Leave Me Alone, Willow

I hurried to the hall, catching a glimpse of Nicholas running up the stairs. "Nicholas!" I called out.

It was as if he didn't even hear me. As much relief as I'd felt a few moments before, at the sight of him, I felt only despair as he disappeared again. He didn't even acknowledge me.

What was wrong with him?

I started up the stairs, cringing at the sound of another door slamming. Tears started falling from my eyes again and I felt silly looking down at my pretty dress and high heels.

I hesitated outside the door to his office, not sure exactly what I was going to find on the other side. I knocked a few times, but he didn't answer. I took a deep breath before turning the knob and pushing the door open.

He was there, sitting in his chair behind his desk, but he faced the window. I knew he was aware I had walked in, but he didn't turn his head, didn't acknowledge me whatsoever.

It hurt. It hurt so much that I paused and tried to gather some strength before I continued further.

He lifted a bottle of liquor to his lips, taking a long swig, and my eyes focused on his hand. His knuckles were cut and bleeding, and I restrained the sob bubbling up in my throat.

"Nicholas."

His head slowly turned at the sound of my voice, but his eyes were not those of my Nicholas. They were hard, cold, and lifeless. I didn't recognize this man in front of me. And it scared me right to my bones.

He took another drink, his icy glare lingering on me. I wanted to ask what was wrong. What was happening? What had happened? But no words would come out of my mouth. I was frozen. Just waiting for something. Anything.

Anything except what came next.

"How could you?" he spat. "After everything. How could you?" The tone of his voice cut right through my heart, even more than his words. I was lost. I had no idea what he was talking about.

I grabbed onto the back of a chair for support, before easing myself down into the seat. "Nicholas, please, I don't know what you're talking about. What's going on?"

He threw a folder across his desk in my direction, and my hands shook as I reached to grab it. My eyes blurred with more tears when I saw the pictures inside and realized what Nicholas was so upset about.

They were shots taken of me and H. His hands were around me, holding me up. Him touching my shoulder. The two of us stood close together.

To someone who hadn't been there, they would look almost intimate. This guy had set this up. He'd manufactured these meetings to hurt Nicholas.

I shook my head as my anger flared. Whoever this was had manipulated me, and I'd played right into his hands by not telling Nicholas about these run-ins when they happened.

"This is the guy following me." I looked up, finding Nicholas' head turned back to the window. "Whoever he is set this up, Nicholas!"

"Why did you do it?" He wasn't even listening to me. He just kept drinking. "How could you do ‘this’ to me of all things."

"I didn't do anything!"

He turned and glared at me again. "If you wanted to ruin me, you succeeded. But Hector? You had to fuck Hector?"

My mouth fell open and tears streamed from my eyes again. The man was Hector, and Nicholas thought I was sleeping with him. I sobbed, not knowing how to fix this. Nicholas wasn't hearing anything I said. His trust was shattered.

"I didn't sleep with anyone," I cried. "I didn't know that was Hector. He's been following me. He told me his name was H."

H... short for Hector. I felt sick. I was such a fool.

"He told me you were fucking him."

He'd gone to see Hector? Was that why his hand was bleeding?

"He's lying! I don't even know him. He set this up to hurt you. To hurt us!" Sobs wracked my body. It was like I had no ability to contain the intense fear raging inside me. Nicholas believed the lies. He didn't trust me.

I couldn't lose him. He was my whole world. I had nothing without him.

His expression changed from anger to pain as he watched me fumbling for control. He leaned over the desk, his face falling into his hands.

"I... I can't talk to you about this now." His voice was so tired.

“Okay… Okay… Just believe me, alright?”

I couldn't breathe. Everything inside me ached.

"Leave me alone, Willow."

I wanted to walk over and put my arms around him... to make him see the truth. He sounded so hurt, so bitter, so defeated. But he wasn't listening to me, even when I could get coherent words out.

I didn't know what to do. How to get through to him. One thing I did know was I needed to calm down. The pain in my heart and my frantic nerves had me upset to the point of hyperventilating, and that couldn't be good for the baby.

The butterflies I usually felt in Nicholas' presence had been replaced by only hurt.

I stood up on my shaky legs and walked out of his office. The stairs proved more difficult to get down than I thought, and instead of tripping and falling, I stopped halfway and sat down, leaning against the wall and huddling into a ball.

I didn't know what to do. Where did I go now? My phone kept ringing in my pocket, and I eventually wiped my tears away enough to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Willow? What's wrong? He's there, isn't he?" Virgil sounded even more worried than he had earlier.

"Yes," I answered, my sobs returning. "That man I told you about was Hector. He had someone take pictures and sent them to Nicholas. They made it look like we were close. Then Nicholas went and fought with him and Hector lied. Nicholas believed him. He thinks I cheated."

I wasn't sure what those words sounded like as I bawled, but Virgil seemed to get the gist of what I was trying to tell him. He was muttering curses and banging around on something.

"I figured something like that was happening. Willow, listen to me. Go sit with Laura or take a bath or take a nap. Whatever. Just relax. I promise you everything will be okay. I'm tracking down something right now and then I'm coming over."

"He won't listen."

"He will listen to me. What day was it last week that you were at the cafe? And what was the deli called that you ate at on Monday?"

I answered him, hiccupping between my words.

"Okay. Now can you go find Laura?"

"Yes."

"Be brave, Willow. Everything will be okay."

I wanted to believe him and tried to pull myself together enough to get down the rest of the stairs. It didn't surprise me much when Laura appeared by my side a couple of minutes later, helping me down to my favorite spot in the library. Virgil must have called her as soon as he hung up on me.

As I sat there, I tried to sort through all the thoughts whirling in my head. Although it hurt me Nicholas believed I could do something like this, I found myself unable to be too angry at him.

This was the one thing... the one sore spot... that Hector obviously knew he could target.

I was angrier at myself for falling into Hector's trap than I was at Nicholas. Those pictures weaved a horrible tale, and I trembled thinking about what vile lies Hector must have told Nicholas when he was confronted.

It was no wonder he was beyond reason.

I had to believe when he calmed down when he listened to me and to Virgil, that he would see reason. That he would know deep down I would never do something so horrible.

And that eventually there would be some justice served on Hector. Of that I was sure.

Laura stayed close but thankfully didn't try to pry out information. She kept me supplied with food and drinks, allowing me some space to ruminate alone.

I don't know how long I sat there. Sometime later, Virgil popped his head in, checking on me and assuring me again before he went up to Nicholas. As the hours went by, the more tired I grew. At some point, I stretched out on the couch and fell asleep.

The first thing I noticed when I woke the next morning was the stifling heat.

Why was it so hot? Did Nicholas turn the air conditioning off?

Nicholas!