He turned to Nicole, eyes blazing. "You’re wrong...we did not dr*g you, did not take the photos, and we are not blackmailing you."
Nicole raised a brow, clearly unconvinced. "Then who is? You expect me to believe I just imagined all of this? That someone magically spiked my drink and clicked photos without me knowing?"
"Yes," I jumped in quickly before Dave could blow up again. "That’s exactly what we’re saying. Someone set you up. But it wasn’t us."
For a second, Nicole just stared at me, like he was trying to read my soul. My stomach twisted.
His eyes narrowed. "Then prove it."
I froze. My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth. Prove it? How was I supposed to prove something I didn’t even understand myself?
I was still debating what exactly to reveal to him when Dave suddenly cut in.
Dave leaned forward, his voice steady but rough. "We don’t need to prove innocence. The burden is on the one making the accusation. And right now, all you’ve got are assumptions, and that too, wrong."
I blinked twice, not able to believe it. Dave Morris, the cold-hearted husband of mine, could speak more than a few words.
Nicole scoffed, breaking the trance, and I once again focused on their *civil conversation*.
"Easy for you to say, sitting there looking smug. But until I see proof, you’re guilty in my eyes."
The tension thickened again, crawling over my skin like heat. I couldn’t take it anymore.
"Enough!" I snapped, louder than I meant to. Both of them actually flinched, their glares breaking to look at me as they were shocked by my sudden high-pitched interruption.
I took a shaky breath, my hands clenched on my knees. "You want proof, Nicole? Fine. I will provide you with the evidence, but in return, you will tell us everything."
I paused in between, letting the tension in the surrounding rise as I wanted him...both of them to take it seriously. "And by everything, I mean every single detail."
Nicole’s smirk faltered. Dave’s jaw unclenched just a little.
For the first time since this nightmare started, silence didn’t feel like the enemy.
I felt that my words finally got through his thick skull as I saw him sinking into his chair as he sighed in defeat.
And the next moment, the words coming out of his mouth were nothing but bliss, "Fine then."
"It all started with... that night," Nicole began, his voice low, steady, and tense, as if reviving the memory itself hurt.
"One of my old friends opened a club recently and invited me. So, I ended up at the club and met a woman. Nothing personal, just a coincidence."
He paused as if he was contemplating what to tell and what not to.
Rubbing his forehead briefly, as his eyes clouded with the memory of that night. "There was this man... persistent, aggressive. He kept trying to get close to that lady even after several clear denials. She was trying to avoid him, but he wouldn’t back off."
I held my breath, leaning forward slightly as Caroline’s words about the same persistent pervert. My eyes flicked to Dave, and his eyes flicked toward Nicole. His gaze was alert, but calm.
"I could not just watch," Nicole continued, his jaw tightening. "I stepped in. I protected her... stopped the guy before he could touch her. But she was already drunk...or someone had spiked her drink. I had the staff take care of it, make sure she was safe."
I swallowed hard. My mind was racing to picture the scene. Nicole’s voice did not waver, but I could feel the weight of every word.
"I thought the matter was solved, and when I asked for my own drink... something was off. I felt it immediately."
Dave’s jaw tightened at that, his fists curling at his sides, while I felt my breath catch in my throat.
God, why did this sinking feeling claw at me, like a warning I couldn’t escape?
Somehow, I knew where it was going, yet my mind wanted to deny this fact.
"My hands shook, my vision blurred, and the music around me faded into a dull roar in my ears."
I glanced at Dave, and for the first time, I saw real fear flash across his face. My own chest ached at the thought, because whatever Nicole was describing, it was no act.
Seeing his expression, it felt as if he was reliving those dreadful memories.
"Before I could lose consciousness completely, with the help of someone, I staggered down to a room which happened to be the same room that woman was in."
His voice echoed in my head like a warning bell. Loud enough to pierce through my ear making me almost deaf.
"But at the time I did not know it, so I got in to survive the night. The walls spun, the floor tilted, and then everything went black."
Dave’s eyes narrowed, trying to piece it together, while my stomach twisted in knots. I did not want to picture it, but my mind betrayed me, shoving those images right in front of my eyes.
"When I woke up the next morning... I was a wreck." He paused, his voice rough, and my stomach tightened.
"My clothes were crumpled, half undone... like I had been dragged through the night instead of sleeping in it."
Nicole’s hands curled into fists at his sides. "My head...God, it was splitting apart. Every sound, every flicker of light felt like it was tearing me open."
I felt my throat dry as I glanced at Dave, whose eyes had gone hard, unreadable.
"And the worst part?" Nicole’s voice dipped lower. "I couldn’t even piece together how I had gotten to the bed. Whole hours of my life... just gone."
The weight of his words sank into the room like a stone. "Every inch of me screamed that something had gone terribly, terribly wrong."
My heart lurched at his words. This was it...the truth hit me like a punch.
He was the man in those pictures with Caroline.