Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107262 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107262 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
“You didn’t blackmail him, then?” she questions.
“No,” I answer honestly.
"So Evan’s full of shit,” she states with a scoff. “I knew it.”
“Yet, here you are,” I remind her.
She sighs, looking around my office before her eyes land heavily on my computer, making me wonder exactly what Evan told her.
“I thought being here would help me find clarity to figure out Evan’s play, because I knew he was up to something, so I’ve been sitting here, trying to work it out in my mind and examine it from every angle. And I knew you’d come, so I was waiting on you.”
I raise a brow, frowning. “You could’ve called me. We could’ve talked at my place tonight.”
Her smile is wry. “I didn’t want to warn you, and I was afraid I’d get distracted if I showed up at your house tonight. And…”
“And what?” I question as I watch her pick at a nonexistent thread on her blouse.
“I want you to show me,” she says tightly before swallowing and then looking up at me.
“Show you what?”
She can barely look me in the eyes.
“What did Evan tell you, exactly?”
“He said you were mentally abusive to Olivia, which ran her to his arms for some sort of sanctuary, and in your fury, you blackmailed her, forcing her to flee the city. And then you’re lording some email over him, which I’m supposed to delete.”
That motherfucker! I jump from the desk, unable to stay seated and attempt to control my rising anger. He’s a fucking prick through and through.
Raven flinches at my sudden movement and volume, but there is no fear in her eyes. She’s looking back at me boldly. She says, “I want to see the email,” and it’s nearly my undoing.
“You don’t believe that, do you?” I demand, feeling sick to my stomach. “That I’m abusive and she ran to him because of me?”
She shakes her head. “Of course not. But after Evan and Elise, I’m a ‘trust, but verify’ girl, especially on matters of the heart, and I… I am in deep with you, and I….”
She clears her throat but doesn’t finish.
“You what?” I push, feeling a touch of hope from the way she’s talking. “You what?”
“I just want to see the email, Dylan.”
My pulse rages, and I stare at her, vulnerable, and I know it’s an ultimatum.
What she’s saying sounds reasonable, but what she’s asking is too much. She wants me to rip through scars that I’ve long buried and hold my heart up to the light of her judgment, trusting that she won’t see the worst of me and simply walk away, leaving me in shambles.
It’s then I notice the tear stains on the sleeve of her blouse and the way she can barely look at me.
“Is there something else I don’t know?” I ask her.
She shakes her head no.
“All of this because of Evan?” I press, and her eyes whip up to mine. Red-rimmed.
“I just want to make sure you’re the person I think you are.”
“Says the woman who broke into my office to give me an ultimatum,” I counter in a low tone.
Her expression flinches, as if my words struck her.
A heavy sigh leaves me. “If there’s no other choice…”
I have to pace, needing an outlet for the anger and fear coursing through me, so that I can force myself to go back to a time that I’ve blocked out for damn good reasons.
“When I found out,” I tell her, “it tore me apart. I went to a very dark place for a long time, and I’ll admit, I spent a lot of personal time and money digging into Olivia and Evan. I kept asking myself how I could’ve missed the signs. Signs that Olivia was unhappy, that Evan was a monster, that they were fucking right behind my back.” I shake my head, remembering.
“What happened to Olivia?” Raven asks me. “Evan said she left town after you ruined her.”
I bark out a laugh, which sounds more bitter than I would have thought considering how old the wound is. “Honestly, I don’t know,” I say. “When Olivia betrayed me, I had one last meeting with her in my apartment at the time. She tried to apologize, said it ‘just happened’, but I was cold and blunt, told her it didn’t matter anymore. I gave her a file box with the things she’d been keeping at my place and took back my key. Other than that, I never kept up with her. I didn’t even ask for the engagement ring back or the wedding rings I left on her doorknob. None of it meant anything anymore.” It dawns on me as I tell her that the pain I prepared to feel isn’t there. When I look back to Raven, though, staring at me like she’s hoping I say all the right things to ease her worries, the agony I felt returns.