My heart kicks up a notch as I realize this means he is still in the city, and that I finally have something solid to work with. I can finally tell Michaela that I have a lead for her.
“That’s good,” I reply slowly. “Thank you for continuing to run that for me, I know it isn’t something that you’re comfortable with.”
“That’s not it,” he tells me, shutting me down. “There’s more.”
“Okay... so what?” I put the phone onto speaker phone and start up the car, needing to get to the office right away. Whatever Gavin is about to tell me now, we’ve had some huge breakthroughs on both fronts and I really need to see more about them.
“Well, while I was doing all of this, I also ran some checks on Michaela too.” I open my mouth to argue with him, to really get my point of view across about this and how fucking mad it makes me, but he continues speaking and I’m afraid to say that my intrigue gets the better of me. “I used the images from your phone, and I’ve found some stuff out about her.”
I’ve sort of been expecting something to happen for a while now, considering all of the strange things that caused all kinds of red flags in my mind. I know that Michaela has secrets, that much is completely obvious, and now it seems that I’m about to find out what these might be.
“Go on,” I reply cautiously. “Tell me more.”
“Her full name is Michaela Rose, and she has something of a criminal record herself.” My heart falls at this – whatever I was expecting, it was nothing like this! “She got arrested back in her home town for being involved in some theft scam.”
“And... what happened?” I ask stunned. “What happened to her?”
Why would someone who has had money taken from her do that to other people? Or did that happen because she was hanging around with criminal friends? Maybe her ex-boyfriend was really a scam artist with her, and he ended up taking everything from her.
Is that why she’s been showing an interest in me? Does she want to steal my money? Maybe that’s why her ‘uncle’ doesn’t seem to exist, maybe she snuck into that CIA party to try and find some dumb ass millionaire to scam... and I fell right into her trap. I mean, maybe I feel like her feelings might be real towards me, but I could be wrong. Maybe that’s all a big part of her game, and she’s really fucking good at it.
“She was never charged due to lack of evidence,” Gavin confirms, but it’s too late. The anger is there, the hurt is there, and I need to know more.
“I’m on the way,” I tell him, unable to keep the rage from shaking in my voice. “Get everything ready for me.”
By the time I get into the office, my rage is at boiling point, so as he goes through everything with me, and shows me the hardcore evidence that Michaela was at least suspected to be involved in some scam, my brain is conducting another plan entirely.
“Check the CCTV cameras at Main Street,” I demand. “I just dropped Michaela off there to meet a friend, and I want to know who it is. If it’s this Derek Moss character, then I’m getting myself involved in something that I really don’t want to.”
“We can’t do that,” Gavin gasps in shock. “We can’t spy on her.”
“We fucking can, and we will,” I growl. “If this woman is after my money, I could lose everything if I don't get on top of it. If I lose everything, the business goes down too, putting all of the people in this building out of a job... including you.”
This seems to register with him and whatever argument he has next falls from his lips. He might not like it, but he steps back and allows me to do what needs to be done.
“Motherfucker,” I spit out as her face fills the screen. All of a sudden a lot of things make sense. “She’s with Zach.”
I can’t hear what they’re saying, but I can see their faces, and while he’s leering into her and clearly trying to get comfortable, she looks incredibly stressed out and unhappy. I don't focus on that though; all I can feel is the bubbling rage coursing through me.
“Well, maybe there are many reasons for that,” Gavin tries to be diplomatic, but even I can tell that this has blown him away. “She could know him from some other place entirely.”
“She fucking knows him because she’s running some scam with him – I know what Zach is like and he’s fucking scum, willing to stoop to any Goddamn level.” I pace the room, thinking over every moment that I’ve spent with Michaela, and how it’s been a lie – all the kisses, all the touching, the sex... it must have meant nothing to her.
“Look, just try and think about this rationally for a moment,” Gavin tries. “Is there any reason that she might be in trouble? Is there any reason why she might be doing this?”
I think about her family, her troubles, her thing with Derek, and I try to see it all from an innocent point of view, but there doesn’t seem to be any way that this could all be nothing. “Why are you defending her?” I demand. “You were the one that was suspicious in the first place! You were the one who did all this searching, that uncovered all of this...”
“I know, I know,” Gavin tries his best to calm me down, but there are too many emotions racing right through me. “I’m just trying to see about this from every angle, I’m trying to be logical.”
He can be logical, unlike me. There aren’t any feelings there for him, so I feel like I should at least hear him out.
“Okay, so what do you think that I should do?” I slump down in the seat beside him, feeling everything all at once. “What’s your advice?”
“I think that you need to keep an eye on her.”
“Okay,” I think this through for a moment, before conducting what I think is a solid plan. “So what I’m going to do is this, as a general precaution I will have the algorithm we’ve developed removed from the company’s cloud and moved to a portable drive just for me. I’ll hide this in the company’s safe.”
“For... what purpose?”
“I don't know, I just feel like I need to prove to myself that Michaela is the person that I think she is, and that all of this is somehow a massive mistake, or that she’s a lying bitch... in which case I can protect myself.”
“Maybe you should also carry a fake drive containing a virus on you at all times too,” Gavin jumps in, finally getting on board with this plan.
“Why?” I can’t help but ask. My head is still all over the place, too confused to be able to pick up on his logical suggestions.
“Well, if she’s with Zach, maybe she’s after the algorithm. Maybe she wants to help him win this competition, so if that’s the case, wouldn’t it be better to protect yourself?”
“Yes,” I nod, feeling a little saddened that it’s even come down to this.
How the hell has it gotten to this stage where the first woman who I’ve actually felt anything for in a very long time is a liar? How is my judgment so shitty? What the hell does that say about me?
“Okay, well, get that sorted out for me please,” I ask Gavin, the cold sadness overcoming my rage. “I need all of this in place now. I can’t stand this for another second longer.”