"Right." I moved like a zombie to my purse and pulled out a thumb drive. I nearly dropped it handing it to her.
"Thank you, dear," she said. The evil cruelty was gone. The perfect, poised woman was back. "Have a wonderful rest of your evening."
She smiled and waltzed out of my home, leaving me shaking like a leaf.
I stood in my kitchen, my knees shaking and my skin clammy. The door was open and I heard the elevator bell chime. I waited until I was sure she was gone before venturing out of the safety of the kitchen. It took a big swig of wine to do so, though.
I peeked through the open door to make sure she was really gone before closing and locking my door. I crumpled to the floor, shaking in terror.
She was going to destroy me no matter what I did. If I didn't give her the information she wanted, she would frame me. If I did, I had no doubt that she would hold it over my head for the rest of my life. I held no illusions about that now.
She wanted to destroy me. I had thought I might be able to find a way out of this, but now I didn't have any ideas. I was trapped with no escape from my evil stepmother.
Chapter 15
I didn't take a shower.
Instead, I pulled up my phone contact information, wrote them all down on a piece of paper along with any other information that I thought was important in my phone. Then I checked my recording app. It hadn't taken a thing. All that remained was two recordings of static. If I had given this to the authorities, they would have laughed me out of the room.
I had been used. Hacked. Tricked.
I thought about just throwing my phone in the garbage. I thought about smashing it with a brick or throwing it in the bathtub or possibly the garbage disposal. Although, I just bought a new garbage disposal and I didn't want to wreck it.
Besides, if I did that, my stepmother would have more power over me. She would ask for my new number so she could contact me. She would be able to find access to me. I shivered at the thought.
Better I keep this phone with nothing important on it. It was better to know my weak points and defend them than just make more. So, I put a piece of tape over the camera and duct taped the microphone. I would have to look up what else to do on the internet to make it so that it couldn't record anything.
I logged out of every app on my phone. Then, I went to my computer and changed every password to something with numbers, letters, special characters, and made them all ridiculously long. I knew I would regret it later when I wouldn't be able to remember any of them, but it made me feel like I was doing something now.
I wasn't going to take this cursed thing out of my purse anyway. I put it in a plastic baggie full of cotton balls and then stuffed it all the way to the bottom of my purse. It still felt like I had a pit viper in the bottom of my bag, but at least I knew where it was and that it was safe.
I grabbed my wallet, leaving the purse and the cursed phone in my apartment, and went down to the supermarket next to my apartment building. I didn't buy panko crumbs. I bought a cheap phone and a new number. With cash.
When I came back upstairs and put the phone numbers in the new phone, the first person I texted was Henry.
* * *
Hi Henry. It's Aria. This is a new number. My old phone broke. Please call me.
* * *
I would tell Jaqui my new number in the morning at work. I wanted to keep it quiet that I had a new phone number, just in case anyone accidentally told my stepmother. No one knew just how evil she was. I didn't even believe it myself until tonight.
I sat in my dark apartment with nothing to do. Now that I had a new phone and had wrapped the old one up, I was at a loss. My stepmother had a photo of a document that only I had access to. She owned me.
And she was going to destroy me. I didn't know what to do, but my brain couldn't seem to slow down long enough to come up with a solution. All I could do was sit in the dark and try not to panic.
The burner phone began to ring. I nearly jumped out of my skin. It was a loud jangling sound that was terrible, but still better than my stepmother being able to track me.
"Aria?" Henry's voice came over the phone and I nearly collapsed with relief. Just hearing his voice made me feel so much better.
"Henry. Thanks for calling." My voice cracked saying his name. I sat down hard on the couch.
"Are you okay? What happened to your phone?" His voice held so much concern I felt like crying. Someone cared.
"It's a long story," I replied, not wanting to infect him with my stepmother's poison. "I just needed to hear your voice. It's been a really long day."
"I'm sorry to hear that," he said. "Have you eaten?"
I shook my head even though he couldn't see it. "No. I just got home. To be honest, I just want to take a shower and go to bed. It's been a rough day."
"I'm in the neighborhood," he said. "Let me take care of you."
The kindness in his voice nearly broke me. He wanted to take care of me.
I needed that right now. I felt so lost in the dark. I'd been betrayed by my stepmother and I had no one to turn to.
If all he did was bring me food and hug me, I would at least feel better. I would be able to think of a solution if I could calm down.
"Okay," I whispered. I knew I shouldn't let him get close to me. He had an international job and being with a seller of secrets couldn't be good for his business. But I was selfish and the idea of someone caring about me was too much to pass up.
"I'll be there in ten minutes," he promised.
I sat in the dark on my couch for seven minutes before I heard him knock on my door.
"Aria?" he called out.
I scrambled to my feet and threw open the door. The bright hallway lights nearly blinded me after the darkness of my apartment.
Henry stood there, my knight in shining armor. He had a brown paper bag that smelled amazing, a bottle of wine, and a smile.
I wanted the smile most of all.
I kissed him, and he shuffled into the my apartment to set the food and wine on my table so he could properly kiss me back.
I melted into him, losing myself to his kisses and gentle caresses. His fingers splayed out on my back, strong and steadying. Everything else in my world felt out of control, but he was solid. He was safe.
I pressed my head into his shoulder, letting him hold me.
"You're shaking like a leaf," he murmured, pulling back. "And you've been crying. What happened?"
He smoothed the hair away from my face and I leaned my cheek into his palm. "It's been a crappy day since you left."
"Then I guess I won't leave you this time," he replied. My heart fluttered and I looked up. His blue eyes were warm and dark. They reminded me of the ocean on a calm summer night.
"My stepmother is a horrible person," I blurted out. "She's vindictive and is going to ruin everything."
"Is she why you are upset?" he asked. There was a protective growl in his voice.
I nodded.
"You want to talk about it?" he asked. "No judgment."
I wanted to. I wanted to tell him everything. But then, he would be caught up in all this nonsense. I couldn't do that to him. I shook my head no.
"She's just a terrible person. I don't really want to talk about it. It's nothing I can't figure out," I told him. "I just want it to go away. I'm just panicking a little right now."
He nodded and smoothed my hair. "Well, can you do anything about it right this minute?"
I frowned and looked up at him. "Not really."
"Then, it's not something you can fix right now," he said gently. "What you can fix is that you haven't eaten and you need a shower. You stink."
He made a face that made me laugh. It felt good to laugh.
"How'd you get so smart?" I asked him as he hugged me close again.
"My dad," he said softly. "Whenever I would get overwhelmed with things, he would ask me what I could fix right this minute. If it couldn't be fixed right now, then he said I had enough time to calm down and figure it out."
"I like that. It's doable." My stomach grumbled loud enough that both of us looked down at it.
"It's easier to calm down when you aren't hungry," he said with a smile. With one more squeeze, he let me go and went over to the table and began pulling the food out of the bag.
"That smells wonderful." I took a deep breath in and sat down at the small table as he smiled at me.
"Mashed potatoes, meatloaf, green beans with bacon, rolls, and of course, some chocolate cake," he explained, spreading out the feast. The food completely covered my small table as he handed me a plastic fork. "And no plates."
I chuckled and opened up the container of mashed potatoes. "Thank you, Henry."
"It's my pleasure," he replied, picking up a fork of his own.
Chapter 16
Henry was absolutely right. I did feel better with some food in my stomach. Things looked a little less bleak when I wasn't hungry. I began to feel like there might be a chance I could figure something out. It wasn't the end of the world.