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“Derek,” Chloe warns. “Stop this.”
Hallman looks at her.
She shakes her head. “I don’t have feelings for Derek, Adam. I don’t. He’s being persistent, and I–”
“You might not be ready to admit it yet, but you are developing feelings for me,” I correct.
“Hatred. That’s about it,” she declares, shooting a dirty look at me. “How dare you!”
My gaze bounces back to Hallman. “My brother-in-law is a neurosurgeon. He’s well connected. I could pull strings to get you on probably any clinical trial you’re interested in to help with your mobility. I can have Laurier recommend you for everything you’re interested in writing in that field. Interested in something else? I might be able to help there, too. In fact, I can pull some strings and get you a publishing contract with one of the big five for your novels. I know you’ve had three rejections already, but through my family connections, I’ve got some pull with two, possibly three of the big five.”
Chloe’s eyes bounce to Hallman’s face. “You finished your novel and submitted it?”
“Ten months ago,” I advise. “It’s not a novel. It’s a series of four. He’s got one left to write but he’s been a little blocked since the accident. Playing video games most days all day might not help with that though, Hallman.”
Hallman takes a big breath and is about to speak when I cut him off.
“By the way, the night he had the accident, he didn’t come straight home from work. He stopped off at a nightclub. The Fifth.”
Hallman blanches. “I wasn’t drinking. I drove sober.”
“Maybe, but you were upset when you left after a heated conversation in the corner with a lovely auburn-haired beauty. Coincidentally, it’s a conversation I happen to have a partial recording of.”
Chloe stares at Hallman in shock.
He frowns. “It was Jeannie. She begged me to meet her to talk about a reconciliation. I told her to leave me alone. Nothing happened.”
“Jeannie, your ex-fiancée,” I put in.
“Fiancée?” Chloe asks him. “I thought you two just dated.”
“We were only engaged just over a month when we split. It doesn’t matter.”
She looks slain with betrayal.
Fucking goof.
“Since you’ll be off Chloe’s medical benefits after she marries me, I’ll buy you insurance and cover everything not included. Also, I’ll arrange for you to meet with the exoskeleton people you’ve been researching. I’ll pay for that equipment, too.”
“The what?” Chloe looks even more thrown.
I answer for him. “It’s an expensive rechargeable suit that he’d wear and use to walk. I’ll even buy you two suits, Hallman, so you can wear one while the other one charges.”
“How did you know I’ve been researching that?” he asks. “How do you know this much about me?”
“I get daily reports of your technology habits,” I admit and then I smile. “Yep. Got reports of all of your web surfing habits. Dating back about… oh… five or six years.”
I lean forward and rest my forearms on my knees. “Lots of information at my fingertips, Hallman.”
He flinches and blinks a couple times. “Including a recording that just happens to be from the night of my accident? That doesn’t sound like a coincidence.”
“It is. I have pretty good software that sifts through security footage and uses facial recognition. Lucky for me you chose to meet your ex at one of my clubs.”
Chloe stares at him with concern before her eyes ping back to me.
“I know all your secrets. All of both of your secrets.”
Hallman swallows and looks down, eyebrows wrinkling.
