Chapter Six

Nathaniel walked out of Valerie's room feeling more distraught than he did going in. It was the first time she had ever shouted at him that way. He felt he was only doing it to protect her. When Valerie went to him with her problem, telling him that she had committed murder, he did not believe her at first until he had some of his men look into it. When he found out that she was telling the truth, he was genuinely scared for her and let her stay at his place. But a month later, he found out from the same guys that no one was asking questions about the murder. Barely anyone even realized he was dead.

They had taken care of the body and he had no relatives. There were no witnesses and the police were not informed. The day after Valerie went to him, they spoke about it but not at length. She didn't want to talk about it. Since that day, they hadn't talked about it. When Nate found out that Valerie was free and not a fugitive, he was happy for her at first but then he thought about her not needing him and leaving his house. He didn't want any of that. He thought 'What she doesn't know can't hurt her'. So he didn't tell her. Instead, he let her live in his house for six months. Six months in which her lease expired and she couldn't renew it. Six months in which she lost her job. Six months in which she was miserable. Six months until she went missing and the thought of anything happening to her almost killed him. A part of him thought she had run away secretly and didn't want anyone to know her whereabouts in case the information should be leaked. The thought that his not telling her the truth could lead to her possible death was the last straw that made him decide to tell her. If only he'd known that telling her would lead to that reaction, he wouldn't have told her. But in the end, he felt it was easier to live with her hatred than with her death.

Nate was seated in the living room with his head in his hands when Valerie came down. He lifted his head slowly and looked at her. She looked directly back at him and he averted his eyes first.

She was about to walk right past him when he reading out and stopped her by holding her hand.

"Val…"

"Don't." She didn't look at him. He Brought her hand to his face. A single tear slid down his cheek.

"Val please…" She pulled her hand from him with force and stormed out without looking back at him. Nate put his head in his hands again for a few minutes before bringing out his phone and dialing the phone number of his private investigator.

"Mike! She's gone. She just left the house, I told her. I told her everything and now she won't talk to me, she won't even look at me. Nate's voice sounded more panicked every second but Mike's voice resounded in his ears from the phone.

"Calm down. Calm down, Nate. What do you need me to do?" Nate's voice stabilized.

"Follow her. I need to know where she's going, what she's doing. I need as much information as I can get. I can't lose her again."

"Nate, dude. Do you not think your obsession with her is getting out of hand? There are so many other…"

"STOP!" Nate's voice cut him off.

"I don't want to hear another word of this. Do you think I don't know that there are many other girls out there? I know that. But I don't want any of the other girls, I want Val. I want Valerie and no one else." Mike was exasperated with Nate's actions.

"Okay fine." Nate dropped the call and waited for Mike to do what he was best at.

Mike and Nate were friends for almost as long as Nate and Valerie were friends but they had ensured Mike never met Valerie because he had also had to spy on her and report to Nate. Mike was the son of the groundskeeper at Nate's family house so they had practically grown up together and as soon as Nate got a position in the family business, he made sure his good friend was not left out. Mike wasn't just a private investigator to Nate, he was also his friend, confidant, and advice but sometimes Nate did not take his advice. It was one of those times. After the call with Mike, it wasn't very long before Nate got a live feed on Valerie's location. He was starting to think telling her might've been a bad idea. She walked into the coffee house she worked in before the incident. There was no audio but Nate was sure she was asking for her old job back. He took a second phone from the inner breast pocket of his suit and dialed a number.

"James."

"Yes, boss."

"Go inside, I need to talk to you where she can't hear." He waited until he was sure Valerie was out of earshot.

"Give her her job back"

"But sir, she has been absent for months ago and there are no vacant positions."

"Just do it. Add one more person to the payroll, just do whatever she asks you to do." Nate dropped the call abruptly and put his head in his hands again. He could live with Valerie hating him but he could never live with her being unhappy. He loved her too much for that. Maybe if she knew, she would understand better why he did what he did.