The background image on her phone was one of her and Keith taken by Ronnie a few weeks ago. She’d fallen asleep with her head on his lap while watching a movie. He’d remained awake, playing with her hair. Unbeknownst to them, Ronnie had snapped the candid shot and later texted it. They both looked so happy and at peace with each other, Mickie had set it as her background. Now, looking at it brought fresh tears of sorrow to her eyes.
“Of course, sweetie. I’m here for whatever you need,” Ralph said, cutting into her sadness. “Speaking of.” He stuck his hand in the center console of his Beemer. “Twizzler?”
She blinked way the tears. It hurt just to look at how happy they’d been such a short time ago. If her plan worked, she’d be on a plane back to Vermont in just a few days. She had no idea what she’d do when she got there, but somehow, she’d get Keith back. After experiencing true happiness, she wasn’t willing to walk away from it without a fight.
Sober and fully in control of herself, Mickie realized how lucky she was to have Keith and his family in her life, and she wanted to keep them there. She loved him. Plain and simple…okay fine, extremely complicated, but still, she loved him.
Michaela knew how to throw down for what she wanted. She just needed to remove a few very large and potential life-destroying obstacles.
So much for compartmentalizing.
“Mickie?” Ralph said. “I asked if you want a Twizzler.”
“Oh, yes, thank you.” Time to focus. As she chomped on the strawberry treat, she opened her email app. “I emailed Angelica and filled her in on the entire story.”
“Angelica French?” he asked of her long-time attorney and once close friend.
“Yeah.”
“Huh,” he said. “What does she think?” Another turn had him pulling into the parking garage under his ritzy building. He maneuvered to his assigned spot, killed the engine, then rested back against his seat.
“She said I have a number of options if I decide to take action against both Mark and Chuck, as well as keep Keith’s father from getting his hands on this video.” Mickie scanned the last communication from the lawyer.
The email from Angelica had been professional and detailed a few routes Mickie could choose to pursue. When she’d asked her attorney what she’d do if in this predicament, Angelica chose the same plan Mickie had been leaning toward. Now, after reading through it again, she was filled with confidence and even excitement. The scheme would ensure Chuck couldn’t become a problem for Keith in the future and would hit Mark where it hurt: in his fat wallet.
“So what’s the plan?”
“Well, she said, settling against the comfortable leather seat. “Chuck offered to hand the video over to Mark for fifty thousand dollars. After doing some digging, Angelica was able to find out that the money hasn’t changed hands yet. Mark will be wiring the money the day after tomorrow.”
“Okay…” He pursed his perfectly shaped lips.
Mickie smiled. “She’s setting up a meeting with Mark and Chuck at her office tomorrow under the guise of facilitating the money transfer.”
“Oohh, that slightly evil.” Ralph’s eyes lit up. “I like it. Will Chuck be able to get here?”
“Yep.” Mickie stowed her phone in her purse after one last longing look at the background screen. She’d resisted scrolling through the hundreds of pictures she’d take of her and Keith over the past few months, but tonight she’d probably give into that urge as she gorged on chocolate fudge brownie ice cream.
“Angelica purchased a ticket for him, and he’ll be here in the early afternoon tomorrow. We have a meeting set for four p.m. And that’s when we’ll blow up a few lives.”
“Oh, man, can I be there? Please?” Ralph bounced in his seat. “Pretty please!”
Laughing, Mickie nodded. “I’d be offended if you didn’t want to be there.”
“Yay.” He clapped his hands. “So what I didn’t tell you when we talked is that I actually have a flight out to New York tonight for an early morning job tomorrow. But I’ll switch my return ticket so I’m here in time to catch the meeting.
“So I’ll have your posh apartment all to myself tonight?”
“Is that all right? I hate to leave you when I know you’re just going to eat my ice cream and cry.”
“You don’t know that.”
Ralph shot her an I-know-you-better-than-you-know-yourself glare.”
“Okay, fine. That was the plan.”
With a grin, he pushed his door open. “Lucky for you, the freezer is stocked.”
A few hours later, after Mickie had settled into Ralph’s guest room, she sat on the bed with her ice cream and a box of tissues as she scrolled thorough pictures from Thanksgiving. It’d been the best one she’d ever had, full of food, fun, and family nonsense.
Had she gone about this the entirely wrong way? Should she have told Keith Chuck still had the video and was selling it to her smarmy manager who might put it out in the world if she didn’t act in the movie he’d chosen?