Page 66 of Discretion at Its Finest

“You really paid for everything…” I whispered, so soft I almost didn’t hear it—but he did. He glanced over to me before looking down at the folder, then back to my eyes. He placed his hands in his pockets, giving a nonchalant shrug.

“Why wouldn’t I? She’s my mother. Besides, it’s not like it would’ve made a difference.”

“Of course it would’ve.”

“How?” he asked, and all of a sudden I felt rendered quiet. He took my silence as his cue to press further. “How would this have made a difference, Genevieve?” I froze, gazing up at him as he towered over me. I swallowed, the folder trembling faintly in my grip. “Would it have deemed me worthy enough to come back?” he asked quietly, his anger simmering but controlled. “Fixed what happened?”

“That’s not what I meant—”

“You’re saying it mattered,” he pressed. Another step,invading my space. “So tell me how. Tell me why it suddenly matters now.”

My breath hitched. The room felt smaller, hotter. Every lie I’d ever told was clawing up my throat all at once. Suffocating me, blurring my vision, weakening my knees.

“It just… would’ve changed things,” I whispered.

“How?” His voice sharpened, slicing through me. “How would it have changed what you chose?You left me, Vieve.”

“I know—”

“You left,” he repeated, jaw tightening, stepping close enough that his breath grazed my cheek. “And you stayed gone. For years. So tell me, how does this—” his hand shot out, fast, grabbing the folder from my trembling grip. He lifted the papersbetween us, eyes burning ”—change what you decided back then?”

My heart slammed against my ribs. Tears burned hot at the corners of my eyes. His words dug claws into everything I’d buried. Every lie, justification, every night I told myself I hadn’t chosen the wrong man.

It all surged at once—

Gregory stumbling home drunk and miserable. Missing milestones, school meetings, promises. Him choosing everyone, everything but us.

Me lying beside him, making excuses, playing the supportive fiancée, pretending his constant failures didn’t hurt. Pretending his absence wasn’t an open wound in our relationship and that I hadn’t traded the one man who showed up for the one who never did. And meanwhile…

Reid was keeping his mother alive from a thousand miles away. Paying bills he shouldn’t have had to pay. Carrying responsibilities no one ever gave him credit for after what he went through. Showing up in ways Gregory never could.

“It just would have,” I choked.

“That’s not an answer.”

“It’s the truth—”

“Well it isn’t enough,” he seethed. “You want it to matter now. It didn’t matter enough for Raymond. For the man who raised me just to throw me aside for the sake of the family name. It didn’t matter then, so why should it matter now?”

“Because it proves Greg never deserved what I chose him over you for,” I choked. “Because you—”

The truth slammed into my teeth, but I clamped my mouth shut.

No. No. No. I can’t. I can’t. I can’t.

Reid’s gaze sharpened instantly. “Because I what?” he asked, voice low and lethal. “Finish it.”

My pulse lurched. “Nothing,” I breathed.

“No,” he countered, crowding me until the back of my legs hit the chair.

I fell into it, and he followed, hands braced on either armrest, caging me in, his body heat swallowing mine. “You don’t get to hide anymore.” My eyes widened, my pulse jumping, my skin hot.

I shook my head, chest tight, throat burning. He leaned in, voice a razor:

“Say it,” he commanded in a desperate plea for the truth.

My lips parted. The words clawed up my throat—