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Utah froze.
Liam didn’t wait for her to answer, just raised his index finger and said, “I have an idea. I think this will shed some light on things.”
The room dimmed and a video started to play on the screen. She recognized it immediately. It was from the elevator yesterday. No one said a word as Riley’s words echoed off the walls.
The sound stopped once Riley hit the emergency button a second time, and Liam used that as a chance to stop the video.
The lights came back up, and he turned to face Utah with eyebrows raised.
“You want to stick with your story?”
Chapter Sixty-Three
Liam
After the board meeting ended and Riley McCormick was hauled away in handcuffs, she sat in his office with her hands in her lap, her head bowed.
“What did I say was the only way you could make me mad?”
Her voice was barely a whisper when she responded, “Lie to you.”
“Lie to me,” he confirmed.
He wanted to shake her, kiss her, spank her ass, and hug her—all at once.
“I’m sorry, Sir.” She reached for a tissue and wiped the tears flowing down her cheeks. “I didn’t know what else to do.”
“You—you didn’t know what else to do? How about come to me and tell me what happened!”
“I didn’t want you to get hurt.”
“I’m supposed to be the one protecting you, Utah. Not the other way around.” He stared at her as he sat back in his chair. “If Bill Olsen hadn’t called me to his office yesterday…” He shook his head as he thought about how differently things could have gone had Riley not pressed that emergency button.
It turned out that whenever the elevator emergency stop button was triggered, audio and video automatically started recording. But an astute guard had been paying attention and witnessed the whole thing, then immediately alerted his boss, Bill, the head of security. As soon as Bill watched the footage, he notified Liam right away.
Her head came up, the defiant look that he’d come to love was back in her eyes.
“So, you knew last night, and yet you didn’t say anything to me when you got home.”
“I was hoping you’d tell me on your own.”
“Did it ever occur to you that I might have been a little traumatized? I was planning on going to prison for who knows how long for something I didn’t do!”
“Exactly. You put yourself in harm’s way. You were going to sacrifice your freedom without trusting me to help you.”
“I was protecting you!”
His heart had broken for her last night. He knew she was struggling, and he mentally willed her to confide in him. Practically begged her to as he made love to her. Yet, she still hadn’t turned to him, and that pissed him off.
“I’ll follow you home. Be naked by the time I walk inside.”
“You’re not being fair.”
He shrugged. “I don’t care.”
**
Phoebe greeted him with an excited whine when he walked in the door.
