Page 154 of The Exit Strategy

I open my mouth, and Hudson cuts me off. “Cole, I swear to God. Don’t say a fucking word.” Hudson’s now in attorney mode, but I need my friend.

“He left me for you over and over and over again, so Itook matters into my own hands. Cole said he’d agree to my terms so long as I turned over all my evidence, but I’ve never been stupid.” Her nasty gaze cuts to mine. “It appears he’s going back on his word.” She shrugs. “Whatever will I do?”

“Terms,” Junie says. Plainly. Like two plus two equals four.

Natalie’s completely lost the plot and has zero situational awareness. People are staring, and she doesn’t seem to care. “The terms were simple. I wouldn’t do anything with this treasure trove of information, and in return, all he had to do was supply me with designs that would elevate my career. I have a brother to protect, you know.” She licks her lips. “But my favorite condition? The one that gives mesuchpleasure? He had to stay the fuck away from broken little Junie Mercer.”

Junie isn’t giving Natalie the satisfaction of eye contact. Her gaze cuts through mine with every word Natalie spews.

“Is it true?” Junie asks, her gaze pleading, her fire igniting, but not in a good way. No, this is the ignition that will blow up the entire house.

My mouth can’t form words.

Hudson’s cursing into his phone but staying within arm’s reach.

“Cole,” Junie warns. “Is. This. True?”

Every weight I’ve ever carried begins to crumble, cutting off my vocal cords. “Yes.”

One word. It falls from my lips like a wrecking ball.

“All of it?”

“Yes.” Shame makes it hard to keep eye contact, but for her, I do. I owe her that.

“You’ve been paying my worst bully, my worst tormentor, for years without telling anyone?”

Hatred has my gaze cutting to Natalie, who finally takes a goddamn step back.

What the fuck does she mean, Natalie was her worst bully?

“What?” Hudson raises his voice, and the hair on my neck stands on end. How did none of us know this?

“All to protect me,” Junie says with no intonation. “From hateful words of a mother who never loved me, from fraud I didn’t commit, and from losing a house so haunted it can never be a home?”

That’s not?—

“Yes.” I’m raw and exposed. “You have to understand. If I didn’t get your house out of foreclosure, if I didn’t take over the loans, the legal repercussions would have impacted both you and Nolan regardless if it was true or not. Boston is a small city, Junie. You have that kind of thing following your name, and you never would’ve been able to live out your dream. Nolan would’ve dropped out of med school. Hudson was only in law school. I?—”

“You fixed it. While blowing up your life and actively breaking my heart. And tonight, you stood out there and protected her by explaining your own memorial like you were a consultant and not the creator.” Junie’s fingers wrap around the diamond on her left hand. It slides up to the middle of her knuckle, then back down. It happens once, twice, three times.

It’s as though her body is releasing me along with her heart, and all the structures I’ve used to lift us up crack under the weight of what I was trying to do.

I close my eyes. “Yes.”

When I open them, I don’t find the locked-down fury I’d braced myself for. Her expression is something smaller. Something that looks like a door quietly closing on the other side of the world.

“I need you tonotfollow me.”

“Junie—”

“Cole.” Quiet. Final.

“Listen to her, Cole.”

I chance a look in Hudson’s direction. His fury still burns, but it’s lined with a sadness I rarely see from him.

“You said to tell you when I wanted to run. I’m respecting your wishes. I’m telling you I’m running. Now I need you to respect mine and stand here until I’m in a car,” Junie says, and the fissures in my heart crack open wider. “I need you to stay here and collect the money for The Haven. I need you to finish this evening for Nana Mae because you’ve both already lost too much. I need you to not touch me, and I need you to not come after me. Do you understand me?”