“What the fuck, Bobby?” Nick roars.
Bobby’s face is gripped with anger, his jaw so tense, Nick instinctively touches his own.
“How could you?” Bobby’s face is twisted in anger and disgust. “My own brother!”
Nick blinks, confused. His throat hurts. As does his arm. Adrenaline is coursing through his veins. Adrenaline and confusion.
“Bobby,” Nick begins, trying to breathe. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb with me,” Bobby says, clenching his fists and taking a step forward. Is he about to be punched by his twin brother? “Gina told me everything.”
Nick feels a lump in his throat. He coughs so hard, he has to softly pound his own chest. The ground beneath him begins to spin.
“It’s true, isn’t it?” Bobby asks. “I knew it. I knew it the second she told me.”
Nick feels his pulse throbbing. Gina told Bobby? Why would she do that? It’s been so many years.
Unless…
“What did she say exactly?” Nick whispers.
“How about I hear it from you?” Bobby’s voice is thunderous.
Around them, front doors are opening. Curtains are being drawn. A light goes on. Then two, three. Backer Street is watching them. Nick wonders what they must be thinking. He and Bobby haven’t had a proper fight since they were kids. And it’s late—especially for Alma standards.
“Why don’t we go inside?” Nick asks.
It’s not just because of their neighbors. Nick is buying time. He needs to know how much Gina has told him. Are they getting a divorce? Why hasn’t she called him?
“I want to know why you did it! Why’d you pretend to have my back only to stab me?”
“I never pretended anything, I—”
“Bullshit! I just want to know why, Nick. Why would you go after your own brother?”
“Do you think I planned this?” Now Nick is yelling. “That I meant for all of this to happen?”
“I have no idea what you meant. All I know is that I nearly lost my wife because of you!”
“I was in love with her, Bobby!”
“So why not be with her? Why put me in the middle of your fucking affair?” Bobby is heaving now. “My own son knew about it before me. He showed me a video of you two together.”
“What are you—” Nick pauses, catching the words that are about to come out from his mouth. He holds his breath as he studies his brother again. Bobby looks furious, obviously. Enraged. But he doesn’t look jealous.
This isn’t about Gina at all.
This is about Eva Stone.
Forty-Eight
Gina
Friday, November 1st
Bobby is standing outside their house when Gina pulls up on their driveway.
She rushes out of the car. She wants to hug him, wants to bury herself in his arms. He had been with her on the phone for most of the drive. They discussed Calan’s trip to the city, the video he recorded. She had wanted him to wait before confronting Nick, but he’d been too angry—understandably so. Now, Nick has confessed. The drive back to Alma had felt like the longest hour of her life: her husband’s heart had been breaking and she had been far away.
“Baby, I’m so sorry,” Gina says, her voice muffled by his chest. “I’m sorry I ever doubted you.”
“Look at me.” Bobby lifts her chin. “None of this is on you, Jib.”
A generous sentiment. But not a fair one. Gina had abandoned Bobby. Kicked him out while he was being wrongfully accused of sexual misconduct. She believed a complete stranger over her husband of fifteen years. But now is not the time to dwell on her failure as a wife. She has Bobby to think of. He needs to come first.
“He told me he loves her,” Bobby says.
Gina takes a step back, the words spinning in her mind. So Nick loves Eva. Gina isn’t sure why this surprises her. Clearly, Eva loves him, too.
“He wasn’t even remorseful,” Bobby continues. “I mean, he could’ve ruined my life… I had to get out of there.” Bobby shakes his head. “I’m calling a board meeting on Monday and having him replaced as CDO.”
“Don’t you think we should talk to him first, together?”
“Jib, the man framed me. And for what? So he could take my job?” Bobby shakes his head. “I’m an idiot for not seeing it before. Of course that’s what it was about. Her only demand was that I resign. That’s why she never sued. She wanted to inflict minimal damage so that he’d take over a profitable company.”
Gina takes a step back. “She didn’t sue because she didn’t have evidence.”
“They fabricated evidence. That’s what that email was about. It was a warning shot. They expected me to see it and cave.”
Gina bites her lip. Nick is clearly guilty. It’s not just about the video or the souvenir he left behind in Eva’s apartment. He confessed. But something doesn’t feel right. Something still doesn’t add up. Gina can sense it. Maybe it’s female intuition. Why do they call it female, after all? Is it more gender training, as Caroline and Alice would say?
Gina and Nick aren’t nearly as close as they were back in school, but she still feels like she knows him. He isn’t the deceiving kind. He has flaws—many flaws. He can be self-centered, even selfish at times. Confident to the point of arrogant. And he’s definitely impulsive. But he isn’t a liar. And he loves Bobby. Of this, Gina is sure. She can picture him having an affair—quite easily, actually: Nick has always been a womanizer. But she can’t see him framing his brother. Obviously, it’s what he did. But why? He’s never shown any real interest in being CEO before.
“I need to see him. I’m sorry, Bobby. But I need to hear it from him. I need to understand why he did it. And I think you should, too.” Gina squeezes his hand. She’s embarrassed to be asking yet another thing of her husband, but it’s something she must do.
Bobby
