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“No?” Niles pondered. “Because to me, it seems like the perfect cover. With a heartbreaking tale like that, we wouldn’t possibly believe you could be working with your father to set up the senator’s son by making him look like a drug addict, thus creating ammunition for a smear campaign and tanking his chances of getting elected for another term.”
Utter shock jolted my body. “What? No.”
Niles preened, pacing a little in front of his captive audience, a true lawyer going in for the kill. “What a perfect opportunity to get back into your father’s good graces. To cozy up to Arsen under the guise of romantic interest so you could plant drugs in his car and get him arrested.”
Did this man have no limits? Not only outing my secrets but twisting them to use them against me. To make me sound just as heinous as my biologic.
Smirking, Niles asked, “Are you even actually gay?”
A choked sound ripped from my throat, burning me with its intensity.
Kruger turned to Jess. “I’m sorry, baby, but I’m not gonna be home tonight,” he said, giving her a little push toward our friends, cracking his knuckles, and then lunging at the lawyer.
The two officers who arrested us grabbed my brother and pulled him back, restraining his arms around his back.
Kruger turned his ire toward Arsen. “You’re seriously gonna stand there and let that lizard spew poison about him!”
This was really out of hand, especially in a police station. I couldn’t help but glance around, wondering what everyone else was thinking.
Someone across the room was eating popcorn.
Someone else was sipping water from the water cooler.
The custodian was sweeping the floor. The same spot he’d been sweeping when we got here.
I was entertainment. An in-the-flesh reality show playing live.
Bro, you better not be eating popcorn right now. Put it down.
Okay, honestly? I wasn’t really thinking about what everyone else was thinking. Just one person.
Dread made me nauseous. Insecurity made me shake. Ignoring the rapid and unrelenting twitching in my eyelid, I slowly looked up.
He was only a few feet away, but it felt like thousands of miles. Our stares met, and my heart tugged, a silent plea for my body to go to him. My fingers curled into my palms, nails scraping over the flesh to relieve the sudden itching in my hands.
I would never do this to you. My stare begged him to believe.
His eyes flickered but then went black once more, betrayal and anger the only thing I could find even as I desperately sought more.
“He’s the only one with motive and opportunity.” Niles pressed, his words far less aggressive than before. Probably because he also saw the look on Arsen’s face. “He set you up, Arsen. He planted those drugs in your car,” he taunted, shifting the evil gleam in his eyes to me. “It looks like your father was right after all. You are a liability because you couldn’t even do it right.”
His words were a vacuum, sucking all the oxygen out of the room, making my lungs shrivel. Your father was right. You’re a liability.
I scrambled for footing. For an anchor to keep me from completely caving in. My heart hurt. So much. I rubbed my chest, instinctively going to Arsen.
The look on his face halted my steps.
The world that had rearranged around him imploded.
He didn’t believe me.
26
Arsen
“This has gotten out of hand,” I heard my father say, but I was still staring at Matthew.
He was struggling. He needed me. I wanted to go to him. I am so damn angry.
