Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 77220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
I gasped, my gaze flying over to Max. He was standing as still as a statue and his eyes were without guilt.
“I’m sorry, Savannah. I’m so ashamed of what I did and have regretted my part in Robert’s scheme ever since. In my defense it was a very bad time in my life. My aunt was dying and I couldn’t afford the surgery she needed. I was so desperate to help her I wasn’t thinking straight anymore. Robert told me he would pay for her operation if I would help him. All he wanted to do was get rid of Max from the firm. He promised me you would never see the photos. He would just use them to ask Max to leave the company. The way I saw it, my aunt would have died without her surgery and it wouldn’t really matter to Max if he got kicked off the company. I already knew Max’s big dream was to start up his own company… and from a couple of documents I’d seen on his desk it was clear he was already in the process of moving away. I swear, I truly never dreamed Robert’s intention was to send Max to prison. Not only were they childhood friends, but not once had I seen any kind of animosity between them. My circumstances made it easy for me to fool myself into believing that Robert was a greedy, ungrateful bastard and Max would actually be better off without him. Once Max was taken away, I was immediately fired and told in no uncertain terms that if I was ever to breathe a word about Robert’s plot, I would be the next one going to prison for my part in it.”
My jaw dropped, and I stared at Lillian in shock.
“That’s my part in this sad, sordid story. I’ll let Rachel take it from here.”
Rachel leaned forward. There was an earnest look on her face. “At that time I was a working girl and a drug addict. I exchanged sex for money, so I was super pleased to get a job that paid me for pretending to have sex with a John. All I had to do was pose for some incriminating photos with him. As Lillian said, it was all staged. The bartender had spiked his drinks and he was out cold the whole time. I was there for twenty minutes tops, then I was gone with my money.”
“We do a lot of things for the people we love, but believe us when we tell you Max is innocent,” Lillian said softly.
“Robert’s still insanely jealous that you chose me and not him, Savannah. He always has been.”
I looked at the three of them and felt emotions overwhelm me. This was the missing piece all along. It sounded like the stuff of which movie scripts were made. I shook my head in disbelief, tears pricking at my eyes. Tears blurred my vision and I wiped them away angrily. I looked at the two women. “Thank you for sharing this information with me.”
I stood and looked at Max. “I’m sorry, but this is all just too much for me to process and comprehend at once. I-I need a little time to think through all of this. I really need to clear my head. You need to go. Please.”
I walked to the door, yanked it open, and stood gripping the door handle. The women cast worried glances at me as they slid past me in the doorway. Max stopped in front of me but I refused to look at him, keeping my gaze firmly on the second button of his shirt. Finally, with the barest of brushes of his lips, he touched my forehead. Then he stepped into the hallway, and I rushed to close the door before a hot tear slid helplessly down my cheek.
I dashed it away. Now was not the time to cry. I needed to think, and needed to think smart for a change. I gave Max and the two women a good ten minutes to leave before I headed downstairs. A good long drive would clear my mind.
The car automatically turned in the direction of the mountains as I drove. Could it really be the anger I had held against Max all these years was unfounded? He had proclaimed his innocence ever since his release, but to hear it from the mouth of someone who had helped to frame him felt surreal. Was it possible this was another big lie? Was Lillian being loyal to Max and corroborating his story of being set up to help him? That still left Rachel, a stranger in the whole saga. Unless she was an Oscar worthy actress, her explanation seemed authentic to me.
My thoughts went back to the night everything turned upside down. Suddenly, I had questions I’d not thought of asking before.