Stone ran his hand through his hair.
“We need to resolve this. A situation like this could scare Antoinette right out of our lives.”
“I know, Stone. Make the calls, I’ll call the others and see if they can find out who Antoinette’s ex-boyfriend is.”
* * * *
Toni was nervous. She wanted to tell Stone and Emerson about the threats she had been receiving and about owning the store. But as they accompanied her to a surprise location in one of the best-known upscale apartment buildings in Manhattan, she couldn’t tell them. This place was amazing, and as the elevator brought them to the highest level, Stone pressed in a code on the panel, and the elevator brought them up one more level. When the doors opened, she gasped in surprise.
“Go ahead inside,” Emerson told her. Toni knew immediately that it was the penthouse suite. She didn’t understand how they could afford such a place or if it was even theirs.
“Take a tour of the place. Make yourself at home,” Stone told her.
She walked around, uncertain of why she was feeling so shocked and uneasy. There were candles lit throughout the place, and as she passed the kitchen and the rec room then made her way toward the bedroom, she paused.
“I don’t understand.
Did your boss let you use this place tonight?” She turned back toward them. Both men still seemed nervous.
“Stone, Emerson, is that you?”
Toni heard the female voice, and her gut clenched. It was instant, and immediately crazy thoughts were going through her head. Stone pushed open the bedroom door, Emerson attempted to stop Toni from entering, but Toni followed Stone. She shouldn’t have.
There on the king-sized bed was one very naked woman. She gasped as they entered.
Toni turned around about to leave. She instantly felt betrayed, angry, as she heard Stone’s voice.
“What in God’s name are you doing in here?”
“How did you get in here?” Emerson asked.
“Stone, Emerson, who is that woman with you?”
“Don’t you dare, Olivia!” Stone yelled.
“You know her?” Toni asked, her voice cracking as she felt her body begin to shake. They knew that woman. They knew her intimately, that was obvious.
“You don’t belong here. How did you break in?” Stone asked as he pulled out his cell phone.
“What do you mean, break in? I have the key you gave me.”
“The code on the elevator. You were never here.”
“What are you talking about, Stone? Of course I have the code. I was just here yesterday. Oh my God, please tell me that you’re not cheating on me with her,” the woman—Olivia—said, pointing at Toni. She now covered herself with a sheet and stepped to the edge of the bed.
“You’ve lost your mind. We’re calling the police. Enough is enough, Olivia. It’s over,” Emerson said.
“No. No, don’t tell me it’s over. I’m pregnant,” Olivia stated.
This was too much to take in. Stone and Emerson weren’t honest with her at all. They had been seeing Olivia and her at the same time. The woman was pregnant with their child. They’d lied to her. She scrambled for the elevator. Emerson grabbed her arm. She turned to look at him and he was stuttering his words. He was backpedaling, but the pounding in her head wouldn’t allow her to hear his words or see anything but red. She shook her head.
“I don’t want to see you ever again. Either of you,” Toni told him.
“No, Antoinette. Please don’t believe her. She’s crazy. She’s been bothering us for months.”
“She doesn’t have a belly yet. Which means if she’s pregnant then you’ve been having sex with her recently. I’ve only been seeing you two for a month.”
Emerson grabbed her arms and held her still. They rode down in the elevator together.