Sophia's Point of View
"How were you aware?"
Maya's inquiry lingers in the atmosphere like fog. Her complexion is wan and frightened.
Her confident business woman mask has completely fallen away.
Alexandra lets out a bitter laugh from where she sits on the floor. "Because we're all in the same boat, Maya. We're all dating the same lying man."
Maya looks at us as if we've just announced that the world is about to end. In a sense, we accomplished that.
"That's not possible," Maya murmurs. "Nicholas and I have been a couple for eight months." He cares for me.
He tells me I'm the only woman who understands his business mind."
Eight months. Longer than both Alexandra and me. My stomach twists into knots.
"He tells you that you understand his business mind?" I ask. "What else does he tell you?"
Maya's eyes darted between Alexandra and me. "I don't have to answer that. This is crazy. You're both just jealous because—"
"Because what?" Alexandra stands up, her expensive dress wrinkled from sitting on the bathroom floor. "Because he chose us over you? Maya, wake up. He picked none of us. "He's been treating all of us like fools."
"Negative." Maya vigorously shakes her head. "You are not being truthful." Nicholas would never treat me that way. "We possess something unique."
"Unique." I chuckle, but it resembles more of weeping. "That's what he said to me as well." That's what he mentioned to Alexandra. Each of us is unique, Maya. "Only we truly understand him."
Maya's expression falls apart. She grabs the sink to prevent herself from tumbling.
"But he said..." Her voice breaks. "He said the other women at work were just employees. That I was different because I could match his ambition."
"Different." Alexandra uses a paper towel to clean her smudged mascara. "He said I was unique because I comprehended his world." "The societal aspect of commerce."
"And he said I was unique because I was aware of all his secrets," I include. "Since I was continually present for him."
The three of us are in the tiny bathroom, looking at one another.
Three successful, smart women who were all fooled by the same man.
"How long is it for you?" Maya asks me quietly.
"Six months."
She looks at Alexandra. "And you?"
"Six months too."
Maya sits down heavily on the closed toilet seat. "Eight months for me. I was first." She talks about it as if it's a form of reward.
"I suddenly understood that you weren't the first." "You were merely the trial version." He discovered what resonated with you and then applied those same tactics on us.
"What are you trying to say?" Alexandra inquires.
"Consider it." Maya enjoys discussions about business, so he expresses that she recognizes his aspirations. Alexandra enjoys social gatherings, so he informs her that she grasps his reality. I manage his private affairs, which is why he says I know his secrets. He customized his deceit to align with what each of us hoped to believe.
The restroom is silent, with only the buzzing of the fluorescent lights overhead. Three women confronting the same harsh reality.
"I can't fathom how foolish I was," Maya murmurs.
"We were not foolish," Alexandra asserts confidently.
"We were in love. Love makes people believe things they want to be true."
"Were we in love?" I ask. "Or did we just love the idea of being chosen by someone like Nicholas?"
It's a hard question. But looking back now, I wonder if I loved Nicholas the man or Nicholas the successful billionaire who made me feel important.
"I thought he was going to leave his other life for me," Maya says. "He always talked about how complicated his situation was. How he needed time to figure things out."
"He told me the same thing," Alexandra admits. "That office relationship was complicated but someday we could be open about it."
"He told me we had to be secret because people would think he was giving me special treatment," I say.
We all used the same excuses. The same reasons why we had to hide. We all accepted it without question, believing we were receiving something that the others weren't.
"When will you meet him?"
Maya asks suddenly. "I mean, when are your dates?"
"Late nights at the office mostly," I say. "After everyone goes home. Sometimes we have dinner together."
"I see him on weekends," Alexandra says. "Fancy restaurants and charity events. He tells people I'm his assistant, but we're really on dates."
"Business trips," Maya adds. "He brings me to client meetings in other cities. We share hotel rooms, but we have to pretend it's just for work."
Different days. Different times. Different places. Nicholas has our whole lives scheduled so we never cross paths during his romantic time with each of us.
"He's been planning this," Alexandra realizes. "This isn't just him being weak or making mistakes. He deliberately set up three separate relationships."
"But why?" Maya asks. "Why not just pick one of us?"
"Because he doesn't want to pick," I say. "He wants all of us. The business collaborator, the social friend, and the personal aide who manages everything. "Why settle for one option when you can enjoy everything?"
The door knob shakes once more. Another person requires the restroom.
"Alexandra suggests we leave this place." "Everyone will begin to realize that we are all absent."
"What happens now?" Maya asks. "Do we tell him we know?"
"Do we break up with him?" Alexandra adds.
I think about Nicholas sitting in his office, probably texting one of us about tonight. Likely thrilled about his hotel rendezvous with Alexandra as he arranges his upcoming covert encounter with Maya. Likely relying on me to manage every detail while remaining entirely unaware.
"Not at all," I responded deliberately. "We haven't informed him about anything so far."
"What are you trying to say?"
Maya asks.
"I mean Nicholas thinks he's smarter than us. He thinks we're just silly women who will do whatever he wants. He thinks he can juggle three relationships without any consequences."
"So?" Alexandra asks.
"Perhaps it's time to prove to him he's mistaken."
The two other women gaze at me with curiosity. I notice a transformation occurring in their expressions. The pain persists, but another feeling is developing as well
Something harder. Angrier.
"What are you suggesting?" Maya asks.
"I'm implying that Nicholas Blackwood isn't aware of who he's up against," I state. "He believes he can manipulate our emotions to his advantage." He believes he can have us rival one another as he relaxes and watches the performance.
"However, we are no longer in competition," Alexandra remarks, a realization dawning in her tone.
"No, we aren't." At this point, we understand the reality.
And now we can use that truth against him."
Maya stands up, her business mind clearly working. "You're talking about revenge."
"I'm talking about justice," I correct. "Nicholas has been playing games with our hearts. Maybe it's time we played some games with his life."
The three of us look at each other in the bathroom mirror. An hour ago, we were rivals who didn't even know we were rivals. Now we're something else entirely.
"He thinks he knows us," Alexandra says. "He thinks he can predict what we'll do."
"He thinks I'll keep being his perfect assistant," I add. "Booking his hotel rooms and buying his roses."
"He thinks I'll keep giving him business advice and making him money," Maya says.
"And he believes I'll continue being his eye candy at upscale gatherings," Alexandra concludes.
We're all contemplating the same idea.
We all have access to different parts of Nicholas's life. His business, his social world, his personal affairs. Separately, we were just girlfriends he could manipulate. Together...
Together we could be dangerous.
"Should we proceed with this," Maya states cautiously, "we must approach it wisely." Nicholas didn't become wealthy by acting foolishly. If he discovers what we're up to...
"I doubt he'll solve it," I state with greater assurance than I truly possess. "Since he believes we're too sentimental to collaborate."
He thinks we'll be too jealous of each other to cooperate."
"Are we?" Alexandra asks. "Too jealous to work together?"
I look at her. Really look at her. An hour ago, I despised this woman. I believed she was taking my boyfriend. Now I realize she was merely another casualty of the same falsehoods.
"I don't feel jealous of you," I say to her sincerely. "I'm upset with him."
"Me too," Maya says. "He made us think we were enemies when we should have been friends."
"So we become friends now," Alexandra says. "And we make Nicholas pay for what he did to us."
Someone pounds on the bathroom door. "Hello! Is everything okay there?"
We looked at each other one last time. Three women about to make a decision that will change everything.
"Are we really doing this?" Maya whispers.
"Are we really going to take down Nicholas Blackwood?" Alexandra adds.
I think about the hotel room I booked for him. The roses I ordered. The text message where he laughed about how clueless I was. The way he used my love for him to help him romance another woman.
"Yes," I say. "We're really doing this."
We unlock the door and file out of the bathroom. The woman waiting outside gives us a strange look, but we ignore her.
Back at our desks, we all pretend to work normally. But everything has changed. Nicholas has no idea that his three secret girlfriends just became his three biggest enemies.
My computer pings with a new email from Nicholas. "Remember tonight." You've been incredibly supportive with all the preparations.
I owe you dinner soon."
He owes me dinner. After I helped him plan his romantic evening with Alexandra.
I type back: "Happy to help. You can count on me for anything."
And I mean it. He can count on me. Just not in the way he thinks.
A message from an unfamiliar number makes my phone buzz. Upon checking it, I noticed it's fr
om Alexandra.
"Coffee shop on Fifth Street. After work. We need to plan."
A few seconds later, another text appears. This one from Maya.
"I'll bring my laptop. Nicholas has no idea what's coming."