Total pages in book: 33
Estimated words: 31254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 156(@200wpm)___ 125(@250wpm)___ 104(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 156(@200wpm)___ 125(@250wpm)___ 104(@300wpm)
“Tell us what you have been thinking.” Frankie says.
Nat and Frankie plate the cake up while Brooks and I explain everything that has happened up until now. The cheating story is embarrassing but draws disgusted looks from everyone, which makes me feel better. They’re even more disturbed about the way Felipe made me out to be the cheater. I end with the livestream that exposed Brooks’s violent threat.
“He didn’t mean it,” I say in Brooks’s defense.
“He did,” the three men say in unison.
“I did,” Brooks confirms.
“Brooks thinks that Felipe is stealing empty bottles from the restaurant where he works, that he pretends he’s bought and then he gives reviews of them. And he lives in a fancy condo he can’t afford.”
“The management agent told me Felipe is behind on his payments,” Brooks shares.
Everyone starts giving out ideas on how to expose Felipe. Kaden is chosen as the one who would be able to get Felipe on camera.
“Won’t he be suspicious because you’re friends?” I point to Kaden and Brooks.
Kaden shakes his head. “Brooks doesn’t have social media, and I don’t use it either. I’ve got a PR agency that maintains my Insta account.”
“This plan seems overly complicated.” Graham isn’t a fan.
There’s a small silence that falls in the room because he’s not wrong.
Frankie scrunches her nose. “We’re going about this all wrong. Instead of trying to show Felipe is faking his wine reviews, because let’s face it, that’s boring and won’t redeem your reputation, we need to show that Slater is the victim and you stood up for her.”
“What’s your suggestion?” Brooks leans forward.
“Kaden messages Felipe and asks for a wine recommendation. Felipe will be thrilled to do this. By way of thanks, Kaden invites Felipe for a stadium tour. He also invites Sara. We’ll think of a reason later. The two are in the same place and fireworks.” Frankie touches her fingertips together and then opens her fingers wide as if to mimic something exploding.
“And we’ll get both of them to agree to being recorded ahead of time. Kaden can tell Felipe that the footage will be forwarded to him to share on his socials,” Nat says.
“We will definitely share all this footage on our socials.” Kaden claps his hands together and grins widely.
Brooks and I share a look. Neither of us are convinced about this. “I’d rather cut his belly open,” Brooks says quietly.
I pat his arm. “It’ll be a metaphoric flaying.”
Chapter Eighteen
BROOKS
The next day I’m back at Felipe’s condo. Everyone pitching in to concoct a plan to save Slater’s reputation was great, but it leaves too much up to chance. Simply putting two unsavory ingredients together doesn’t make an explosive dish. There needs to be heat or agitation. Some kind of force multiplier.
So here I am. Like Carrie, the owner of the coffee shop said, no one in culinary school liked me. It wasn’t just because my dishes were always better but because I didn’t allow the instructors to intimidate me. I hadn’t grown up rich and privileged like a lot of the other students. I’d had to fight for my place there. I worked jobs washing dishes and mopping floors. I cleaned toilets on the weekends in big office complexes. I was never afraid to get my hands dirty because I knew that I deserved to wear the white coat. I did what needed to be done.
Slater needs protection, but even more than that, she deserves to be exonerated. I’m not letting this lowlife with a ring light and a video camera take away her dignity, and I’m not leaving her fate up to chance.
The doorman gives me a chin nod of recognition. “Number 18,” he says in greeting.
I nod in return. I signed the papers right after leaving Felipe’s apartment. I knew that my visit wasn’t the end of things and would need to get back in. Being a resident was the easiest way to do that.
Number 18 is on the fifth floor, and Felipe’s apartment is on the third. I get off on the third. Outside of Felipe’s place, I pause to listen. There’s no noise inside. With a master key I pilfered from the manager’s office when he went to make copies of the lease agreement, I let myself in.
Without all the lights on, the apartment is dim and empty. Slater said that Felipe films everything. I thought that was an exaggeration until I looked at his socials. He had short videos of himself flipping blinis for his caviar, drinking wine as he’s watching a movie, and even showering. The one video which showed him drinking wine had several angles following him from one room to another. I asked Slater how that was done, if he had someone film him, and she thought that he had different cameras set up in his apartment.
I find small ones mounted on tension rods in nearly every corner of the room, just as Slater guessed there would be. There were three in the living room, four in the kitchen, and one over the entry door. I found two in the bathroom including one over the shower head and one mounted on the mirror. In the bedroom, there were even more. One in the headboard, one above the mirror across from the bed, one in each corner. All of these just for a few seconds to capture him walking from the bathroom to his closet? I didn’t believe that.