Cherri laughed. “Oh, man, when Avery told me she sent him to see you, I was certain I was gonna show up to find him dead.”
“Believe me, if he hadn’t pulled that gun, he would have been, or fucking close.” My mind drifted back to that weird interaction with Connor and Nathan. “You know, it’s weird, though. I was certain that Nathan had something to do with Miss Abrams flipping out, but I really don’t think he did. Connor had told me to keep my mouth shut, but I assumed Nathan was in on all of it. When I mentioned it to Nathan with Connor there, Connor looked like he wanted to rip my head off. He knows something that Nathan didn’t.”
“Nathan told me that he didn’t want to be sleeping with Miss Abrams anymore,” Cherri explained. “I thought he was just blowing smoke, but he got so distraught when we talked about it. He said she was blackmailing him.”
“Blackmailing? What would she have over him that she could use to blackmail him?” I asked. “Everyone knew about their affair.”
“I don’t know. I asked him, but he wouldn’t tell me. He said it was too bad to even talk about. I swear, Deon, I know you don’t like him, but Nathan’s not that bad of a guy. He’s kind of a douche, but most of us in The Royal Court are kind of douchey. It’s our thing. Kyle, Nikita, even Brayden, they all really care about Nathan, and there have been times where he wasn’t totally miserable with me. Even toward the beginning of the year this year, there were a couple of times where I was like, ‘Where has this guy been?’ It’s in there, but I think Connor was just suffocating it.”
“He had to study, like, four languages and started studying business tactics at eight,” I said, and Cherri’s jaw dropped. “Seriously.”
“He’s always gotten straight A’s, but I assumed he was paying for them.”
“Oh. no, he’s like fucking smart. Like stupid fucking smart. Yesterday, when I was sitting in that cell, I actually caught myself wishing I could talk to Nathan because I know he could help me figure out what Connor’s up to.” I grumbled. “I may not be his number one fan, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little upset with myself when I realized how my leaving seemed to have affected him. Connor doubled down. I can’t imagine that shit was easy.”
Cherri held up her hands. “It feels weird to be sitting here, talking nicely about and sympathizing with a guy who raped me.”
“Yeah. Well, it’s like you said, the spider’s web.” I stabbed my fork out at her. “Speaking of which, do you think it’s at all odd that not one but two bodies have dropped to the ground with me there? Speaking of coincidences, I don’t think that’s one.”
Cherri shook her head. “Definitely not, but would that mean Connor had something to do with that too? Why?”
“I don’t know. Fuck. I feel like we’re so close, like we’re just missing one piece.”
“I mean, shit keeps happening to these women Connor has dealt with. Alicia, your mom, and her kid got caught up in not one but two deaths that he didn’t actually have anything to do with. Miss Abrams must be connected somehow if she killed herself because of him.”
“Holy shit,” I said. One of the pieces knocked into place. “Cherri, that’s it.”
“What is?”
I jumped up from the table and rushed back into my mom’s bedroom. I ripped open her closet door, reached up to the top shelf, and pulled down the box that I know she kept with the evidence she leveraged against Connor. In it was his naked trophy photos of all the women he slept with behind his wife’s back. I carried it back into the kitchen, sat back down, and then started sifting through the pictures.
“What is that?” Cherri asked.
“When Connor tried to take custody of me from my mom, she had an ace in the hole. I guess when she was cleaning his house, she found his box of naked pics of all the women he was fucking around with. It’s how she found out he was sleeping with other women and, eventually, how she learned that he was married and that his wife was pregnant. She stole the box when he fired her after she confronted him and used it to get him to drop the custody dispute.”
“Go Ciara,” Cherri huffed.
“No kidding,” I said with a smile.
Finally, I got to the picture I’d been looking for, and my stomach twisted into a knot. “Fuck.” I dropped the picture on the table, and Cherri and I stared in awe at the naked photo of Jessica Abrams.
“Gross!” Cherri squeaked. “Connor slept with Miss Abrams too.”
“And then blackmailed her into sleeping with Nathan. I wonder if she told him she’d been with his dad and threatened to out them. Shit, it was probably Connor’s idea.”
“Why would he do that?” Cherri asked.
I tossed the picture back in the box and covered it up, disgusted. “I have no idea, but I’m actually starting to feel bad for Nathan.” Cherri’s phone vibrated on the table next to her, and she lifted it. Her eyes widened. “What?” I asked.
“It’s Ali,” she replied. “Nikita found Nathan.”
36
Cherri
The Royal Court was a caravan of cars following Alistair as he led the way to the address Nikita had sent to him. It was a few hours outside of town, and Nikita had at least laid eyes on Nathan and agreed to wait for us to get there as her backup. Given the seediness with Connor and Miss Abrams and Alicia’s death, on top of having Deon with us, we knew we couldn’t call the police. Deon was confident that he could handle Connor if he needed to, so we decided we were going to take care of the matter ourselves. Avery was with Alistair in his car, I
