Chapter 106: Chapter 106

Amy grabbed Cole by the hand and pulled him away from the door in order not to wake Tris up and get him emotionally hurt again if he saw her quarreling with him.

She pulled him away from the house and dragged him all the way to the other side of the street.

Finally, she stopped in an alley and let go of his hand as she inhaled.

“Amy…” Cole began, and she looked at him, ensuring that her eyes were dried of all the tears she had shed. “Have you been crying?” He asked as he gingerly reached for her cheek.

She flinched from his touch and it hurt his feelings as she took a step away from him. Cole never thought that a day would come when she would be irritated by his touch and presence.

“I brought you here because everyone is sleeping and I don’t want to wake them up. You have two minutes to tell me what brought you here and after that, you leave immediately,” she said.

Agony flashed in his eyes. “How’s Tris?” He asked.

“He’s fine. Is that all?” She demanded. “Amy, I shouldn’t have lied to you. I should have told you the truth that morning about why the meeting got adjourned. But, believe me, I had no intimacy with Shantel. Yes, I went out to grab a drink with her one last time as friends like she proposed, but I did not touch her. I don’t know how I ended up at the hotel which led to missing the presentation and it had to get rearranged. I don’t know what Shantel did and how she got those videos. Please, believe me,” he pleaded.

She swallowed. She wanted to believe him. A part of her wanted to. Her heart was playing tricks on her, but her mind wouldn’t let her. The more she tried to believe, the more she visualizes Shantel on him in that video.

“Are you done?” She asked.

“Amy..” he called desperately.

“If you’re done, I beg to take my leave,” she replied and turned to walk away.

He caught her wrist, stopping her from leaving. “Please, trust me just this one time,”

Her lips trembled in tears , but she managed to get a hold of herself as she turned around and took her hand away from his grasp.

“Trust you? Where has that gotten me, Cole? You keep saying to trust you when there’s absolutely nothing about you that I should trust,” she replied, brimming with anger.

“Are you for real right now?” He asked, narrowing his eyes. “Was there ever a time that I have lied to you?” He reiterated.

“But now you did,” she replied.

“I said I’m sorry!”

“Sorry doesn’t count! You cheated on me!”

“I did not!”

“Yes, you did. With the same woman you cheated on with me!”

Anger was evident in his eyes. “What the fuck, Amy? Did you just say that?” He questioned. He was already losing his cool and she could see that her words hurt him.

Tears formed in her eyes as her heart wrenched into unheard sobs. Instead of letting the tears out, she raised a defiant chin, maintaining her composure. “Yes, I did,”

He snickered as he looked away. “You’re never going to trust me, are you?” He asked as he looked back at her, and she just stared at him, emotions swirling in her. “This is the reason why we can’t work out. You don’t trust me and you will never trust me,” he said and with that, he walked away.

Amy stood there, her knees buckling and her lips trembling. Before she could hold back herself, the tears she held back finally came rolling down.

She fell to the ground as heart wrenching sobs escaped her lips.

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The next morning, Amy resumed work, determined to work herself tirelessly in other to forget about the words Cole said to her last night.

Liam noticed what she was doing, but could not stop her as he understood that she was hurting and channeling it all to her job instead of laying down in misery.

It was lunch break hour when Amy saw Kayla walking towards her office.

Surprised, she hugged her friend. “Kayla, what a surprise,” she said.

Kayla smiled as they pulled away. “I couldn’t reach you on your phone, so I decided to come to your office,”

Amy shrugged as she recalled she left her phone at Cole’s house. “What brings you here?” She asked.

Kayla pulled a seat and sat down. “Wanted to see if you were doing okay,” she replied as she placed her handbag on the desk.

Amy nodded as she sat down. “I’m fine, Kay,”

“And Tris?” Kayla asked.

Amy sighed. “He’s my worry. Last night he cried a lot, Kay. He said he doesn’t want Cole and I to live apart. I don’t know what to do,”

“I understand that you’re hurt by what Cole did, but, Amy, you have a child. You can’t always put your emotions first before his,”

Amy placed her hands over her face as she sighed. “Believe me, I know that, Kay. But, how can I be in the same house with a man who betrayed me?” She asked as she looked at her best friend.

Kayla placed her hand over Amy’s. “Amy, you know I’m on your side, right?” She asked and Amy nodded. “We really don’t know the truth about this,”

Amy stared at her. “There was evidence, Kay. What are you saying?” She asked, perplexed.

“Yes, I know that. But, Cole loves you too much to do that,”

Amy narrowed her eyes. “Did he pay you to come here and tell me this?” She questioned curiously.

Kayla frowned at her. “You’ve known me for twenty three years now and you think I’ll get paid to come talk to you?”

“So, you did it for free?” Amy asked, peering into her eyes.

“What the hell, Amy,” Kayla laughed at the way Amy’s eyes popped. “You know I’ll rather give Cole a black eye than talk to him,” she said.

Amy chuckled as she leaned back in her seat. “Yes, I know,”

Kayla leaned forward. “But on a more serious note, you have to put Tris first. He’s too young to be shuffled around because of the conflicts between his parents,” she suggested.

Amy looked at her and sighed.

“Think about it, okay?” Kayla added, and Amy nodded.

“Have you had lunch?” Kayla asked.

“Not yet. I’m still sorting out some papers,” Amy replied.

“Come on, I’ll treat you to lunch,” Kayla said, picking up a bag with a smile.

“I don’t know, Kay. I’m not hungry. Besides, I have a lot to do,” Amy declined. She didn’t have the appetite to eat.

“I know you too well, Amelia Scott. You’re trying to bury yourself in work to escape reality. Now, if you don’t get up your ass and follow me, I’ll create a scene here not just to embarrass you but to get you fired,” Kayla threatened playfully.

“You wouldn’t dare,” Amy warned.

“Try me,” Kayla dared.

Seeing that her friend was no longer joking, Amy sighed and picked up her bag. “Fine,”

Kayla broke into a grin. “Yay yay,” she squealed like a little girl.

~~~~~~~~

Greg walked into Cole’s office, and met him immensely on his laptop. The last time he had seen Cole work this much was when he was dating Shantel. Then, he was always cold, with no warmth. Not until Amy walked into his life and he saw the changes in his alpha. He became more lively, warm and easy to interact with.

But seeing him this way, he knew things weren’t alright with him.

“Alpha, we’ve pulled the cctv footage from the hotel you were in that night,” Greg finally spoke.

Cole finally lifted his head from his screen. “Let me have it,” he said.

Greg handed over to him the flash drive and inhaled. “I don’t think you’ll see anything on it,”

Cole frowned. “What do you mean?” He demanded.

“Well, you’ll see something, but not what you expect to see,” Greg shrugged.

Cole stared at him briefly before inserting the flash drive in his laptop. The scene of that day played on the screen. There he was with Shantel in his arms walking into the hotel.

“Impossible,” he muttered. He remembered passing out. How come was he walking well with Shantel in his arms?

The next footage was of him rushing out of the hotel room the following morning and later, Shantel too. There was nothing more.

He groaned inwardly. He had expected to see someone helping Shantel carry out her plan but there was nothing.

“Did you question the employees over there?” He asked.

Greg nodded. He had been sent personally to New York to get the footage of that day. “None of them working that night saw anything suspicious,” he replied.

Cole leaned back in his seat. He thought finding out the truth would be easy. But, the more he sought for the truth, the harder it was getting closer to it.