Chapter 116
The way Mateo’s looking at me now makes the hair on the back of my neck stand. I can tell he sees the shift in my mood. He’s watching me put an
together.
“Why did you come. Hunter?” he finally says. “It certainly wasn’t to harass my guest.”
I lean forward. Might as well go straight to the point. “I came to ask you a question. And you can only answer it correctly”
“What question is that?”
“You know what.”
“I don’t,” he says, voice smooth. “Please tell me.”
I grit my teeth. “Don’t play games with me. Did you or did you not seek me out specifically because I’m connected to Knox? And then you bought into a company where Knox’s girlfriend works. What is your plan here?”
The warmth vanishes from his face so fast it’s like someone flipped a switch. When he speaks again, his voice is colder.
“Have you ever been betrayed by someone you trusted, Hunter?”
“What’s that got to do with anything? Everyone’s been betrayed.”
“I’m sure you have. You stopped speaking to your best friend because you believe he doesn’t care about your feelings. He chose a woman over you, let her walk all over your life like it didn’t matter. Used your wedding as a stage for their own performance. I bet every time you think about the fact that they’re still together and you’re alone, you get angrier.”
I stare at him. My jaw locks.
“You’re not my shrink,” I say. “Stop with your theories.”
“Oh, I’m not done.” He sets his cane across his lap. “What did Knox say to you to excuse what he did? I can imagine him saying he couldn’t let you marry a bad woman. That you deserved better. And yet… he’s a bad man. His girlfriend isn’t much better. But they’re sticking together, aren’t they?”
He pauses just long enough for the silence to burn.
“He knew who your ex–fiancée was all along. Kept it from you. Let you almost walk toward that altar blind. And then, instead of keeping up the act so you can live out your days in blissful ignorance, he decided to rip the curtain open on your wedding day.”
I look away, jaw grinding, eyes fixed on a smear on the far wall.
Everything he’s saying–every word–I’ve thought before. Alone. In quiet moments. On nights I couldn’t sleep. I just never said them aloud. Never let anyone else know how deep they’d gotten under my skin. But I’m not going to let him use that against me.
“You can’t get to me, Mateo,” I mutter. “I’m not joining your army. And I need to know right now what you want from me, Knox, and Sloane, or I’m
quitting.”
“You can’t quit.”
“Would you like a demonstration?”
There’s a beat of silence. Then he smiles.
“Fine,” he says. “Your friend took many things from me, and I want to take something from him in return. I’m not even asking for much. Just o substantial thing. The thing he values most?”
He taps his fingers against the cane, his eyes never leaving mine.
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Chapter 116
“I just can’t figure out if that’s a member of his family. His money. A particular asset. Or his girlfriend. You’re going to help me figure that out, Hunter. You and Soraya.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You heard me. You will help me.”
“Or what?”
He doesn’t answer, just leans back, hands folded over the cane with a wide smile on his face that doesri’t reach his eyes.
And somehow, that smile makes my skin crawl more than all his frowns combined. I don’t like being threatened. Not one bit..
འ~KNOX་འ
It’s taking more patience than I normally require to maintain the speed limit. My right foot keeps twitching on the gas pedal, as though it has a will of its
own.
My phone is on speaker, balanced precariously in the console tray. Sloane’s voice is the only thing that’s keeping me from flooring it all the way to Finn’s place and kicking his damn door off its hinges.
“Promise me you won’t do anything crazy, Knox,” she says.
I blow out a breath through my nose, gripping the wheel tighter. “Like what? Kill Finn?”
“I don’t even know if you’re joking right now.”
I glance at the rearview mirror, not because I need to–but because it helps to look at something other than the white line I’ve been mentally tracing for the last fifteen blocks.
“Trust me,” I say. “There was a time that statement would’ve been true. If I could stall my hand back then, you don’t have to worry about what I’ll do to Finn now.”
“That’s great to hear,” she says, but she doesn’t sound particularly comforted. She sounds like she’s trying to talk herself into believing it. “All you have to do is listen patiently to whatever your brother has to say. Listen with an open mind. We all have questions, and we can only hope the answers in our heads are not true.”
“Are you talking about Finn implying my father slept with a teenager?” I ask.
She goes quiet.
“He didn’t say that,” she finally responds.
I nod once, even though she can’t see me. “That’s what he implied.”
“We can’t draw conclusions from a vague statement,” she says, trying to reason it through. “He could have meant anyone else. But even if what we believe turns out to be true, don’t overreact. Just come home, and we’ll think it through together. I know how hurtful it feels to find out someone blamed you for something they did, and you had to carry the blame for years. Especially if that someone is your father. Whatever happens, be cool.”
Cool.
That’s one hell of an ask when I’m thinking about throwing my brother out his window. First, he lied all those years ago. And now he’s lying again? What does he hope to achieve with this stunt?
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Chapter 116
“I’m cool,” I say, even though my pulse tells a different story. “And I don’t believe for a second that my father did it. 50 Finn better have a good reason why he cooked up this story.”
“I don’t mean to be the pessimist here,” she says gently, “but why are you so sure your father isn’t involved?”
I shake my head, trying to clear the haze gathering behind my eyes.
“Because,” I say, the words rising from somewhere low inside me, “unlike Finn, I know Lydia is my father’s daughter.”
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