Acceptance

Confusion colored Veronica's eyes as she chuckled in response to Roland's greeting.

"Nightingale? A new pet name, like the songbird?"

Veronica laughed quietly. "Oh, I remember. Nightingale is that computer hacker person, right? The one Anna accused me of being. Do you believe that crazy b*tch's words now?"

There was an edge to her voice as she finished saying that, like she was irked that Roland would believe another woman over herself.

Roland didn't deign to answer her question. Instead, he explained, "The other night, Graycastle's computer system crashed when I was running a security scan, a last-ditch attempt to find the elusive Nightingale.

"The tech guys blamed my scan for it; they said it had put too much of a strain on the system. But, I knew better. The first system I designed for the company had been able to run the scan, so why couldn't the current system handle it?

"I routed around for some time while mending the system. I found that Nightingale's first hack originated within the company building. Horrified by this revelation, I began to dig deeper. I found your spyware and used it to trace your whereabouts.

"I nearly believed that it really was Anna, but the idea that she'd frame herself a month ago to portray herself as a victim didn't make sense. So, I searched again. I eventually found a lead, which lead back to here."

Roland let out a sigh as he paused for a moment. Veronica remained silent. "I didn't want to believe it was you, but looking at you now, I know it's true."

"What? No, it's not true; I don't know the first thing about computers. This Nightingale person must be framing me, just like Anna."

Roland's face scrunched up as he spat, "Don't lie to me. I verified this myself. I spent hours going over every single detail, trying to find a reason to doubt my findings. Eventually, I came to accept the truth; you are Nightingale."

Silence hung in the air like a bad smell, neither seemed to want to break the silence.

In the end, Roland continued his speech. "I'm not even mad about you hacking into the company; I'm not even mad that you framed Anna; I'm not even mad that you're a computer genius on my level. I'm mad that you lied to me. I'm mad that you deceived me. I'm mad that you made a fool of me.

"All those years of asking me to fix your computer and sorting out your WIFI… you were just playing me for a fool.

Guilt rose up from the depths of Veronica's eyes and gradually spread over her face. Her body shook, involuntarily convulsing from the shock she was going through.

She'd come up with the perfect system to hide this part of herself, but she'd been too lax recently. Things had been going well—her dream had come true—but that, in the end, had been her downfall.

"Veronica, answer me truthfully, you owe me this much; how long have you been lying to me?"