“Of course I talked to her, and I was with her last night as she was crying her eyes out at Mason’s place. “What the fuck were you thinking?”
“It was the only way to trap him and stop this nightmare. I was afraid that if Ellery knew, she would give something away and he would get suspicious. It just wasn’t a chance I could take.”
“So, to end your nightmare, you created another one for Ellery. Am I right?”
I took two aspirin from the bottle and chased them down with a bottle of water. I sat at the table and glared at Peyton.
“No, you’re not right. To end one nightmare, I created two more. My nightmare and Ellery’s nightmare. And I have no clue how to end it.”
“Leave her alone, that’s how you can end it. She’ll come to you when she’s had time to think about everything. I know you’ll go crazy, so I’ll text you to let you know how she’s doing, even though you don’t deserve to know.”
“Thank you, Peyton. I owe you big time.”
“That’s right, you do. In fact, I believe I’ve done this quite a few times. You owe me, Connor Black.” She smiled.
Peyton got up from the chair, walked over to me, and kissed my head. “You seriously need to sit and think about how you’re never going to keep anything from Ellery again. Because next time, you may not be so lucky, and she’ll leave your dumb ass for good.”
As I sat in the chair and finished my coffee, I stared out the window. The clouds were starting to roll in and a storm looked like it was brewing, much like the storm that blew through my life last night. I needed to get to the office and keep my mind off of Ellery, but I missed her and Julia so much. I picked up my phone and sent Ellery a text message.
“I know you said not to contact you, but Julia is my daughter too, and I want to see her. It’s not fair that you took her away and won’t let me see her.”
About twenty minutes later, she replied.
“You’re right. I’ll send Julia to the penthouse with Mason tomorrow and then you are to send her back the next day.”
I didn’t respond because I would’ve told her that our child wasn’t a ping-pong ball, and she didn’t deserve to be bounced around like that. At least she was letting me see Julia and that was more than I thought she’d do. I would give her the space she wanted, even if it ended up killing me.
***
The days were long and the nights were longer. I hadn’t spoken to Ellery in over a week, and every day, another piece of my soul died. Mason dropped off Julia a couple of times, and Peyton had been keeping me informed about Ellery. I had to keep the rumors at bay about Phil and tell everyone that he decided to leave Black Enterprises for personal reasons. I paid Detective James a great deal of money to keep all this quiet, and I made a huge donation to the New York City Police Department. After working all day and into the evening, I would go home and drink myself to sleep. Peyton told me that Ellery was okay, but that she was sad all the time. It killed me to hear that because I was the cause of her sadness and pain, and I didn’t think I’d ever forgive myself for what I’d done to her.
I finished up everything that needed to be done at the office, so I got in the Range Rover and started driving. While I was stopped at a light, I looked to my right and saw a place that I hadn’t thought about in a very long time, Club S. I didn’t want to go home, so I decided to stop in there and have a drink. The club was hopping, the music was loud, and there were wall-to-wall people. I walked back by the bar and saw there was an open table. I sat down and was immediately greeted by a waitress.
“What can I get you?” she asked.
“Give me a scotch, make it a double, and bring me three.”
“You got it, sweetie.” She smiled as she walked away.
While I sat in my seat, I looked around at the area that I had frequently visited before I met Ellery. The waitress came back and set the three glasses down in front of me. I drank them and wanted more, so I signaled for her to get me three more. As I was downing the fifth glass of scotch, I heard a familiar voice.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Connor Black.”
I looked over to the side as she sat down next to me. “Hello, Sarah.”
“What the hell are you doing here? Where’s Ellery?”
“She left me and took Julia with her,” I said as I leaned back.
“What? That’s crazy. What did you do to make her leave?”