Mirage - Alice Tribue Page 0,78
Don’t.”
“Sweetie, it’s clear as day that you love him.”
“Maybe I did once. Before the fucking vice squad raided my apartment and businesses. Before I was dragged down to the police precinct and interrogated like a common criminal.”
“You are a fucking criminal. What would you like me to do, rewrite history? I was in an impossible situation, and I did the best I could. I fucking risked everything to make sure you got off.”
“You did what?” Sage whispers, obviously stunned by that tidbit.
“He got a hold of the only evidence that could have been used against me before my place was raided.”
“You withheld evidence?” Jackson asks in disbelief.
Nathan looks down and shakes his head. “I’m not comfortable talking about this out in the open.”
“Well, then, you shouldn’t have come here,” I reply full of venom.
He glares at me for a moment, the awkward silence at the table deepening. And then I can see it, the shift that happens—the moment that Nathan gives up on me—and the utter look of disappointment is unmistakable.
“You know, maybe you’re right. Maybe what I thought was worth saving wasn’t so worth it after all.”
“I’m not trying to hurt you.”
“Right,” he says, tossing his napkin on the table. He reaches for his wallet, pulls out a couple of bills, and drops them on the table. “One day you’re going to look back and realize that you could have been part of something real, but you wouldn’t know real if it stood up and hit you in the face. You have based your whole life on lies and nothing has changed.”
“Nathan, there isn’t even a choice to be made, we would never work.”
“Oh, there’s always a choice, babe, always options you can take.”
“Maybe, but I’m just not the option for you.”
“No. You were my choice, not my option.” I feel his words like a slap in the face, like someone has taken hold of my heart and squeezed it so tightly there’s a physical ache in my chest. I watch in silence as he gives me his back. I know I should stop him, I know that I should not let him walk away, but I can’t. He takes a step but stops, turning back to me one more time and delivering his parting blow.
“You know, the truth is if I could’ve been with anybody, I still would’ve been with you.”
And just like that, he walks away, walks out of my life, because I don’t have the tools necessary to fight for him. I hate it. I hate myself for letting him leave because somewhere in my gut I know that I’ve just seen the last of him. This is how our story ends—neither of us wins, neither of us gets a happy ending.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
I’ve opened Mirage every day this week. The normal morning manager is away on her honeymoon, and I didn’t want to uproot anyone else’s schedule. So, with Ivy focusing on Illusions spa, that left me. I’m just about to turn the last light on when my phone rings. Walking into my office, I sit down at my desk, boot up my computer, and begin to rifle through my purse for the phone. It’s stopped ringing by the time I finally find it and when I check the caller ID, I see the missed call from Ivy. I’m just about to call her back when my phone rings again.
“Hello.”
“Are you at Mirage?” The sense of urgency in her voice puts me on high alert.
“Yes. Why?”
“You have to get to New York Presbyterian right now.”
“Ivy, what’s going on? You’re scaring me.”
“Rick just called me. Nathan was in a car accident last night.”
All of the breath goes out of me at the sound of her words. The fear of something bad happening to Nathan is crippling. “Is he okay?”
“He made it through the night. He had to have surgery, but beyond that, I don’t know. Rick said that his family took the red eye, and they’re at the hospital now.”
“I’m going now.” I grab my purse and bolt from my office.
“I’ll meet you there,” I hear her say before she disconnects. I fumble with my phone, trying to find Parker’s number. I need him to bring the car back, but he’s long gone already. It could take him forever to get back here, so I run out to the street, and thankfully, I’m able to flag a cab down. I rattle off where I’m headed, asking him to take the shortest possible route and sit back and