Great Exploitations (Crisis in Cali) by Nicole Williams Page A

Wallaces would keep my secret from the rest of the world, going back to G wasn’t an option. My work had lost its sparkle. I’d lost my purpose.
    I’d always known that when my bank account reached that magic number, I’d be out. I’d worked hard and believed in my job, but I’d always accepted that it wouldn’t be a long-lasting career. I’d always known that one day, I’d say good-bye to the Eves. While I hadn’t woken up anticipating today was that day, that didn’t change the fact that it was.
    So I was out. I’d worked my last Errand, attended my last Meet, manipulated my last Greet. My bank account might still lack the number that would set me free for the rest of my life, but I’d crossed the line. There was no going back to the other side. Henry knew . . . Henry knew .
    “How could you pretend that you didn’t know what I was doing back in your life?” I asked slowly. “How could you not have hated me for what I was trying to do to you?” I knew that if I’d been in Henry’s shoes, I wouldn’t have been a fraction so civil.
    “How could I hate you when all I’ve felt for you since college is love?” He admitted it like it was a sin as he continued toward me.
    I shook my head feverishly. “You couldn’t have loved me this whole time. There were years of silence and separation between us. How could you have loved me when you haven’t seen me for almost five years?”
    “Because love isn’t conditioned by proximity. It isn’t even conditioned by reciprocity. It’s conditioned by nothing.”
    I heard his words, and I wanted to believe them, but I couldn’t. “I believe your version of unconditional love is different from mine. You see, in my version, I don’t walk in to find the person I love in bed with someone else. To me, being faithful to the person you love without condition isn’t just a guideline but a requirement.”
    As expected, Henry flinched at my words. After recovering, he turned, popped open his briefcase, and pulled out a large file. “You need to see something,” was all he said as he approached me with the file, holding it out for me to take.
    I lifted my chin at the file, but I wouldn’t take it. “What is that?”
    “Explanations.”
    I glared at the file, sure there was nothing inside it that could explain sufficiently to ease the betrayal I felt when I remembered that day I’d found Henry with another woman. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with the file—scour through every last word of its contents, or throw it out the window and let it scatter across the city—but then my phone rang. The one that had interrupted Henry and me so many times I wanted to throw it out the window.
    “I’ve got to go, Henry.” I was already charging across the room to grab my purse from the floor. I needed to sort out so many things, the thought of it all made my head pound. I had to sort out what Henry had told me, as well as figure out what I was going to do with my life now, and none of that would work itself out on its own or while I was in Henry’s presence.
    “Don’t go. Not yet.”
    I heard Henry’s footsteps follow me, but I wasn’t about to slow my momentum. If I slowed, I’d be in danger of staying and staying was just that—dangerous. “I have to.”
    “Would you stop saying that.” His tone was sharp. “You don’t have to do anything, and what’s more, you’ve never done anything you didn’t want to, so stop telling me you have to leave when what you mean is that you want to leave.” My hand was on the door when he caught up to me, but instead of grabbing my hand and keeping me from leaving, he jammed the file into my hand and stepped back. “Take a look at this. You deserve to know the truth. If you want to keep on hating me when you’re done with it, fine, I’ve accepted that that might be the outcome, but if anything in there changes your mind about me and my ‘indiscretion,’ you know how to get a hold of me.”
    For the first time I