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Storming into her workplace wasn’t the brightest idea, especially not when I hoped to keep a relatively low profile, but I had no other choice. I needed to get to the bottom of it.
Seeing how beautiful she looked in her business-casual attire, her dark hair pulled into a neat ponytail, and her features perfectly accentuated by makeup made me curse internally.
That didn’t make it any easier for me.
“Why have you been snooping around, trying to dig up dirt on me?” I demanded, standing in the middle of her office. My blood ran hot, and I needed her to know that what she was doing wasn’t okay in the slightest. “I know you were asking Joey questions about me. What’s this all about?”
While remnants of shock remained in her features, it was soon pushed aside for irritation. Forcing out a breath, she stood from her desk and cleared the space over to the door. Before I could say anything else, she pushed it closed until it was only the two of us. I could only assume she didn’t want the entire tenth-floor listening.
“How did you find my office?” She asked, crossing her arms over her chest as she studied me.
“You’re not the only investigator, it seems,” I muttered, surprised by how that aspect seemed to bother her the most. “You work for the local paper, and the receptionist told me where to go.”
“Rachel…” she mumbled under her breath before drawing in another breath and returning to behind her desk.
“She doesn’t matter right now,” I growled, not looking away from her for a second. “Tell me why.”
She threw her hands up in frustration. “I’m just doing my job, Liam. I had reason to believe some things didn’t add up, and I’m getting to the bottom of it.”
I could hardly believe her words. I looked at her incredulously. “So what, you’re trading local business ventures for wanna-be criminal investigations now?”
She cocked a brow at me. “Is that what it is then? You’re telling me I have a criminal case on my hands?”
That fury burned even brighter in my chest. She was a slippery one.
“You’re playing dirty for no reason,” I returned, skirting around that topic. “But something tells me this has nothing to do with you wanting apparent justice.”
Her eyes narrowed at me. “What are you implying?”
“You want to know what I really think?” I asked, finding it harder to hold back. “I think you’re hung up on the other night.”
“I am not,” she snapped back, reaching a similar anger level to my own.
“You’re angry that I wasn’t interested in being romantic with you, and now you’re determined to defame me,” I said, putting my suspicions out there. “Are you really that petty?”
Cora’s face reddened. “You’re wrong. I had a bad feeling about you, so therefore I’m doing my job by investigating it. The townspeople deserve to know about anything sketchy before they decide to support someone like you.”
There was an extra dose of venom in her words that made me recoil.
“You’re meddling in things that you shouldn’t be,” I said, clenching my jaw. “And it’s only for your own sick fascination. Not the people.”
I could almost see Cora winding up, letting all her apparent disdain and resentment for me bubble up.
While I didn’t want to hurt her in any way, I wasn’t prepared to let her endanger not only herself but me, too.
Chapter 14 - Cora
I was seething as Liam stood there in my office like he had the right to be there.
He made it seem like I had nothing better to do with my time than to pry into his private life, but it was more than that. Something in me had a hunch about him, and I wanted that satisfaction of figuring it out.
Regardless of why I wanted to know what his deal was, his accusatory tone only angered me more.
He was arrogant, and that arrogance led him to believe that he could do whatever he wanted and treat me however he pleased. Not only did he make my life a living hell before, but he managed to stir up those old issues, and in a sense, his rejection hurt even worse because of it.
If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t have cared. I would’ve had my fun and stopped while we were ahead. But it was that history that made his dismissal even more damaging. How he decided I was good enough to have sex with, but beyond that, he wanted nothing to do with me.
He used me, and I wanted him to hurt because of it.
