“Will someone be told if I showed up there?”
“Yes. It goes into the computer, and you have to give them your name.”
“I don’t want anyone to know.”
“Okay, call me when you get here. I’ll have you go around to the back, and I’ll let you in.”
“You won’t get in trouble?”
“No. Just get here.”
Within thirty minutes, Nia was being let in and pulled up the stairs.
“Wait to talk,” Aleena whispered.
Nia nodded. She didn’t know if she could talk without crying.
Aleena pulled her into her playroom, closed the door behind them, and then pulled her over to the sofa.
“Okay, tell me.”
Nia looked down at her hands. “I … I went to see Travis.”
“Yes,” Aleena coaxed when Nia stopped.
“His office door was open a little bit, and I heard them talking.”
“Who?”
“Travis and his secretary.”
“The witch?”
Nia nodded. “He was saying that if he knew she wanted him, he never would have had me in his life.”
Aleena gasped in shock and confusion. “Wait, are you sure?”
“Very sure.”
“What were his exact words?”
“He said to her, ‘I wish you had told me before how you felt, darling.’”
“She said that she was afraid to and then talked about when I came into the picture, she didn’t think it would happen.”
Nia wiped her eyes. “Travis laughed and told her not to worry about me that now that he knew he could have her, I’ll be gone. He then talked about if he had known before Russ came, he wouldn’t have had his apartment destroyed because I wouldn’t have been there.”
Aleena sat back in stunned silence. “I don’t understand. I would bet a year’s allowance that man loved you.”
“I thought he did, too.”
“God, what are we going to do?”
Nia shrugged. “All my things are at his place. I don’t know if I try to go and get some of it or leave it until later.”
“Later. We need to come up with a plan,” Aleena said.
“You can’t tell Kaleb because I know he’ll tell Travis. Not that he’d care, I just don’t want to talk to him yet. Not until I’m stronger.”