what Adam truly does to stay on top. Now Jennifer has a choice: keep playing the good girl who wants a clean, quiet future… or become something colder, sharper, and far more dangerous—because if someone is hunting her family, she’s done being prey. In a world where love is leverage and loyalty is a weapon, Jennifer is about to prove exactly what her enemies forgot: She doesn’t break. She doesn’t run. She’s unbreakable.

Chapter 1 Preparing For War

Jennifer

Vvvvzzzztttt Vvvzzzzttt

What?

Vvvvvzzzztttt

Sleepily I looked at my phone, smiling I answered “hey baby”. I wasn’t ready to get out of bed.

I just started my first year of medical school at Columbia and everyday was kicking my ass. If I wasn’t in lab, I was studying and if I wasn’t studying I was sleeping. I was trying to balance having a relationship and school. The scale always tipped towards school. Thankfully Adam understood; he was more than just understanding he was wonderful. We made long distance work; it didn’t even feel like long-distance. He was here in my apartment almost every weekend. Well to say it’s mine is a stretch; Adam bought this penthouse apartment in the Upper West Side of New York for me.

I have a breathtaking view of the Hudson River, a separate dining room and family room with a wet bar and a private terrace. The kitchen is full of the highest end of appliances: Sub-Zero refrigerator/freezer, a floor to ceiling wine cooler, wolf 6-burner oven, microwave and wall oven with warming drawer. All the cabinetry is hand-wrought and lacquered, walnut lined and features details. All five bedrooms have ensuite bathrooms with white Macauba Italian marble. The master bedroom has a walk-in closet as well as a dressing room and the five-fixture luxurious master bath has a deep European soaking tub and oversized shower. The whole place came complete with 24/7 security.

The place is without a doubt beautiful, I could never afford a place like this. Adam told me not to worry about it, it’s was a gift. To him it was pocket change; I ran his business for a few months to know money was never an issue for Adam. When I saw how many zeros were in my account when Brandon “paid me for my time” I was set for life. I could never spend 500 million dollars. So I did the sensible and responsible thing I invested half of the money into a saving account and the other half I created a savings account for Jemma, that she could have access to by the time she was 20.

“Hey love, did I wake you up?”Adam said. I heard a crowd of people in the background on the other end.

“Yes”, I pulled my covers up around me, “Where are you?”

“I got my license!” Dani yelled in the background. She was supposed to be going to school this semester, but at the very last minute decided to postpone for one more semester. I think she’s going to come to Columbia with me in the spring. I’m just happy she picked a school; we visited at least twenty colleges this summer.

“Cala Deia, car shopping with Dani”, Adam said.

“Spain?”

“Yeah, Dani got her license and I did promise to take her to get her first car. Plus I may see something too.”

“Any excuse to go looking at cars”, I teased.

“I’ve been really good since you threw the book at me for spending too much. Honestly, we make more now that you expanded us”.

When I was standing in for Adam, when he was in his coma, I changed a lot of things. The Drug Lords got on broad with it, but when Adam woke up there was a bit of an adjustment period. Now with this new threat we needed to be careful, we need to be saving money ready to go dark if need be. We haven’t heard from our mysterious 9th member since they first made contact. I was ready for a fight or whatever they threw on us. I started training with Thomas again, and my aim was almost perfect. I was preparing for a war; Adam on the other hand was just going to handle the situation when it came up.

I was prepping like the end of the world was near. The money I had invested could care for us and our families for a life time. If we had to disappear overnight we could. I just wish Adam would think more long-term.

“I’m proud of you, instead of buying ten new cars you just get six “, I said laughing.

“Seven one will be for you love. You should learn how to drive stick”, he said.

“I’ll add it up there with swimming”, I said looking at the time.

Shit!

I was going to be late. I had decided that I needed a job; I didn’t want to keep relying on Adam and my parents. I wanted to be responsible for myself; so I put in an application at a bar not too far from the apartment. So far Asterik’s bar was the only place to call me back. I haven’t told anyone, but Nate and Thomas about my job hunt.

I jumped out of bed and started to get ready, “Shit! I’ve got to go! I forgot about a thing I have!”

“A thing? What thing? You don’t have classes today? I was going to swing—“

“I’m sorry, baby I got to go! Talk later, bye,” I said quickly hanging up my phone. I got ready in less than five minutes. I went with a long black pencil skirt, white blouse and heels. I put my hair in a bun grabbed my coat, and flats and ran to the elevator.

I started to make my way down to the lobby.

Just keep going! Don’t stop on six.

Ding!

Fuck!

As the elevator opened I saw him; Elliott Winters. He had to be the rudest and self indulgent prick in the world. His father runs Winters Real Estate. Basically, you can’t even look at them unless you have a billion dollars in the bank. He wanted my apartment but, Adam paid top dollar for it and Elliott’s father wasn’t going to cave to his demands when it got in the way of daddy making a profit.

“Morning,” I said.

Looking me up and down Elliott said,” I’ve seen hookers who dress better than you”. He got in the elevator and we continued down.

“And I’ve seen trash cans with a better personality, that yours.” Elliott also goes to Columbia. I see him every day I think he just hates me because I challenge him in class. If there are only two A’s given out it’s normally us.

“Cute,” he said.

Ding!

We reached the lobby level.

I said good morning to everyone in the lobby, Elliott just barked demands. If he wasn’t such an ass, he would be attractive. Nate said he looked like a young Leonardo DiCaprio, I could see it if I put him on a sinking ship, doomed to die.

“Good Morning, Charles!” I said to the concierge.

“Good Morning, Miss Faust, should I have them bring the car around? It’s bitterly cold out there today” he said with a smile. I started to use my maiden name again. I have been tailed ever since moving to New York. They followed me everywhere, I guess hoping to catch Adam “in the act”, but that would never happen. Adam doesn’t run New York there are too many other gangs and small time pushers here, it’s not worth the competition.

“No, I’m just going down the street, fingers crossed I get this job,” I said hopefully.

“You’ll do fine, good luck,” Charles said.

“Getting or giving,” Elliott said poking his tongue in his cheek;”Try some makeup”. Ignoring him I continued out the door.

I saw Thomas standing by the entrance;”I was just about to come in and get you.”

“Morning Thomas, how is Amy settling into the new house?” I asked.

“Great she loves it, it’s Charlotte who won’t sleep at night anymore,” Thomas said.

Thomas and Amy had just had their first baby a little girl named Charlotte.

“Maybe it’s the city sounds? Her little ears can’t take it?” I pondered.

“Maybe, Amy’s reading all these books I’m sure she’ll figure out the reason why. Until then I expect a lot more sleepless nights” he said.” Anyways do you want the car we have about ten minutes to get there?”

I never use the car service Adam had insisted on having so I have it just in case. I would only use for a real emergency.

Ten minutes we can make it!

“We can make it, it’s not that far.” We ended up running the last block to Asterik’s. I thought New York would be more like Sex and the City, but it’s really just expensive and too many people crammed together. Adam had giving me a black card to use if I needed to buy anything, I’ve never used it and hopefully after today I never will.

We made it to Asterik’s with a minute to spare.

“Hey, can you hang back for a second; I’ve got to do this part on my own.” Thomas gave me a face that said he really didn’t want to. Every class lecture, lab and function I went to Thomas was right behind me. “Please? Just think about it for a second, would you hire me if you saw my bodyguard”.

“You’d probably get the job then,” he said laughing,” I’ll be out here.”

“Thank you!”

I was about to rush in when Thomas said,” Wait! You still have that knife I gave you?”

“Yes, I never go anywhere without it”.

I walked through the front doors it was a small dive bar. The room was brick lined, and the large wooden bar that ran the length of the room. There were a couple of seating booths There was a well used darts board and the back wall was covered in arcade game machines.

There was a man in his late thirties on a ladder fixing a light. He must have heard me enter because he yelled, “We’re closed!” in a heavy smoker’s voice.

“Hi! I’m here for an interview; I’m Jennifer or Jen for short.” I said overly excited.

My first job interview!

I felt like Kairi when we made our first breakfast together; I did that all by myself.

A spark went off from the light fitting shocking the man he yelled, “Son of a bitch!” He climbed down the ladder saying,” You’ve got small hands!”

“Uumm yes?” I said confused.

“Slide this light bulb in,” he demanded.

Is this how all interviews work?

“Ok,” I kicked off my heels, took the long light fixture and climbed the ladder. I carefully slid each side in.

“Ok kid this is how it works, I’m looking for young blood to bring in new customers. You’ll work weekends five to close, no exceptions, tips are yours. Most nights are relaxed; you’ll be bartending at night for Andy. Do you think you can handle that?”

I got the light bulb in place, “Yes, I’ll memorize all the drinks and how to make them.” He handled me another light bulb.

“Six people work at a time, waiter hostess, cooks, bartender and manager/owner – me. The people that do come here are looking for a cheap drink and a pretty face. Don’t take offense to it, that’s just my customer base.

“Work what you got,” I finished with the second light and sat on the ladder.”Does this mean I’ve got the job?”

“Yeah, I didn’t waste my breath for nothing.”

“Yay! So, I can start tonight?” I said eagerly.

“Hell, you can start right now. I’m Ralph by the way,” he said.

“Thank you, Ralph! I won’t let you down” I gushed and put on my flat shoes.

“Yeah, yeah just have an ounce of common sense and you’ll work fine. Wipe down the tables and get the bar ready”.

“You got it!” I said.

Chapter 2 Egotistical Idiot

Jennifer

I’m so tired.

I slowly walked back to my apartment with Thomas.

“Are you sure you don’t want to take a taxi?” Thomas asked.

“I don’t need it”, I said. Tonight was different; I stopped being a bartender at one point and just turned into ‘the girl with tits and ass’ that wears you down. I just wanted to go home and sleep. This will get better, eventually; hopefully, this is just a hazing thing.

We made it to the apartment and I told Thomas “I’m just going to the library and will work tomorrow; you don’t need to babysit me. Go spend time with your baby and take Amy out on a date!”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, you still have the agents following you”.

“It’s been two months; they’re not going to kidnapped me off the street. I’ll be fine; If I need you I have your number, go have a life” I said.

Going over his options in his head Thomas said finally, “Thank you, have a good night”.

“You too”, I said walking into my building.

Ding! Ding!

I got an e-mail from school; I walked to the elevator and opened the email.

From: Dr. Giovanni

To: Jennifer Faust

Good Evening Class,

As we discussed in class you will be working in pairs on case studies throughout the semester. There will be 12 case studies in total; each will have a paper and a presentation to be given by both students.

The basic idea of this project is to get you to think to come up with your own ideas, then to agree with your partners on your presentation.

So scrutinize your case studies closely and diagnose the problem using the tools we have been working on in class. I expect you to show your full thought process and evaluation of how you have come to your final answer..

For many of you this will be a challenging but essential exercise. I have faith in all of you. You can succeed if you try.

Your partners are listed below.

This could be fun, there are thirty of us in a class and I only know maybe five people by name. Maybe I’ll get lucky and make a friend; I scrolled down and saw my partners name…

Elliott Winters

FUCK NO!

I pounded on the button for floor six; Elliott is so petty he would self-sabotage us just because he can.

The doors opened and Elliott was standing in front of me.

“YOU DID THIS!” He yelled holding up his phone and shoving it in my face.

“Me!? This is completely your doing! Why would I want to work with the egotistical idiot who doesn’t even belong in our class!”At the moment Elliott was graded second-best I was currently first in our class and that killed him on the inside to see someone beat him.

“You are going to ruin my chances at finding a good residency” he growled.

“Oh please, don’t insult me, like I care what you do! You give yourself way too much credit you won’t make it that far”, I scowled back.

“Tomorrow we are going to Dr. Giovanni’s office together; I’m not going to work with you! We shouldn’t be working with anyone we’re all competition for each other!”

“Good, I hope he finds me someone with half a brain; preferably someone who can work a microscope!”

“Just show up, if we both complain, we may get what we want”.

“To never see your face again, one can only dream”, I said nastily.

Rolling his eyes Elliott turned in a rage heading back to his apartment. I angrily punched in the code for my level.

Why would Dr. Giovanni do this? I’m one of his best students why would he partner me with Elliot? No one can stand his sour attitude and constant nagging. Elliott truly did believe the world revolved around him. Well guess what I’ve worked hard for this, I’m the sun! It’s my time to shine!

I marched in to my apartment pissed off; the light was on in the kitchen.

Didn’t I turn off the lights?

I quietly set down my purse and heels. Tip toeing to my bedroom, I kept a gun in my vanity drawer. Keeping to the shadows I made it to my bedroom and got the gun. I snaked around the walls making my way back to the kitchen. Tension was building up in my body; my heart was racing ready to burst out of my chest.

Stay calm I can do this. I was ready to dial 911 if I had too.

I popped around the corner yelling,” Hands up!”

“Hey! How did the– Jesus Christ!”

“Nate!” I breathed a sigh of relief, “What are you doing here? I could have shot you!” I lowered the gun putting it on the counter.

He held up a cake that said, “You’re a working girl!”.

“Aaawww thank you”, I said hugging him.

“I wouldn’t miss this for the world. So you got it? Tell me everything”.

“It went well, I mean I started today. It’s just…” I was still frustrated about Elliott.

“It’s just what? Tell all”, he said picking up a bottle of wine. I told him about Elliott and the stupid assignment. We ended up sitting on my bed with an empty bottle of wine.

“I try and get along with people for the most part. It’s just with Elliott he gets under my skin and drives me crazy! I don’t understand how someone can be so full of themselves. He has to know everyone avoids him like the plague because of his attitude,” I complained.

“Well if he’s full of himself he’s perfect for you; that does seem to be your type”, Nate said slyly.

“Yeah, yeah very funny like I haven’t heard that before, but seriously how do you get along with someone when they’re actively fighting against you? I don’t know what I’ll do if Dr. Giovanni doesn’t give me a different partner”.

“Just be you, maybe you’ll kill each other then problem solved” I shoved Nate.” Okay, okay just think it’s the quickest way this project will end.” Nate paused “seriously you can withstand anything if you know you have an end date”.

I gave Nate a tired look,” basically, grin and bear it”.

“Yup”, Nate said turning on the TV to Scandal and resting his head in my lap.

“How long are you in town for?” I asked, “If you come to Asterisk’s I’ll make sure you’ll drink for free”.

“That sounds amazing but I have to leave tomorrow. I have a class that I can’t miss on Monday. You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to be a successful business owner and a student!” I can’t imagine the pressure, but Henry-Faust is doing amazingly it was gaining worldwide attention and quickly becoming the startup company of the year.

We continued talking for most of the night until Nate fell asleep; once he was in a deep sleep I left him and started to lock down the apartment for the night. I turned off all of the lights and punched in the security code. Nate must have been on the terrace earlier because the door was slightly open. I went to shut and lock the door when I heard a raised voice. Someone was yelling from a few levels below me. Curious to see who it was I walked outside and peered down and saw Elliott on his balcony. His apartment was below mine and slightly to the left. I had a bird’s eye view of him. I stepped closer so I could make out what he was saying into his phone.

“Listen here, I don’t–” he said frustrated.

“I don’t care, she needs…. So we are just dead to you?” He said defeated his voice breaking full of emotion. What was he fighting for?

“Just please show up for her, five minutes of your time would mean the world to her”. Who was she? Since when did Elliot not tap his golden staff and have people running to do his bidding?

The phone call must have ended because Elliot threw his phone to the ground. So it’s clear to say that whoever was on the phone wasn’t going to visit the mystery woman.

He slumped frustrated to the ground and sat with his knees to his head.

Was he crying?

Elliott may be annoying, self-centered and sometimes a complete ass, but I hated seeing people cry; I don’t know why but it makes me want to cry too especially when there is true emotion and pain.

I felt bad I was invading a private moment so I backed up and when inside. I finished locking down the house and decided to go to bed with Nate. I wanted to fall asleep, I wanted to forget what I had heard and seen with Elliott. Was I was judging Elliott too hard? We all had things going on in our private lives; he is no different from the rest of us. The end goal for all the students in the class is to become a doctor. Yes we all are in competition, but we weren’t mean about it like Elliott. He just acts like he thinks he deserves it more than we do.

Whatever, come this time tomorrow I won’t have to think about him again we won’t be partners and we can both go about our merry ways.

Chapter 3 Case Point

Jennifer

“This is how the real world works guys; you’re not always going to like the person you have to work with. My decision is final, you two are my best students and collaboration between you two will be good. Now can I help you with anything else?” Dr.Giovanni questioned directly.

“But, she’s not—” I cut Elliott off.

“No, thank you for your time doctor.” Elliot and I were at school at six am before the doors even opened waiting for Dr.Giovanni. We both tried everything to get rid ourselves of each other, but Dr.Giovanni wasn’t budging.

Crap!

Elliottand I were going to be partners the whole semester, no exceptions. We would work together or we would fail together.

We walked out of Dr.Giovanni’s office in to the hallway.

“Listen Elliott, I don’t want to work with you, just as much as you don’t want to work with me the feeling is mutual. So for the sake of our grades, let’s just try to tolerate each other. Redo?” I was trying to extend an olive branch; maybe we could start over.

Elliott rolled his eyes and walked away.

So no redo.

I yelled to him,” I’ll be in the library until four if you change your mind.”

I know where you live to!

I made my way out of the advisement building and to the library. I was used to cold weather but it was nothing quite like New York in winter. The wind on your face felt like it was trying to beat you to death, and since the campus is so large its easily a fifteen minute walk to the library.

Vvvzzzztttt vvvvzzzztttt

I got a text message from Ralph. He was closing the bar early tonight because a pipe had burst and flooded the bar. Working behind the bar at Asterik’s I started to realize that the building was falling apart. The lights going out, the TV just turning off, the water not heating up and now a flood! I had only been there for a day and I had no idea how the place was still open and not shut down by a building inspector. The place needs re-wiring and re-plumbing a deep clean and a complete refresh of decoration.

Campus was deadly quite on a Saturday. Elliott and I were just lucky (well ultimately unlucky) Dr.Giovanni happened to be in his office on a weekend.

I texted Adam to see how his day was going, since he hadn’t shown up yesterday he was probably busy with work. As I walked into the library I noticed the two tails – my shadows from the organized crime division. It felt like they never rested. If I went out for a run, grocery shopping, walk in the park, school anything they were there. They couldn’t come all the way into the library; there was a public level and a student’s only level you had to have a student ID to access that level.

I love the student area it is decorated with dark wood and individual desks lined in an endless row. This level has a prestigious look and feel to it. It reminds me of Adam’s office in Main House. Often when I am here I think of how many great people have walked this library? Lawyers, doctors, actors, politicians and presidents have all sat within these very walls.

I had the pick of seats as it was nearly empty so I sat at the back out of view from my spy friends. Elliott could show up or not I didn’t care I just wanted to at least start the case study to feel I was making some progress. I pulled out the case study and read it:

Case #1

45 year old white female,

Admitted to hospital – prior to being admitted had been experiencing symptoms for 25 hours.

Possibly pregnant.

Patient reports a pounding headache, fever, throat irritation, fatigue, cough, nausea, dizziness.

Pre-existing conditions: high blood pressure.

I went to work and I came up with some workable ideas on the case. I finished some other homework and reading, by the time I looked up from my books it was night and the library was closing when I looked at the time it was close to midnight. I packed up and started the walk across campus.

I guessed Elliott truly wasn’t interested. If I had his number I would of text him what I found, knowing him he would just fight me on it and it was too late to argue.

I walked in between some office buildings to save time, it had gotten colder. I was a little disappointed I didn’t have work today; I wanted to save to eventually get my own apartment. It wouldn’t be as luxurious has my current abode but it would be completely mine. This is supposed to be my first big step into the real world.

Snap.

What was that?

I turned around, and saw nothing. I haven’t seen anyone since this morning really. Maybe my mind is playing ticks on me. I continued to walked, but this time I felt I eyes on me. I was paranoid; I have been in enough dangerous situations to know when I should listen to my gut. I needed to get back on the main sidewalk with street lights.

No, I should have called campus security to walk me to the main gate. Or called Thomas this morning when I knew I was being tailed!

I quickened my pace and made it to the south lawn I heard footsteps behind me. Ok, I was done trying to act like I wasn’t scared, I was jogging now. I was close to the street, whoever was behind me had heavy footsteps, which meant they are probably bigger than me, if they caught up with me it wouldn’t be much of a fight but I did have my knife.

Almost there; just a little further… I just had to make it to the sidewalk where people were, you wouldn’t rob or kidnap someone with witnesses. The footsteps were getting closer and faster I could hear heavy breathing.

Run!

I ran to the gate wanting to put as much distance between us I made it to the gate and ran straight into someone knocking them to floor and me on top of them.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t—” I started to say.

“Ouch! What the hell is wrong with you?” yelled Elliott. I looked behind me and saw nothing, no one was there? Did my mind make it all up?

“I’m sorry, okay. Its just—“I stopped myself, “Why even bother you don’t care.” I stood back up picking up Elliott’s book and handed it to him, he snatched it out of my hand.

“Why the hell are you running across campus at this time of night?” He said.

“I just came from the library, and I thought I heard—never mind. Why are you here so late?” I asked. Elliot doesn’t give a damn about me or anyone else. Why should I tell him?

Elliott stepped around me scanning the south lawn,” I was around and I needed to drop this book off. Are you dumb? You’re asking for it walking alone in the dark.”

“Yeah whatever, sorry I ran in to you have a good night.” I continued to walk.

“Hey!” Elliott yelled,” Where is your car? The penthouse always gets a complimentary driver.”

I turned around to face him but kept walking backwards, “I don’t use it, the only time I would, would be for an emergency situation.”

He looked like he was debating with himself, he kept looking at me so I stopped walking when he started to walk toward me,” You called it a redo?”

I wasn’t expecting that; genuinely shocked I said, “Yeah, a clean start. I am game if you are.”

Not looking at me and exhaling hand he said, “Okay, for a good grade,” looking me dead in the eyes and getting to close he warned me,” Don’t think for a second, I’m going to let you out shine me. A letter of recommendation from Dr. Giovanni can get you in to any residency program in the world. I won’t let you stop me from getting that, he expects excellences and so do I.”

“Good to know we’re on the same page; nothing’s going to stop me from finding a top residency too. I want it just as bad as you if not more.”

“Sure you do,” Elliott said mockingly.

“Why do you have to be such an ass? Is it so hard to believe that someone else has a dream; that they’re willing to do anything for? I mean really, who goes to medical school just for the fun of it?”

“Whatever, the smartest thing you can do is to start seeing everyone in our class as competition, we are not here to make friends” he said bitterly.

“Not with that attitude you won’t! Just out of curiosity, what will you do when they make you work as a team in your residency? Sabotage everyone and lose the patient. You’ll earn OO7 status really quick, I wonder how long you’ll last then before they kick you out. You have to be a team player.”

“Whatever, walk home I’m not feeling so generous anymore,” he said. What was he going to offer me a ride?

“Don’t worry I was going to anyway. Oh and by the way thanks for showing up today, I figured out the case study. She has strep throat” I said confidently.

“Well you couldn’t be more wrong it’s clearly Pneumonia,” he said throwing up his hands, ” That’s what I will be presenting.”

“WE! Will not be presenting the wrong answer, and you don’t get to just make the calls! Especially the wrong call!”

“It’s Pneumonia!” He yelled.

“No! It’s strep!” I hollered back. This redo was already starting to need another redo.

“It’s Pneumonia! End of discussion that’s what we’re reporting on.” He turned around and walked back towards the gate.

Wait one second I am not going to let him silence me. I can be hard-headed too. I know I’m right this isn’t over.

“Get back here! Elliott!” I said chasing after him. We argued all the way to the library. No one gets under my skin quite like Elliott does. He has the unique ability to make me feel inferior but also stupid. Which I am not! After he dropped off his book we ended up walking home arguing the entire way. We made it to the elevator and I typed in my code for my apartment.

“I can prove you’re wrong, it’s in the fucking textbook! It’s one of the first examples Dr. Giovanni showed us!” I yelled. I was so mad I could feel a headache coming on.

“And I’m telling you! It’s Pneumonia, it would be too easy for him to just give us the answer. That defeats the purpose of the whole case study”.

I wasn’t going to back down from this, “I can prove it I have my text book upstairs.” The elevator doors opened to my apartment and I made a beeline for my bedroom I picked up my textbook and found the page.

Elliott was still standing by the elevator. He looked uncomfortable looking around, with a sense of longing.

“See case in point!” I shoved the book at him.

“This is bullshit it could easily be poisoning then or tonsillitis but both of those are wrong just like your answer”. He said tossing the book back at me and pressing the elevator button to go back down.

“No! If we think like you it could easily be a stroke then!” I yelled.

“Oh my God! Shut up,” He said turning around to face me looking like he wanted to rip all of his hair out, “Just shut up! All you did was look at the textbook. Did you even try looking at other sources because I did, I’m right and that’s what we’re presenting”.

“Uumm hi?”

“Oh so now you’re too good for the book. The book might I add was co-written by Dr.Giovanni! It only makes sense that—” Elliott cut me off.

“Love, I think you need to calm down”.

“That he’s just using the answers in the book. How naive and stupid are you! See this is why I don’t need a partner”.

“Jen?”

“Good thing you do have me,” I said smugly, “It looks like I’m the only thing keeping you from making yourself look like an ass in front of Giovanni and the class!”

“GUYS!”

“WHAT?” We both yelled. I turn my head and saw Nate and Adam.

Ding!

Elevator had arrived to take Elliott away far far away. He got in needing the last word before the elevator close, “Pneumonia,” he said.

“Strep,” I called back.

“Go fuck yourself!” Elliott said.

“FUCK you!” the elevator closed.

I was so mad I was sure steam was radiating off my body. I wanted to scream I wanted to punch something. Elliot’s face would be a great place to start with the punching.

“So that’s Elliott, no luck changing partners then,” Nate said coming to hug me,” It’s okay. It’s going to be fine. I mean how long can he stay—“

I was so frustrated I was in tears,” No no, no! He’s going to mess up everything; everything I’ve worked for! It’s over! It’s over!”

“I don’t think any schooling is worth the amount of stress you’re putting yourself through. Is it that serious?” Adam said.

Was I being dramatic yes, but that is how I truly felt in this moment.

“You wouldn’t understand everyone gets one mental breakdown a semester. Jen’s just having hers now.” Nate said to Adam. I took a couple deep breaths to calm myself down. We still have two days before we had to present, I will think of something to convince Elliott.

“I’m fine! I’m cool. I’m good,” I said mostly trying to convince myself.

“There’s no lying to us, your Bambi eyes tell the real story,” Nate said patting my head.

“He’s right,” Adam said, “Where have you been? Why are you hanging out with this “Elliott”.”

Nate let go of me and walked to the kitchen. Adam took my hand and led me to the couch. “What’s been going on with you?” Adam asked softly.

“School; it will pass.” Laughing I said “It’s too early in the semester for mental breakdowns that’s for finals week.”

Snuggling up against Adam I said,” How’s work?”

“Not nearly as stressful as your day,” Adam kissed my forehead.

“Stop being cute and tell me what exactly you were fighting about?” Nate said coming into the room with three glasses of wine and pizza,” We hate him I know, but why?”

“How long do you have?” I asked.

Chapter 4 Nightmare

Adam

I’ve never cared much for school but after three hours of Jennifer and Nate complaining and shit talking; right not to care. I get that academics are important to them, but is anything worth this amount of stress?

Jennifer doesn’t even need to worry about a career. I understand she wants it, but she doesn’t need it. I left Jennifer and Nate so they could keep talking. Nate wasn’t flat out against me anymore, but I still wasn’t his favorite person. I envied how they just could connect with each other. It wasn’t that long ago Jennifer was worried their friendship wouldn’t last past the move and long distance. But, here we are and if anything she sees him more than me.

I walked out on to the terrace balcony in to the cold night air. I’ve never liked New York, maybe it’s because I was born here so I don’t see it as the fantasy people build it up to be. What was the saying? If you can make it here you can make it anywhere. Bullshit! If anything you learn how to be a hustler and pusher, everyone here was trying to push something on you.

Vvvvzzztttt vvvvzzztttt vvvvzzztttt

Gamila.

I was trying to help Gamila now that she was in California. I think Rodger tried to warn me once about women like her my wallet was a black hole to her. Compared to Jennifer’s spending habits they were night and day. I let her call go to voicemail. Maybe Jennifer was right and she did need to learn to stand on her own two feet. I wasn’t ready to accept that just yet, Gamila needs me, or at least my money. She will always need a keeper, because that’s how she was raised to be.

Small hands covered my eyes, “Guess who?” I turned around and picked up Jennifer,” You’vebeenquiet tonight “. She said.

“I don’t want to get in the middle of your war path,” we kissed and she jumped down.

“Come inside, Nate just left,” she slowly backed up holding my hands.”We have the whole place to our selves”, I followed her liking where this was going.

Vvvvzzztttt vvvvzzztttt vvvvzzztttt

Fuck.

“Go ahead; you probably want to take it out here. I don’t know if my apartment is bugged, but I highly doubt they would be able to hear you over the wind out here”. She stood up on her tip toes kissed me and disappeared back into the apartment.

This had better be important.

It wasn’t Gamila I would have snapped at her, it was Michael.

“What’s up?” I said picking up the phone.

“I’m in town, we need to talk about Joey“, Michael was serious I could tell from his tone which was rare on his part. Since we couldn’t use real names had happened in Colombia.

“Do we need to go visit our friend?” I couldn’t risk saying something important inside of the apartment. When Jennifer first moved here we had to agree on some rules coming back to the States. No specifics on the business, no names, and if it’s important, text only through the phone Brandon gave her. Our normal everyday conversations were fine but anything outside of that we couldn’t risk it.

“We may have to soon, I’ll see you tomorrow text me a place and time and I’ll meet you there.”

“Will do, stay safe”. I hung up. After everything that happened in Mexico, I worried about Michael a little bit more than I had before. After what he and Jennifer had told me it was nothing short of a miracle that he was still alive; all thanks to Jennifer. I would never forget how the Bellefonte almost killed us all. Jennifer stepped up and covered for all of us when I was in my coma .

I looked down at my watch it was three o’clock in the morning. I was starting to feel the day catching up with me. I went back inside and found Jennifer in bed already asleep. She was wearing sexy black lingerie with a garter belt and stockings.

I am a lucky man.

Smiling I took off my clothes and climbed into to bed with her. I pulled the sheets around us and pulled Jennifer close spooning her against me. I always slept well next to Jennifer we fit perfectly together.

Sleep came almost instantly.

I dreamed of us, the life we’re going to have. In my mind I had built our dream house, a magnificent house high on a hilltop, with stunning architectural details throughout. It resembled an English Tudor mansion nestled on over 15 acres of meticulously maintained grounds with a sweeping sunset view. The property would have over 25 rooms of expansive living space. Each room would be unique and have a classic beauty that captures style, sophistication a timeless and gracious feel at every turn. That way Jennifer could have her southern style house combined with my semi modernism.

I’ve had this dream .

“We’re up here!” Jennifer calls out to me. I walk up the stairs to the master bedroom suite. I find Jennifer sitting in the middle of our bed, her back to me. She’s dressed in a long white nightgown. I paused at the door leaning against the door frame.

“How was your day?” She asks.

“Dull, nothing out of the ordinary. What about you?” I ask walking over to Jennifer but when she turns her head my dream becomes a nightmare. Her eyes were bruised closed with black circles, blood runs out of her mouth and her neck it was slit ear to ear.

Smiling Jennifer replies, “I’ve never been better,”

I jump up from my dream in a panic, sweat covered my body. I was trying to catch my breath I looked over to Jennifer’s side of the bed and she was gone.

Fuck.

She left a note on her pillow that read:

Good Morning!

Well probably evening by the time you read this!

I didn’t have the heart to wake you up, so I let you sleep in. If you get hungry or just want some company I’m at Asterik’s. Michael called you a few time he’s in town to. He’ll be at Asterik’s with me, it sounds important but nothing we can’t handle.

I love you!

-Jen

I looked on my phone and saw it was six in the evening. Every time I came back to New York the jet lag throws me off. I’ve never heard of this place, Asterik. I needed to talk to Michael so I need to get moving. I took a quick shower dressed and headed out the door. I had the car brought around and told the driver the name of the place. A few minutes later we pulled up outside a bar. It was a dive bar that didn’t belong in the Upper West Side. It definitely screamed blue collar and crack hole.

I walked in and a girl with fluorescent long blue hair; who was on her phone, greeted me.

“Welcome to Asterik’s do you want to table? Or the bar?” The girl said not looking up.

“I’m looking for a woman,”

“Aren’t we all?” The girl said cutting me off.

“Jennifer Faust,” I didn’t like that she had started using her maiden name. I had gotten used to Caffery on her.

“Oh Jen, yeah she’s in back with Ralph. She’ll be back soon just sit at the bar.” Who was Ralph? And why was she hanging out here? There was only five other people here, I sat at the bar and waited for Jennifer. A few minutes passed with no sign of either Jennifer or Michael.

Where the hell were they?

The lights flickered and then suddenly went out.

“Ralph the power’s out again!” The blue haired girl yelled.

“No shit, Diya!” A man yelled from the back. He walked into the main bar area opened a closet door and started messing with wires.

“Boss, you’re going to electrocute yourself why not cave in and hire an electrician? Instead of a patch up DIY job.” Jennifer said walking out from the back and heading behind the bar counter.

“Or you can make a killing by just letting people watch you try and fail. It’s like a real life episode of Remodeling the Beast,” Michael said.

“Shut the fuck up both of you and start lighting candles,” Ralph barked.

“You got it,” Jennifer said in a chipper tone.

She went into the back and pulled out a box of candles and started setting them up around the bar.

“Adam! Baby, you’re up,” Jennifer came around the bar to me to give me a quick kiss. She called Michael over to sit next to me and went back behind the bar.

“I’m confused,” I said.

“On?” She said still setting up the candles.

With his mouth completely full of fries Michael said, “She’s got a job. I thought for a second you two had broken up and you left her penniless.”

“Why?” I asked still perplexed. I really didn’t understand why she needed a job to begin with. Anything she needed I would gladly get her. This was completely unnecessary and out of all the places to work this is where she picked.

“Because I can’t keep depending on you for everything…. I’ve already paid for my tuition with scholarships and grants you’ve already bought the apartment. The very least I can do is pay for food and other expenses”.

I really didn’t want her working period, but I knew Jennifer well enough to know I would never win on that argument. I guess I understood why she wanted her own independence. If she felt she absolutely had to I’m sure I could find someone that would hire her, but here? No.

Jennifer finished lighting the candles and then leaned over the bar counter and said, “So what will it be?” She gave me her bedroom eyes.

“Something not on the menu”, I whispered in her ear making her blush.

“Surprise me, love,” I said. I turned to face Michael, “What’s happening with Antonio?”

“He’s fucking you over on your shipments again,” Jennifer said handing me a glass of scotch.

“She’s right this is the second time too. How do want to handle this?” Michael waited for my answer.

“I’ll leave you guys to think and talk, wave me down if you need me”. She walked away and checked on the other customers.

“I’ve told her what was happening,” Michael admitted. For some reason he still felt the need to keep Jennifer in the loop about the business.

“Yeah? I said,” What was her plan?”

“You’re not going to like it. Since this is his second offense and he has been very clearly warned, she recommended calling Alejandro. I can’t help but agree with her… Antonio, was pulling this stuff when you were in your coma and it stopped when we made a showed force. If word gets out, that you can short-change the Caffery’s what’s to stop our other suppliers from doing the same? You like Antonio I know but it’s time to put your foot down.”

“I’ll think of something… How much are we short?” I asked. “A third,” Michael said,” some of it was cut too.”

Antonio must have a death wish! I want to try diplomacy before we just start killing people, but if it came down to it and I had to I would. The next big shipment would be in November.

“How long are you in town?” I questioned.

“A week, I’m taking Mom to the opera on Saturday. You and Jennifer should come,” I scratched my neck at that; we haven’t had a proper date since Jennifer started school. We agreed school comes first for her like the business comes first for me. I would love for things to go back to the way they were during her gap year; just us and all the time in the world. Things would change once she finished school.

Right?

“Maybe, we’ll see,” I sipped my drink and watched Jennifer. She has always been personable, it’s one of the many reasons I fell for her. She genuinely wants to get to know people on a personal level and if you ever need anything she would give the shirt off her back if you needed it. That worries me, because the majority of people aren’t good. Especially, people like me. I just don’t want a repeat of what happened in Rome.

“You good?” Jennifer asked refilling my drink.

“Never been better,” I said.

Chapter 5 Both Wrong

Jennifer

I woke up next to Adam, who was still fast asleep. He was still trying to get use to the time difference. Adam was stressed after Michael told him about Antonio. Michael had told me why Adam kept using Antonio. Apparently they go way back to when Adam first took over the business. Antonio was his first international contact, Michael had said without Antonio supplies Adam could never have gotten the business off the ground. I understand loyalty is important but at a certain point Adam has to see Antonio is cheating him- undermining his position.

Adams hair was a mess in morning his soft dark curls were untamable; I loved it. I bushed his hair back out of his face and kissed his cheek.

I needed to finish the case report, which meant meeting Elliott. I needed to suit up for round two so I showered and got ready for the day. I settled on leggings and a hoodie I didn’t have work again because Ralph refused to get an electrician he almost started a fire yesterday.

I walk into the kitchen and found Michael, “Hey, where’s breakfast?”

“Good morning to you too! I’ve just woken up and I don’t have time to make you breakfast today, I have homework to do.” Other than a granola bar and coffee I didn’t have time for a sit-down breakfast anymore.

“Why the hell am I here then!” Michael yelled.

“Ssssshhhh, Adam is still sleeping! You can have something delivered.”

Pouting Michael said, “Fine, but I expect dinner, it is Sunday after all.”

“Maybe, I have to get my homework done,” I said walking into the elevator. I was sayingthat a lot recently. I hated feeling like I let people down, but I truly just don’t have the time like I did before. I wasn’t trying to blow off the friends I have. It’s just I guess I need better time management skills. Every time I had to tell Michael no I know it hurt his feelings I mentally told myself I would pay him back I just didn’t know when.

I went down to the lobby hoping that they could call Elliott’s apartment for me. We really need to exchange numbers. Once in the lobby I went to look for Charles he was the attending concierge in the morning.

“Morning Charles, can you do me a favor?” I asked.

“For you, I’ll make an exception. What do you need?” Charles said with a smile.

“Can you call Elliott Winters apartment? I don’t have his number and we have this project for school we have to finish today.”

“That I can do, but he not here you just missed him.”

Damn it.

“Thanks anyway,” I said. I was ready to just write my own report and present my findings when I had an idea.

Brandon.

If I gave him Elliott’s name could he track him down? As creepy as that was, it was the final hour and we needed to agree on something. I went and sat in the lounge area and called Brandon he picked up immediately.

“What’s up?” He said clearly working on something I could hear him typing at his computer.

“Could you find somebody? If I gave you a name” I asked almost at a whisper.

“Yeah, who and why?” He stopped typing he was interested.

“His name is Elliott Winters; we have a project due tomorrow that we haven’t even started and I have no idea where he’s at. I’m in full panic mode, I need to find him or I take an F.” I explained.

“No problem, I’ve been there before except I always waited to the last minute. I’m kind of shocked that you have.” Brandon said.

“Yeah, I know we’ve talked about it, not even talked about it; argued like cats and dogs. Now is not the time to fight now is the time to actually have something to present for Monday.”

Chuckling Brandon said, “You want to know where he lives?”

“No, I know that he lives in my apartment building on the 6th floor. I need to know where he’s at right now,” I said.

“That’s easy,” I heard him type and less than two minutes later he said,” Looks like he’s at Kettering Hospital”.

“Oh shit, is he ok?” I asked. I didn’t like Elliot but I didn’t want him in the hospital.

“He hasn’t checked in so he could be visiting someone. Speaking of visits Kairi misses you dearly.”

“I miss her too! We are going to spend every day together during break. I know I’m missing some mommy and me teas” Kairi, I’m not going to lie it was hard to go from primary caregiver for Kairi back to backup babysitter. After the Bellefonte attacks I became anything and everything that the business needed me to be, as well as trying to take care of the family.

“I have to get to work if I want any hope of sleeping tonight. Good luck with your man hunt.” Then he hung up.

Kettering Hospital.

I did a quick Google search of where the hospital was, it was almost a 45-minute walk. I was definitely going to have to take the train. Elliott may be visiting someone but at least if we can agree on one thing, I’ll count that as a success. It may not reflect in my grade but I’ll take the small wins.

I headed up stairs and packed up my backpack with my textbooks, laptop and notebooks. I left Adam a note letting him know where I was going. I think Michael must have gone back to bed.

I was packed up and ready to go.

Thirty minutes later I was stepping inside the hospital. The place was huge and I just wondered around until I found the main reception help desk. I asked the nurse at the front desk for Elliott. She typed his name into the computer and said I needed to head up to the cancer ward room 127.

The fuck! Did Elliott have cancer? Is that why he was such a douche? Was he dying? I could perhaps forgive some of his mannerisms…

I took the elevator to the cancer ward; I made my way to room 127. Elliott wasn’t there, a frail, very pale woman with a rag tied around her bald head sat upright in a bed.” Are you a new nurse?” She asked me weakly.

“No ma’am, I’m sorry to disturb you I think I may have the wrong room. I’m looking for Elliott Winters; a nurse told me I could find him here… she must have been mistaken.”

The woman lit up instantly,” Yes,” she said with a smile,” I told him to go get some breakfast he’ll be back soon. Sit, please. I never get any visitors other that Elliott.”

I sat next her,” I’m Jennifer or Jen for short”. I extended my hand for a handshake she took it and said,” Elena, I’ve heard a lot about you, you’re in Elliott’sclass.”

Elliot talks about me?

“Classes and I live in the same apartment as Elliott. I basically see Elliott more than my own family.” Which was true I saw Elliott more than Adam and my parents.

“You two are friends?” She said hopeful.

I was not going to kill Elena’s hope,” Yep,” I think I puked a little on the inside, “We’re partners in class. We have this case study exercise were we have to present our joint findings on various cases and write a paper due tomorrow. Unfortunately we both let our tempers get in the way and we haven’t even started really.”

“He’s always been that way, very strong willed. I should know I am too.”

No.

“You’re too young to be Elliott’s mom! Especially, to someone who’s in their 20s”. I said in disbelief, she had to have had Elliott in her early teenage years.

That made Elena smile she turned into an instant girly girl.”Thank you, I try.” She ran her hand over the rag on her head as if she was going to toss her hair back. She was sad again when she realized there was no hair.

“Did they recently cut your hair?” I asked,” I’m sorry if that’s too personal, I’ll shut up.”

“No, no its not, if anything I appreciate your bluntness. As soon as you have the word cancer slapped on you everyone wants to handle you with kid gloves. You have no idea how annoying it is. I made the first big cut a year ago but I still miss it.”

“Wigs? Then you can shake your hair all night long if you got one,” I said.

“I could, it’s just… I don’t know,” Elena said quietly, she quickly changed the subject.”What is this project you an Elliott are working on exactly?”

“A case study, he thinks the person has Pneumonia and I say its strep,” I pulled out my laptop and showed her the PDF file.

“I don’t have my glasses but, does that say 67 pages? Some light reading.” She chuckled.

“You should see the next one, two hundred pages.” I told Elena about the symptoms and my reason for thinking why it was strep.

“Sounds like the flu,” she said.

“Actually, that was in my top three for choices, I’m just sure it’s not Pneumonia.”

“What the hell are you doing here?” Elena and I both jumped slightly turned towards the door to see Elliott.

He was pissed.

“Hey pal, we still have a project to do.” I said standing and crossing my arms.

“Elliott manners! What has gotten into you?” Elena said mortified.

If had to go on a guess hell.

“Mom she is… But, how did you find me?”

Uuummm shit that is a good question I had just come here on autopilot not actually thinking ahead. My boyfriend’s/husband’s brother who is a computer genius hacker tracked your phone. That’s definitely not okay…

“The driver… I like to talk to people in the building, all I had to do was ask,” look at me lying.

“That’s a breach in privacy, I could–” Elliott started to say.

“Elliott don’t be that way”, Elena reached for Elliott’s hand he pushed me out of the way to get to her.

Asshole.

“I’m happy you’re making friends I worry so much about you, monkey. Go do your homework, I’m fine”.

“Actually, Elena I think you’re right about it being the flu. That’s a happy median; we’re both wrong,” Elliott looked back at me with murder in his eyes, “Mother knows best”.

Elliott grabbed me by my arm roughly pulled me out the door, “Hey! Let go! Elena it was nice meeting you!” With sad eyes she waved goodbye to me. Elliott dragged me down the hall and pushed me against the wall, blocking me in with his arms.”What do you want,” he said through gritted teeth.

“I want to do our project, I want an A just as bad as you,” I said standing my ground.

“So you use my mother! My terminally sick mother!” Elliott yelled in my face.

“I didn’t know you were visiting your mother in the hospital. I was looking for you!” I tried pushing back but he kept me in place. I knew from my training from Thomas how to get out of the situation but I didn’t want to cause a sceen or give him a reason to question me.

“Bullshit! Who are you going to sell the story to? The Times; The Post. If you breathe one word–” Elliot threatened.

“I don’t know why I would sell something to the newspapers. I’m not a reporter you know that,” I said.

“Money, fame I don’t know I won’t let you use her!”

“I have no such intention, I was looking for you!” He looked deep in my eyes; he was so close I could smell the musk of his cologne.

“Okay, I believe you” he said backing away.

I set my backpack on the ground to pull out my notebook. I found the page of notes for the flu and handed it to Elliott,” I think Elena is right these are my notes on the flu. Take a picture on your phone. I can write the paper and do the presentation.”

“I don’t need your charity, “Elliott said.

“It’s not charity I expect you to do the next one. You still have to carry your weight its shared effort. On the third case study we’ll split the work.” I was still holding out my notebook to him, “Take it.”

Surprisingly he did.

“When I finish the paper I’ll send it to you before I turned it in. Same with the PowerPoint presentation slides and script .” He took some pictures and handed my notebook back. I shoved my notebook back in my backpack and put it back on,” I’ll see you in class”. I turned and walked out of the building. I was making my way back to the train when I heard,” Hey! Hey wait a minute,” it was Elliott running after me. I stopped and waited for him to catch up.

Out of breath Elliott said, “Hey, don’t–“

“Go tell the whole world, I know that. It takes a sick fuck to use someone like that. Your business is your own. I just need you to show up in class for me.”

“Good,” there was an awkward pause, “Thank you, I appreciate it.”

“No problem, it’s one of the perks of being partnered with the smartest person in class,” I said jokingly.

“I know it is good to be partnered with me,” Elliott said.

“Whatever,” I said backing away.

I made it back home where I found Adam was still asleep and Michael was gone. I spent the whole day working on the project in the living room. My mind kept wandering back to Elliott and Elena. I had a hundreds questions: How long has Elena had cancer? What kind of cancer? What her cancer really terminal? Why did Elliot think I was going to run to the tabloids? Why was this his first thought? Was Elliott trying to deal with this all by himself? Was the phone call the other day about Elena?

When I finally finished, I emailed everything to Elliott, I also sent him my phone number.

I wanted to call it a day and mind my own business, but I was curious about Elliott. I Google searched Winters Real Estate the family business. I found Elliott’s Dad website and found the basics about his family.

Strange…

On the history part of the page I saw Elliott’s Dad, Matthew and his wife Loreen. There was no mention of Elena. There were two other people listed, their kids, Marissa and Carrie. No Elliott.

I continued to search but this time Matthew Winters and Elena.

Jesus.

Thousands of new articles mostly gossip site with flashy titles; TMZ would be proud. I settled on a halfway reliable resource the Manhattan Girl Gossip blog. It read:

Hello My Beautiful Readers.

Guess what we have today!

We all know who the Winter’s are, we all would sell our first born children just to see one of their extravagant sample houses.

But, that’s not why we’re talking about them today, no!

We have exclusive proof about all those rumors years ago.

Manhattan was shocked overnight when the powerful Matthew Winters allegedly had an affair with Elena Casper. Two weeks before he was to marry Loreen Cheswick.

What made us faint was Elena was only 17 and allegedly pregnant!

I think I found the secret baby see below for pictures.

I scrolled down to see if they actually had a picture of Elliott, they didn’t there was just a photo of some model on a runway.

“Hey,” I jumped and turned to face Adam, he only had on pajama pants.

“Give me a heart attack why don’t you!” He wrapped me in his arms and pulled me in for a slow mind numbing kiss. With his forehead against mine he said, “How was your day?”

“Productive, I just finished the first case study; I have to present it tomorrow but I am feeling quite confident. You should come; I can let you know about the exciting world of having the flu. How did you sleep?” I asked.

“Good until, I saw you weren’t in bed,” he looked over to my laptop,” Manhattan Girl Gossip? Anything good happening?” He said chuckling.

“No. Honestly it’s research on my study partner. I’m trying to see what his deal is,” Adam read a couple lines then said, “The Winters- Cute.” Adam walked over to the Keurig machine and made himself a cup of coffee.

“You know them?” I asked.

“Money knows money,” he said sipping his coffee,” Something about an affair, I’ve heard it come up in conversation before. I never really paid attention to the social climbers.”

Laughing I said, “Yeah, I think you two run in different circles. One will kill you for beachfront property the other is selling contraband on that beach front property.”

“Damn right, my mom would probably know them better I am sure they have rubbed shoulders at charity events.” he paused for a moment and then said,” Let’s go to a beach,” he came back around to me and wrapped me in his arms from behind,” Just a day of you me and a private Villa in Greece.”

“That sounds wonderful but I can’t, I know that’s not what you want to hear, but I can’t”, I turned around to face him,” I’m the top student in all of my classes I don’t want to lose that status. Especially since Dr Giovanni could end up writing me a letter of recommendation for my residency.”

I remember what Dr. Pellegrini said to me when we were taking care of Adam in his coma. She said look her up when I’m looking for a residency. I would love to study under her, everyday would be different, I would definitely get more hands-on experience under her I would be closer to Adam, but at the same time I wanted to stay at Columbia for the normality.

“I know, just seeing if I could tempt you you’re too smart for that.” Adam gave me a quick kiss and said, “I can wait until your break then we can go to Athénée,” He tightened his arms around me,” we could see the new renovated Royal Suite.

“You don’t have to show me Greece or some fancy hotel you can literally show me your state. The state you were born and raised in New York. I haven’t gone anywhere but school, Asteriks and this apartment,” He frowned at that.

“There’s nothing to see except pretentious snobs and backstabbers. Now Greece on the other hand…” I tuned Adam out as he talked about Greece. I’m really wished Adam would show me the city. I showed him everything in St Louis; why didn’t he want to do the same? He wanted to take me across the world, I literally just wanted to see my current home the normal tourist sites like the Empire State Building. It knew it was only a couple blocks away too.

When I get some free time I’d have to go see it myself.

Or maybe Elliott would?

Chapter 6 London

Jennifer

A few months went by and Elliott and I were killing it as partners. All we needed to do was stop the petty fighting. Did we both have annoying habits? Yes. Did we completely stop fighting? Hell no, but we kept each other on point and focused our competitiveness. Dr. Giovanni was so impressed he decided to let us attend a conference with him. Since Elliott and I both worked in his lab and were his top students it only makes sense. The conference was in London at Henry-Faust over Thanksgiving break. Adam was happy about that, no more seven-hour flights for a week. Plus, I would see Nate and my parents.

When I was packed and ready to head to the airport, I called an Uber. I told Adam I was happy to fly with everyone else especially, now that I had some money saved from bartending. I always made good money with tips.

Adam insisted on me flight private and I caved, at least I would get to talk to Anna again. With my rolling luggage I got into the elevator and made my way downstairs. When I made it to the lobby and saw Elliott waiting by the door.

Didn’t his flight leave in fifteen minutes?

“Hey, everything ok? Aren’t you supposed to be at the airport?” I asked.

Exhaling hard he said, “Yes, but all the drivers are out because of the craziness of the holidays.”

“You could fly with me? It’s quicker and we could work on the last two case studies,” I said texting the pilot to add Elliott’s name to the manifesto.

“What you have a private plane?” He said laughing.

“My husband dose, so in a way yes.” My Uber was here.

“Wait, what? Since when?” Elliott said in disbelief.

“Do you want a lift or not? I’m not going to keep the driver waiting,” I walked to the car and greeting the driver, I threw my luggage in the trunk of the Honda civic andyelled back to Elliot, “Are you coming?” He nodded. Once Elliott got his bags in the car the driver took off.

Elliott and I sat in silence until he said, “You aren’t married? A sugar daddy may feel like a husband but I guarantee you he’s not.”

I held up my ring finger and said ,”Are you sure because it feels like it,” chuckling I continued,” I see you five days a week for 7 hours, for the past 4 months and you haven’t noticed a giant ring on my finger? That’s terrible observation skills, your patients will suffer if you don’t improve.”

“I am going to be the best, make no mistake about that”.

We sat in silence again.

“How is Elena doing?” I asked.

“Fine,” Elliott looked out the window, this conversation was going nowhere.

When we reached the airport I told the driver to drive onto the tarmac. I swiped in my ID and in less than five minutes later we were in front of the plane Anna was standing outside to greet us. I got my luggage, said hello to Anna and boarded the plan.

“Bitch!”

“Nate!” I hadn’t seen Nate in almost three months but we talked nonstop.

I ran to him wrapping him in a big bear hug, we always acted like we hadn’t seen each other in years when in reality I talked to him just this morning.

“Who are you?” Nate said to Elliott.

“Elliott Winters, who are you?” Elliott said extending his hand.

“Nathaniel Henry, Nate is fine,” They shook hands.

I threw my luggage in the overhead compartment and went to sit down, Nate sat next to me and we started talking. Elliott sat across from us watching us talk.

“I’m sorry but is no one going to acknowledge the fact that Nathaniel Henry is sitting on a plane with us? He is ranked in the nation’s top 30, under 30 overnight billionaire success and pioneer into researcher of CRISPR DNA.”

That made Nate very happy, the company may have been given to him but he made it every bit the success it was today, with the help of my Dad Nate was unstoppable.

“Oh go on, I love it when people sing my praises,” Nate said proudly.

The captain came on the speakers and said we were about to take off.

“You two are friends?” Elliott asked. I should be offended by the way he said it but I chose to ignore it.

“Jen’s my ride or die – main bitch, I would be lost without her,” Nate said proudly,” Plus, she’s the face of my company and an executive board member.”

Elliot was dumbfounded that never happened.

“I’m not the face of your company just because Josh took a couple photos,” Nate wanted Josh to feel included on his business venture so Josh was taking all the pictures for the company and handling all of the artsy PR things. He was slowly starting to make a name for himself. The art show Josh entered ended up pushing back the date until May because they had to find a bigger venue. People were that crazy about Josh’s work.

“You’re the Faust in Henry-Faust?” Elliott said.

“Yep,” I said.

“The press would love to know about you,” Nate said hopeful.

“You know that can’t happen,” Nate was basically a celebrity. He was joining the ranks of Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Bill Nye; which is where he belongs. He really wanted me to do appearances- I couldn’t. Being with Adam was amazing I love him, but there are certain sacrifices, we both have to make; this is just one of mine.

“Why? Why not milk the publicity for everything its worth?” Elliott said.

“Some people just want their privacy, not everything needs to be shared with the public,” I said looking Elliott in the eyes.

I had done a ton of research on Elliott and the Winter’s family in the past months. The tabloids didn’t have the whole picture but after meeting Elena I had a pretty clear picture of what had happened. Elliott’s father had a mistress, Elena. I don’t think Elena is a home wrecker, I think she was young, in love and got pregnant. Matthew Winters took advantage of her; he was 20 years older than her and richer than God himself; that had to be what happened. That left Elena and Elliot to be the unwanted and easily forgotten mistakes but the scandal on the family. No one blames the man who slept with a seventeen year old they blame the women, and label her as a seductress and push her into a corner of shame.

Shame that I can see in Elliott eyes in the right moments, like now. He of all people understands the media’s backlash.

Nate knew why I could never go public with him as soon as they saw me people would start digging in to me. I already had tails from the organized crime division to the DEA’s office. I did not need reporters too. That’s why all the photos Josh took never showed my face.

“Yeah, I get that” he agreed quietly.

I changed the conversation, “So, is everyone ready for finals?”

“Took mine already, this semester has just about killed me it was too much!” Nate proclaimed. We were all complaining and laughing that I lost track of time. This was one of the first times I had seen Elliott just relax. Maybe it was the wine we were drinking or the fact that Nate had a calming presence about him. If Elliott was like this more often he would have more friends.

“We have one final after the break but it’s just a lab,” I said.

“And after Dr .Giovanni presents his findings we don’t have a lab to work in anymore,” Elliott said.

“I heard from Becca that professor Winfield is looking for people. Plus, are you really sad that we won’t have to study water consumption levels in GMO’s.” I said.

“Not really, I like Dr. Giovanni, even though the research we were doing was boring he made it a lot of fun. That was until someone ruined a day’s worth of work by “cleaning up the station”.”

“Well maybe, if you kept your station clean every once in a while I wouldn’t think important research was trash,” I countered.

“I literally walked away for 3 seconds!” Elliott snapped, “Then we had to start logging in and out of the lab.”

“That’s a safety thing !” I shouted back,” If someone goes across the street at night for a cup of coffee and never comes back at least the person who checks in, in the morning would see!”

“When do you care about safety? Walking the streets in the middle of the night…”

“Well logging in and out would pick up if someone was missing!”

“That’s a stupid reason – don’t put yourself in danger in the first place, use the car! That’s what it’s there for!” He said leaning forward in my face.

I leant back,”Don’t you tell me what to do!”

“Un-freakin’-believable”, he threw his hands up and went to the back of the plane, “You are the most annoying person I have ever had to deal with! You’re like a tumor I can’t get rid of!”

I stood up and faced him, “Fuck you Elliott! I’d rather have a tumor then deal with you! Give me a plague anything but you!” I sat down in my seat I was breathing hard trying to calm myself down.

“The make-up sex must be amazing,” Nate said leaning into me whispering quietly,” I’ve never seen you get so angry so quickly. He’s the guy from the apartment! Now, I remember”.

Gritting my teeth I said, “Yes, that is Elliott, and for a second he was an okay person. I don’t know why I let him get under my skin so much. Even when Adam fucking kidnapped me I don’t think I reached burn-the-whole-place-down anger.”

“He is cute and not head of a criminal shady organization”.

“Don’t even think about it, I am happily married,” I said smiling at Nate.

“I’m going to go talk to him, I already like him a hell of a lot more than Adam,” Nate stood up and I grabbed his hand.

“Why? You’re my friend! Judas” I said.

“Relax, maybe you can’t see a good thing in front of you but I can, plus when I open up an office in New York I’ll need good workers -he could be one. I know I already have you.” Nate shook me off and went to sit next to Elliott.

I didn’t keep secrets from Nate, but I didn’t tell him about Elena or my research into the Winter’s family. Even though Elliott drove me absolutely crazy, even I had a line I couldn’t cross.

I texted Adam, once I took my last exam we would have almost two months together.

Jen: Hey! Are you still coming to the conference? We could go to dinner afterwards. It’s finally my turn to wine and dine you.

Adam: Hey love, I can’t tonight I’m still in Kabul. But, Monday I can.

Jen: Afghanistan?! Isn’t that dangerous?

Adam:The news makes it look worse than what it is Kabul is safe.

Jen: Not for what you’re doing…

I got a FaceTime ring – I accepted.

“It’s heartwarming you care, but I’ve been to Afghanistan when the Taliban was still in charge. I’m still here.”

My face fell,” Were you dealing with…”I couldn’t even finish the sentence… Adam wouldn’t.

“Yes, I’ve dealt with a lot of people, everyone has their cause, who am I to judge?” He said this so nonchalantly.

“Who are you to judge? Adam! That’s sick. You know what happens when you sell and buy from them you’re helping fund terrorists! People who kill and suppress…” I didn’t have words my words stuck into my throat.

“Love calm down, it’s not that big of a deal,” He said.

Monster.

I turned away from my phone I couldn’t look at him, how could he? No amount of money was worth that. “You were born in New York, you’re an American! No, you’re a human being. How could you?”

“It’s just business, if I grew a conscience there would be no one to trade with, love. The world it’s more complicated than you think.”

“Don’t you insult me I am not a child! Is making a quick buck more important than the thousands of lives you know they’re going to take? The soldiers they’re going to kill! I think anyone could see that’s just wrong,” I was disgusted by him. I couldn’t talk anymore. I had to hang up.

My phone was going crazy with texts and phone calls; I just took the battery out and sat trying to process my thoughts. Adam is not a stupid man he should be able to tell right from wrong..

Can I really get mad at him? Am I no better? My apartment, my ring, this plane it’s all paid for with blood money.

“Why is your boyfriend texting me?” Nate said sitting down next to me,” What’s wrong?”

Adam’s not the stupid one I am, I never took the time to think about all the people Adam does business with. How could I have blocked that out of my mind, this isn’t a business! This is wrong on so many levels.

“You’re scaring me say something,” Nate urged.

“He sells to terrorists,” I think my mind went into shock.

“Yes? Was this supposed to be a surprise?” Nate said.

“He sells to terrorists! Nate it’s the bad people. The–” I was going to be sick. I ran to the bathroom.

Nate held my hair back.

Trying to lighten the mood Nate said,” Well what did you expect? The first night you met him he killed somebody! He was never Prince Charming to begin with.”In between breaths and tears I begged,” Not now” I can’t take any more truths right now.

I spent the rest of the flight hugging the toilet.

Chapter 7 Dream Big

Jennifer

The conference went well, Elliott and I ended up having to clean up but that didn’t take long. After we packed Dr. Giovanni’s research away Elliott and I had nothing else to do. I didn’t want to talk to Adam, yet.

By the time we had finished and walked outside it was getting late. I just wanted to go and lay down and luckily the hotel the school put us in was right down the street. Since Nate was here about 80% of the time I have come to visit him a lot; so London wasn’t exciting anymore.

“Where are you going?” Elliott asked.

“Back to the hotel,” I said stretching.

“We’re in London, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and you want to stay in the hotel. I know you got sick on the plane but suck it up Faust you’re so boring”.

“I am not!” I shouted, rolling my eyes and said,” Whatever Elliott it’s been a shitty day. I don’t need you adding to it,” I said walking away back to the hotel. Every time I walked alone I got the strange feeling I was being watched. It felt like that late night on campus where someone is 2 feet away from you, but nothing ever happens. I started to chalk it up to paranoia.

I made it back to my room at the Holiday Inn I saw someone had brought me flowers– tulips. I walked to the counter all ready knowing who they were from. I read the card:

I know you are mad, but please talk to me. I can explain.

-A

I threw away the card and picked up the flowers.

How many people died for these?

Was it stupid of me to know in the back of my mind this whole business dealt with bad people. I just didn’t think terrorists. Was I hypocrite for drawing a line in the sand when I’ve already crossed it. I headed to the garbage can down stairs. The flower bouquet was beautiful and under any other circumstances I would have kept them, not today. I made it to the lobby, I noticed Elliott when I stormed past.

“Someone is in the dog house,” Elliott said laughing to himself,” Wait where are you going with those?”

“To the trash out back, if you must know,” I said flippantly.

“Are you crazy?” He took the vase from me, “These are Saffron crocus! Each bulb costs at least a thousand dollars!”

“Wonderful, you keep them then”. I pushed the arrangement into Elliot’s hands. I needed a drink and one I didn’t have to make so I went in search of the hotels bar. Once I found it I sat at the bar with a large glass of white wine.

A thousand dollars for something that was going to die.

Rich people.

“It must be an awfully big fight,” I turned to see Elliott still holding the vase of flowers. He set them down and ordered a beer.

Taking a slip of my wine I said,”You have no idea”. We sat in silence, this time the silence was ok – just sitting. The only person I can complain to is Nate and I don’t want to hear,’ I told you so’.

Breaking the silence Elliott said,” My dad used to do the same thing to my mom, if they ever had a fight or had a disagreement. The next day the house would be full of flowers and more empty promises,” Elliott finished his beer and ordered another one.” If he’s wrong call him out on his bullshit, stand your ground. You call me out every day.” I ordered another glass of wine.

“Its–“I started to say.

“Do not say it’s complicated – You’re just lying to yourself,” Elliott turned to face me.

“Why are you being nice to me? Nine out of ten times you hate me,” I turned to face him.

He shrugged his shoulders, “Hate is a strong word, you annoy me to no end and the thought of another three years is madding, but you did fly me here.”

“Just trying to play it forward. Got it.”

We went back to silence.

“I wish someone told my mom what I just told you. It would have saved her a lot of heartbreak,” He finished his beer and walked out of the bar leaving the flowers behind.

I wouldn’t win a fight with Adam, what had my mother said…”You have to accept all of him”,

I settled my bill and headed back to my room, Elliott’s room was right across the hall from mine.

Fuck it! If Adam couldn’t see that selling to know terrorist was wrong that’s his problem. That is his business.

I knocked on Elliott’s door he answered,” Yeah?”

“I’ll show you all the best places in London if you’ll show me New York when we get back home. Your right for once, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, I don’t plan on missing it,” I said.

“What are you a hermit? We live in New York that’s not new.”

“I’ve only been to about three places. Your naive and London had become my second home recently. What do you say, deal?”

Elliott thought it over for a second,” Sure why not, let me get my coat. I’ll meet you in the lobby”. We were dressed business casual, Elliott in black business pants and a white long sleeve button shirt and I had on a knee high, short sleeve, black business dress with low heels. My mom called this dress my I Love Lucy dress because of its 50’s style.

I went and got my coat too, then found Elliott in the lobby.

I showed Elliott all the tourist hot spots the London Eye, Big Ben, Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge.

It was fun hanging out with Elliott, surprisingly! He can be goofy and funny, because we started our adventure so late most things weren’t open. It was still nice to see everything lit up.

“We should do a ghost hunting tour tomorrow!” Elliott shouted. Under the asshole persona I was finding out Elliott wasn’t that bad.

“You believe in ghosts?” I said sarcastically.

“And you believe in God, we both subscribe to the unknown,” Elliott said. We were just walking aimlessly down a cobbled street.

“There the asshole is, I was starting to get worried. Why do you have to ruin a good time?” I asked.

“Force of habit; Sorry”.

“Accepted, I wasn’t trying to attack you, if anything I wanted you tell me why.”

“Fair point, I don’t know there’s no proof really if they do or don’t exist. You have better odds of being right if you believe. Plus it’s interesting.”

“Thank you for trying,” I said stopping to face him, he stopped too.

“That’s all we can do,” How many times had I said that.

“What was the fight about?” Elliott asked.

I continued to walk choosing my words carefully I answered, “Morals,” I couldn’t flat out tell Elliott but the basics would be fine,” Sometimes you have to do the right thing, not the easy thing that will result in making you filthy rich, especially if it hurts the world around us.”

“When it comes down to it, it’s all about money. You won’t win against that,” Elliott said.

“I know that, but I don’t have to accept it, wrong is wrong. I guess its shame on me for accepting it for so long.”

“No, not shame on you, its shame on him! What’s his name anyway?” Elliott asked.

“Adam. Adam Caffery,” I said.

“But, you use your maiden name? The only thing my dad gave my mom is her last name. It gives us power”.

“Now you are thinking like Adam, I don’t need the power of old names. I’m a force of nature by myself, unbreakable. If I lost everything right now, I know I could stand on my own two feet and make it to the next day, there is power in that”.

“You’re weird… You are an original founder of Henry-Faust you live in one of the most sought-after apartments in the United States, but you’re on scholarships and work at uumm….”

“Asteriks and I make damn good money. I finally have enough to get my own apartment,” I said happily.” How do you know I’m on scholarship?”

“When I was a freshman I used to work in one of the offices on campus. They gave me a login that gave me access to all student files. It still works so I looked you up.”

“I don’t know if that’s an honor or if I should be creeped out, but if we are being honest I have Google searched you,” I looked to him; there was worry in his face.

“What did you find?”

“A lot of gossip sites. Your dad is clearly a big deal,” Elliott clenched his fists,” He’s a cold SOB- I put together the story from Elena and a hundred other tabloid sites. You’re the illegitimate child Matthew Winters and Elena Kessler”.

“You can’t–“

“Tell anyone? I would never. Your business is your business,” I said.

We walked in silence for a bit before Elliott said,” So why are you on scholarship and working? Your husband must be rich to put you in that apartment and Henry-Faust is a billion-dollar organization”.

“Henry-Faust is Nate baby, he’s done all the work he should get all the rewards. As for my husband he was born into money, his job was given to him, he’s earned his fortune. I will earn mine too, I will work for the things I will earn what I have and want. I don’t need a hand outs”.

“So you work. I get that, I tried going solo once, but it’s damn expensive to live”.

Exhaling hard I said, “I know! Nate and I were going to go dancing once but we looked up the entrance fee $50! Do you know what $50 could get me if I was back home in Missouri; that’s a full tank of gas and I still have some spending money!”

Elliott laughed hard, “Settle down old-timer, when we’re doctors the price tags won’t matter as much.”

“I am living for that day. Do you know what your specialty is going to be yet? I asked.

“Oncology, I’m going to do everything in my power to find a cure,” that broke my heart a little. He was going to find a cure for his mother,” What about you?”

“Trauma surgeon, I’m good in stressful situations”. After, everything I’ve been through my dad said I would be perfect for the Army. My mom would kill me if I ever joined, plus, I’m not Army strong.

“If I ever get shot your top of the list for shooting, but also take me to your hospital,” Elliott said.

Smiling I said,” I hope to live to see the day when you find a cure. I’ll be standing in the ER telling everyone,’ I knew that guy!’.

“I don’t think we’ll be able to get rid of each other that easily. Don’t you want to do your residency at Columbia?”

“Hell yeah! But, the big dream is–” I cut myself off. Was I really going to tell Elliott my hopes and dreams things I hadn’t even told Nate.

“Go on, No stopping now” Elliott said.

Why not? It wasn’t like he was going to tell people.

“My big dream is to open a hospital in East St.Louis I know it’s a fairly tale at this point, but hey they say dream big.”

“Well why can’t you? That’s awesome, isn’t East Saint Louis super dangerous? Like they beat Chicago every year as far as their murder and death rates,” Elliott said pulling out his phone to fact check himself.

“It depends on the year really, it always seems like we’re fighting for that number one spot.”

“So do it, Fuck anyone who tells you that you can’t.

“But, I got married you have to learn to compromise if you want it to work,” I said thinking back to Galway.

Annoyed Elliot said, “That’s not what marriage is, compromise isn’t giving up your dream if anything it’s the two of you working together to fulfill your dreams.”

My stomach growled.

“Hungry?” Elliott said.

“Starving, I know a place that has great free food,” I said crossing the street,” Let’s go!”

Elliott ran behind me until we made it back to Henry-Faust headquarters.

“Really? I was expecting a real place,” Elliott said staring up at the building.

“This is a real place, come on”.

I signed us in and we made our way to the kitchen, Elliott was staring at every little thing with a smile.

When we made it to the kitchen it was pitch black tracing my hands on the walls I found the light switch, but I couldn’t find it in the common area, this would have to do.

“So what will it be?” I asked wiping down the counter and pulling out pots.

“I can cook, mom. You sit, I’ll cook,” Elliott said nudging me out the way.

“No, really I got this,” I nudged him back.

“Oh my God, compromise! You make something, I make something, and we’ll split it.”

“OK that’s fair,” I said and we went to work.

Chapter 8 Let Him Choke

Adam

Where was she?

I’ve been waiting for Jennifer to come back to her room for hours. She had taken the battery out of her cell so Brandon couldn’t find her either.

I know she got the flowers at least, the room smelt of their fragrance.

They weren’t here now, did she throw them away? At that exact moment it seemed like the right thing to do, I know I can’t buy her forgiveness. That’s not what she wanted, an explanation would be a thousand times better. If only she would come back!

I came all the way here to talk, with 95 million dollars on the line but I showed up. I know it’s hard for her to understand that business is business; nothing is personal in this line of work. If a kid dies in a car accident because he drank too much you don’t go after the alcohol company. No, you hold that person responsible for their own actions.

I’m done waiting maybe she went to Nate’s.

I drove over to Nate’s apartment; I was pushing the Jaguar harder than what it needed to go. When I made it to Nate’s I just walked in the building and pushed the code for his floor.

Let her be here.

Finally, at the penthouse level I walked all the way down the hallway and rang the doorbell. It was late, but if Jennifer was here; she and Nate would be talking all night.

Josh answered the door; I had no problems with Josh if anything we got along great. “Hey! Man when did you get into town? Get in here.”

I walked in, the apartment hadn’t changed a bit it was still very modern with its rock and roll design. It was quiet, too quiet if Jennifer and Nate were here together I’d be able to hear them down the hallway,” Have you seen Jennifer? She’s not at her hotel and her phone is off.”

“Sorry, I haven’t seen her since the conference that was earlier today. You want me to go ask Nate? He would know.”

“Yes,” I said.

“Hang tight get yourself a beer, you look like shit,” Josh disappeared upstairs. I looked at myself in the mirror.

Damn. I do.

My hair was unkempt and my suit was wrinkly, but what really sold it was my eyes tried looking eyes. Three days of non-stop negotiating will do that. When was the last time I slept?

“She’s not here!” Nate yelled down the stairs. I walked upstairs at a light jog. I saw Nate with a tablet and Josh sitting on a couch watching T.V. in a giant hearth room.

“Be nice, Nate he’s worried about Jen,” Josh said.

I sat in the loveseat diagonal to Nate,” Do you know where she is? I didn’t come to fight at two in the morning with you,” I said dryly.

“Just tell him, if you know,” Josh said, “For me?”

I would get nowhere with Nate without Josh’s help. We helped each other I knew a lot of people that would love to be photographed by him. Anytime it came up I sang his praises and here he is today, revered and respected in the art community.

“Fine, for you,” Nate tapped on his tablet and said,” Look at the TV.”

I did.

“What am I looking at?” I said. It was a live feed of a kitchen?

“Your replacement, “Nate said happily,” Two strong willed, determined, soon to be doctors this is who Jen needs to–” Josh elbowed him.

“Ouch! Why?”Nate said.

“You’re being a dick again, how long have you been watching this?”

“They got there maybe forty minutes ago? I’m just so happy! Look how cute they are cooking and talking.”

“Who is that?” I asked. Jennifer dose look happy, and a little too close to whoever that is.

“Yeah who is that?” Josh said.

“Hope,” Nate said over dramatically. I looked back to Nate; Josh was staring at Nate too.

“It doesn’t matter I’ll find out for myself,” I said crossing my arms.

Nate turned up the volume and zoom in on Jennifer.

“Salad doesn’t count, the sushi does,” Jennifer said.

“Coming from the girl who used a year’s worth of salt and a heart stopping amount of butter that’s rich. It’s not even food at this point.”

Jennifer held up a fork for the man,” Open, you’ll like it if you try it”.

“Piss off, I’m not eating that,” he stepped away.

“See how cute!” Nate said watching the TV. He was into this like it was a reality TV show. His eyes were glued on the screen.

“Eat damn it!” She shoved the fork in his mouth.

“Absolutely adorable, I love getting force-fed,” I said.

The man choked a little and Jennifer got close to him watching him eat.

“Mmmm it’s good isn’t it,” that sounded more like a threat than a statement.

The man kept coughing.

“Elliott?” Jennifer said with worry in her voice.

So your name is Elliott.

“Yes! Save him bitch, you save him and cement your love,” Nate said.

Where did that popcorn come from?

“Hey,” Jennifer said clapping her hands together, “Elliott, do you need the Heimlich?”

“YES!” Nate screamed.

No, let him choke.

I was glaring at the screen. Who the fuck was this guy? Elliott.

Clearing his throat Elliott finally said,” If you thought I was choking why didn’t you do something. Choking victims can’t talk!”

“Hey you didn’t give me the universal ‘I’m choking sign’,” Jennifer said putting both her hands around her neck. “What did you think of the food?”

Elliott gave Jennifer a dirty look and said, “Couldn’t really taste it because I was dying”.

Jennifer held up a fork again, but this time Elliott snatched it out of her hand and ate,” What is this?”

“Southern Fried Green Tomatoes, It’s one of Adam’s favorites,” Jennifer ate some of Elliott’s sushi. Why did this feel so intimate?

Nate exhaled hard.

“This isn’t a game Nate,” Josh said,” Why wouldn’t you just tell Adam where Jennifer was? You knew all along, not cool dude”. Josh got up and walked away.

“Great, now I’m in trouble because of you,” Nate said.

“Me? You did this to yourself. You know I’m not going anywhere but you’re constantly trying to push me out of the picture it’s not going to work, Jennifer choose me”.

“For now, you are her first boyfriend but you’re not around that often. Jennifer is an extrovert; she likes to make friends with people. You don’t think she’ll find someone better. New York’s a big city,” Nate pointed to the TV,” She didn’t have to go far to find him, just saying.” I heard Jennifer laugh. I turned back to the screen. She wasn’t being flirty she was just being her.

Or maybe she was?

“I’m not fighting you, Adam. Time will break you two up; or Jen will grow out of her bad boy phase. Aren’t you two already fighting?”

“Really? You’re going to try and play mind games with me? It won’t work,” I said focusing on the TV.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying, it won’t work. I’ve got nothing against you personally; I just want the world for Jennifer. I want her dreams to come true, none of that can happen with you, it’ll be a constant compromise for you. In the long run she won’t be happy.”

“Because you know her so well… You make this personal every time you tell her to leave me. I believe at one point she was ready to cut you out for me,” I said pissed off.

“Oh I do know her. I know she wants 6 to 8 kids, I know being Catholic is important to her, I understand her Midwestern values. I get her do you?”

“Of course I do”.

“What’s her favorite color?” Nate said.

Okay, I don’t know that.

“No answer? It’s red. Where was she baptized at?”

Again, I didn’t know.

“It’s Saint Matthews Apostle Church, the same place she wanted to get married at. But no you took that from her and now you’re going to take her future. She may not admit it at first, but after a few years, a few babies she’ll realize you are a mistake. Adam you say you know Jen, well you know she’ll want more than just you.”

Standing up I said,” Thanks for the talk Nate, It was real productive”. At least I figured out she was at Henry-Faust headquarters. Not too far from here.

I wanted to burn Nate’s house down with him inside. That definitely wouldn’t get me on Jennifer’s good side. Knowing Jennifer now she would probably put a hit out on me. Alejandro would jump at the first chance to off me.

I headed to the stairs and said,” I know you have her best intentions but so do I”.

“So if she left you, you would stay away? Because this whole terrorist thing isn’t going away you literally made her sick to her stomach,” Nate said.

I don’t know what I would do.

I made Jennifer sick?

“Do you talk to all your executives like this? I do still own part of your company,” I said.

“Actually, you don’t Jennifer does. See after the shootout I met with one of your fraud experts and the next thing I knew Adam Caffery disappeared,” Nate said, “The next time you trying to push me into a corner remember this, I know all about a girl in California,” Nate scratched his head like he was trying to remember something.

There’s no way he knew about Gamila.

“Oh yes, Gamila isn’t it? I’m sure Jennifer would love to know you’re still pussy whipped by her.” He stood up and walked over to me, “Don’t you ever threaten me”.

“If you know about Gamila why haven’t you told Jennifer?”

“Because that will be the final nail in your coffin, it means nothing coming from me but when it eventually comes to the light and it will you’ll eventually have to fess up. I don’t know if you’re fucking her or just giving her money. I do know you’ve kept her a secret since the day she showed up at Main House and the one thing Jennifer won’t stand for-lies. You said she was gone that she was out of your lives. You lied. You’ll be gone sooner or later.”

Well damn, he’s got me in a corner.

“I see now why you were good at covering Michael’s job. Goodnight, Nathaniel.” I walked out of the house and back to my car.

“Wait!” Josh said stopping me from getting in the car,” Wait!” He was bare foot, winded and trying to catch his breath, “That was dirty what Nate did I was listening in.”

“Well played, I’ll give him that”.

“I don’t think you’re a cheater, I see the way you two are. You’ve got something, something special. Nate’s just being over protective; Jennifer was the same way when we started dating. I know you’re not going anywhere. So let me help you. When you picked Jennifer you pick Nate at the same time that can be a lot to handle.” Josh pulled out of piece of paper and handed it to me.

“Tomorrow Jennifer and I are going to do a shoot. Nate’s not going to be around, he has meetings all day. That would be the best time to talk to her”.

I took the paper.

“Thanks, I really appreciate this.”

“Don’t be weird about it, just fix your shit.” And with that said Josh turned and walked back into the house.

I got into my car, God I wanted to punch something! I turned on the car and sped away. The engine roared in to life. Nate knew just what to say to push my buttons. He always brings up my greatest fears. I have always feared there was a high possibility that Jennifer would eventually leave me. The more independent she becomes the more she won’t need me.

Is that why I hated the idea of her getting a job?

Maybe?

I looked down at my watch; the one Jennifer got me for. I remembered the inscription she put inside the watch face, ‘Never enough, until it is’. I guess I’m about to see.

Chapter 9 Photo

Jennifer

Teeth chattering I said,” Josh! Hurry I’m freezing!”

“This is the one thing models are supposed to do, suck it up and deal with it,” Elliott said warm in his fleece black coat. I was in a field in less than a bathing suit in 20 weather.”

I flipped Elliott off.

“Hey! Don’t ruin the shot! Just a few more and we can go inside”. We were in Hyde Park, which any other day would be beautiful, but today I was too cold to admire it.

“And done! I think they have turned out really good.” I ran into the car and blasted on the heat. I quickly put on my clothes and tried desperately to warm up. Albert Hall Mansions was less than five minutes away. Normally I’m all for walking but today there’s not a chance in hell.

“A few more photos in the apartment and then we’ll go to dinner,” Josh said sliding into the driver seat of a car and Elliott got in the back. I invited him to come along last night I was kind of shocked that he actually agreed. The more I got to know Elliott the more I was seeing he wasn’t that bad.

Josh was taking us to some restaurant where you eat completely in the dark. So I was excited for that.

The apartment where we were shooting was really Josh’s Studio. We made it inside.

Oh no.

Josh was milking his sensual and empowerment photo. The studio was bare with only one piece of furniture. A huge king sizes bed set up around camera equipment.

“What are you doing? Shooting a porno?” Elliott said.

“No, we’re making art,” Josh said offended. Josh turned his attention to me,” Go get changed by the time you get back, I’ll be ready.”

“You got it,” I disappeared into the side restroom and found the outfit. It was a sexy, short, black, silk nightgown. It was something I would wear for Adam just so he could rip it off. I still wasn’t ready to talk to Adam.

I put on the nightgown and fixed my hair, I had on light make-up and loose curls. I walked out of the bathroom barefooted.

“I’m ready, you good?” I asked Josh, rushing out of the bathroom. I ran into Elliott he knocked me off balance, but caught me by the shoulders, “Sorry,”

I’ve never been so close to Elliott before, his hands feel good on my skin. His eyes were beautiful, I never noticed how blue his eyes were. My heart was racing.

Was I bushing?

His eyes were dilated, I looked down to his lips and my breath caught.

“Okay, so just hang off the bed so your hair hangs down,” Josh said making Elliott and I separate.

“Yeah, got it,” I said rushing over to the bed.

What the hell was that?

“Tie this around your eyes,” Josh said tossing me a tie. I gave Josh a confused look, “You’re going to see the final product. You’ll like it”.

Okay?

I tied the blue silk tie around my eyes and position myself on the edge of the bed. My head was hanging off the bed showing off my curls. After an hour of shooting, Josh was getting frustrated. He wasn’t getting the shot he wanted. Josh had twisted and turned my body in a thousand different ways.

“No look here,” Josh said.

“Where?” I said.

“Here, more to the left,” Josh said.

“Okay, I think you’re forgetting I’m blindfolded, I have no idea where exactly to turn my head,” I said.

Someone sat on the bed I felt a hand gently tilt my head up.

Finally, showed me what you want.

Josh was holding the back of my neck and traced his thumb over the front of my throat. That felt good, it made me part my lip and sent a shiver down my spine.

“Yes! More! I feel it,” Josh said.

His ran his fingers over my neck, slowly stroking my lips while holding my chin. Maybe, it was all the blood rushing to my head but this felt intimate and private.

“Got it! You two are strangely good together,” Josh said.

What?

I sat up dizzy and took the tie off from around my eyes.

Elliott?! No! No!

Elliott sat lazily on the bed; we both stared at each other. I felt something with Elliott, something I had only ever experienced with Adam. Lust? Attraction? Need? I can’t be! With Elliott? No way.

“Uum good job,” Elliott said.

“Yeah, you too,” I said breathlessly.

Someone applauded, the clapping echoed throughout the room,” That’s a wrap!” The voice made me jump like I had been caught doing something wrong. We both turned and saw Adam leaning against the wall looking pissed.

“Adam? What are you doing here? I… you had a meeting in Kabul?” I said turning to face him.

Adam was glaring at Elliot and Elliott was doing the same back. I could feel the tension it was building like electricity in the air. Adam walked over to me, and stared deeply into my eyes,” Let’s talk”.

“No,” if we started talking now, it would only end in us fighting. I just don’t have the energy for that.

“Yes,” he said calmly. Adam doesn’t hear the word no often but today that’s all he’s getting.

Standing up with determination I said,” No”.

Teeth clenched he said,” Jennifer”.

“Adam” I said coldly.

“I’ve got the camera put away, let’s eat!” Josh said.

“I second that,” Elliott said getting up.

“Me too,” I said directing my attention to Josh, “Let me change and we can go”. I side stepped Adam and rushed to the bathroom locking the door behind me. I needed a second to process what just happened. I needed to…to…call Nate.

I texted Nate to see if he could have dinner with us at Dans Le Noir, almost instantly he replied back saying yes. I wasn’t ready for the fight Adam and I knew we were going to have one; I didn’t want to let myself get worked up.

Its just dinner.

I changed into a backless black lace dress, I had this dress for years but never worn it. When I first saw it in the store I was going to do a hard pass but I couldn’t pass it up. The dress was a beautiful bodycon style with sheer cap sleeves. It wasn’t my normal style but I ended up buying it.

I decided to stay in the bathroom until Nate arrived. Staring in the mirror I realized how pathetic that was; I was literally hiding in the bathroom.

What is this high school? Get out there and stand your ground!

My common sense was finally kicking in, I don’t need Nate to come and save me. I can save myself. With too much confidence I walked out of the bathroom. The sound of my heels made everyone turned towards me. Josh was editing the pictures while Elliot watched him and Adam had returned to his wall; he was silently brooding. I could feel Adam’s and Elliott’s eyes on me.

“Are we ready?” I asked.

Shrugging his shoulders Elliott said, “We were waiting on you”.

“Perfection takes time,” I said flipping my hair.

“Oh so we should keep waiting,” Elliott gave me an evil smile.

Twisting my face and giving him a fake laugh I flipped him off.

“Besides we’re missing one person,” I said.

“Who?” Josh said not taking his eyes off of his computer.

“Me!” Nate said walking in the door,” I made it!”

“I thought you had meetings all day?” Josh said getting up to kiss Nate.

“I do but I’m the boss,” Nate said proudly.

“Let’s do this!” I said walking to get my coat.

“Who’s driving with who?” Josh said.

“I’m just going to Uber there,” I said opening the app.

“Why? Just drive with me, love.” Adam said.

“No!” Nate said beating me to the punch.

“Jen, Josh, Elliott and I can all drive together,” Nate said.

“Or my wife can drive with me,” Adam said walking to my side and warping his arm around my waist.

“It’s not that big of a deal its only twelve minutes away,” Josh said.

“Or let her choose, Jen’s not property,” Nate said.

Ok did I miss something? Nate wasn’t the biggest fan of Adam but they were being more passive aggressive than I had ever seen them.

“I never said, you implied that,” Adam said.

“Dumbass, I infer; you and imply,” Nate said. I ordered an Uber while they continued to argue. After, a few minutes it was here.

I just walked away, clearly something had happen between Nate and Adam. I’m sure I’ll hear about later, but, right now my car was here.

Nate and Adam were so preoccupied with arguing with each other they didn’t even notice me leave. I got in the Uber and Elliot followed behind me.

Once in the car Elliott said,”Are they always like that?”

“No… Nate’s not a fan of Adam but it’s never been that bad before. We’re probably giving you a bad first impression, but I promise you most days we’re normal.”

“I’ll have to take your word on that. So, how long do you think it’ll take, until they realize we have gone?”

“Probably, not until Josh breaks it up when he can’t take it anymore,” I said bluntly. We both laughed at that.

Chapter 10 Dream On

Adam

Of all the people in the world for Jennifer to be friends with she picked Nate. If he were anyone else I would have beaten the shit out of him long ago. What happens between Jennifer and I is our business.

“Back me up, Jen,” Nate said.

Silence.

Finally, she was on my side,” Looks like your alone… Right, love?”

Silence again.

“Love?” I said looking around.

“Jen?” Nate called out.

“Are you two done?” Josh said sitting in his computer chair,” They left over thirty minutes ago”.

“What!?” I said.

“Bahaha, I win!” Nate said.

“No you both lose… You’re both being stupid… Darling we have talked about this, stop getting so involved in Jen’s love life. I understand wanting to be there for her, but this is too much. You need to learn how to approach someone with more tact. Jen can speak for herself; o conversion will ever ends well when you demand Jen to take your side. Jen will ask when she wants your opinion. This was not cool on both your parts.”

“Adam man you’re pushing Jen away! This Elliott dude is clearly into to her, I can tell just by the photo shoot we did today,” Josh handed me a photo. It showed a close up of Elliott running his filthy fucking hands over Jennifer’s lips and neck.

I’ve never known anger like this.

Is she falling for him?

“You had better soften up your approach or you’ll lose her. Work your shit out man.“

“Now, can we eat?”

I ripped the picture in half and threw it in the trash, “Fine let’s eat”.

I’m not going to lose Jennifer to some fucking nobody; we love each other that hasn’t changed because of one misunderstanding. I got in my car and drove to the restaurant.

Jennifer and I have gone through so much; we have a bond like I’ve never seen. I want to spend a lifetime loving her, holding her and being with her.

I made it to the restaurant and parked on the street, Josh and Nate were right behind me. We walked down the street in silence until finally we saw Jennifer and Elliott standing outside.

“I hope you two are happy,” Jennifer said pissed,” We lost the reservation!” I know I shouldn’t patronize her but she was adorable when she was mad.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah we got it,” Nate said.

“There’s a bar just down the street from here that we can still get into,” Elliott said.

I hated the place already. “That will have to do, thanks to these two. Shall we?” Josh said.

“Lead the way,” Jennifer said to Elliott.

Not really leading the way, I could see the place down the street.

We headed down to the bar.

I walked next to Jennifer, “Do you want to take the car?”

“No, thank you, it’s just down the street,” she said sharply. I kept at her pace as she walked slowly in her heels, I had gotten used to it. A few minutes later we were sitting at a booth. Jennifer sat in the middle of Elliot and me and on the other side Nate and Josh sat together. The waitress brought us over menus.

Ding ding

Jennifer and Elliott’s phones went off simultaneously, they checked them.

“Oh my God!” Jennifer squealed excitedly.

“Holy shit,” Elliott said amazed.

“Don’t leave us in suspense what’s happened?” Nate said.

“Yeah, what happened?” I said.

“Dr. Giovanni wants us to meet Dr. Flores!” Jennifer said all but hyperventilating.

“Really? Even I can’t sit down with Flores! Take a picture for me!” Nate said giving Jennifer a high five.

“For everyone not in science, who is Flores?” Josh said.

“He’s a world-renowned heart surgeon, he it’s currently working on using a 3D printer to recreate a fully functioning heart,” Elliott said.

“He also, is a part the team that is helping paralyzed people use their brain waves to manipulate machines. If he succeeds… Well can you imagine the world we will live in?” Jennifer said with dreamily eyes.

“If you get a letter of recommendation from him you’re set on any residency program you want. Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Oxford anywhere! All doors are open for you,” Elliott said.

“Your name will forever be linked with greatness!” Jennifer said.

“Wow, hell of an introduction,” I said. When was the last time I saw Jennifer this excited.

Jennifer kept reading the e-mail and her face fell.

“Pediatrics! Did you read the bottom part?” Jennifer asked Elliott.

“Geriatrics! Mother fucker!”

“What?” Nate said.

“Dr. Giovanni had given us our recommended specialties, based on what he knows about us,” Elliott said.

“That’s it, it’s over!” I could hear Jennifer’s heartbreaking.

“No! Bullshit, he doesn’t get to pick for us,” Elliott said.

“He probably wouldn’t write us a letter of recommendation if we went against it. I’m not even close to the ER” Jennifer said.

“I mean dose it really matter? It’s only a recommendation,” I said.

“Right, nothing is hard wired, yet” Josh said.

“Are you two crazy? It’s self suicide at this level, to go against your mentor. He’s the one that knows you best,” Nate said,” Giovanni is the one propelling you forward. You can’t turn down a meeting with Flores and you can’t shun your mentor’s recommendation. He gave it for a reason.”

Oh

“On the bright side, at least we have–” she couldn’t finish the sentence.” Excuse me,” Jennifer said getting up. I saw a tear forming in her eyes.

“Jen?” Nate said softly, and he followed her.

I was about to get up when Josh said,” maybe not the best time. Unless you know about specialties, residency programs, mentorship and a shit ton of science. I know you want to be there for Jen but right now, we are useless.”

“It doesn’t define us, in the end we get to choose,” Elliott said.

The waitress came back and said, “What will it be?”

“Your strongest drinks, like twenty of them” Josh said. The waitress gave him a weird look but said okay and went and got the drinks.

“I don’t understand why Pediatrics is so bad?” I said talking to Josh.

“Because it defeats the purpose of everything she’s worked for. All the late nights studying, stressing over every test and homework assignment, making sure every lab was completely perfect, every presentation and case study was a work of art. Hell, do you think we took the first responder training for nothing?” Elliott said.

I’ll admit I didn’t know much about what exactly Jennifer wanted to do with her medical degree, but I knew she had worked hard.

The waitress brought over our drinks.

Shots of Bacardi for everyone.

“What exactly was Jen hoping for?” Josh asked?

I have no idea.

“Trauma surgery,” Elliott said without missing a beat.” She’s top of our class and they stick her in the baby ward.” Not at all sexist!

He took three shots fast.

“And you?” I asked.

“Oncology,” Elliott said.

Josh and I ordered a beer, without Nate and Jennifer there was really no conversation.

About an hour later, Jennifer came storming back in with Nate. She had been crying hard her hair was a mess and her make-up was smeared badly.

“No! No! No! We are going to live our dreams!” She said yelling at Elliott.

“Hey, let’s calm down… Get down! Get down! Jen!” Nate said.

She climbed on to the table holding a shot and shouted to the whole bar,” This is for everyone with a dream that died! Ever since we are little they tell you to dream big and then when you do they take it from you. So fuck dream killers!” She drank the shot and jumped down.

She got applause for that.

“FOR THE DREAM!” she cried and took more shots.

“For the dream!” The crowd repeated.

Still standing up, Jennifer took the rest of the shots like they were water. People sent drinks over to Jennifer and she drank them all.

“Ok, let’s slow down,” Nate said. He picked up his phone and said,” Yeah, she’s fine just having a little mental breakdown….I will watch her….sorry for the late call Yvonne, love you too”. He hung up and sat down.

Nate looked exhausted; he leant against Josh’s shoulder.

What the fuck had happend outside?

“You ok?” Josh said.

Shell shocked Nate said,” Jen doesn’t deal with failure that well. She literally laid down in the middle of the street and yelled, ‘Just run me over!’ I won’t lie that freaked me out. The crying wasn’t pretty and she called her mom.”

“Jesus,” Elliott said.

Right.

Jennifer was currently at the bar drinking something.

“How the hell can she drink all that? She’s going to pass out”, Josh said.

Jennifer appeared out of nowhere at our table, “Give me a £1,” she said.

“Who carries pocket change?” Elliott said.

“Let’s try some water?” Nate said.

If looks could kill Nate would have been incinerated on the spot.

“How about ten pounds?” I said.

“Gimme,” She said holding out her hand. Before, I could even pull out my wallet Nate shoved a twenty pound note in her hand.

“Thank you,” she said stumbling off, even drunk she was still polite.

A few moments later the Jukebox came alive with Dream On by Aerosmith.

Jennifer came back to the table and sat down.

“Where’s my change? Nate said.

Sipping on a Long Island Iced Tea Jennifer said, “Jukebox.”

“All of it?” Josh said.

“Yep,” Jennifer said.

“We’re going to listen to Dream On – eighty times?!” Elliott said.

Jennifer just sang along until she passed out.

“I know this isn’t the right time, but I would love to do a study on how she drank more than all of us combined and isn’t dead,” Elliott said. “I would fund that,” Nate said.