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“Heard about what?”
They fell quiet, watching me as if I were a caged animal ready to lose its’ shit. They weren’t far off. I shut the door behind me with a slam.
“Heard about what?” I asked again.
“Kadence, we -”
I lifted my hand to silence Aaliyah. I had a feeling she had more to do with whatever was going on, but I would deal with her later. For now, I wanted to hear it from Caleb.
“I have been harassed, and hackled all morning by every fucking reporter in the damn city and I’m not in the mood for more games, Caleb. Start talking. Now.”
Caleb looked at Aaliyah, and then at me. “What have you heard?”
“That our entire relationship was a ploy to get my Father here.”
Caleb opened his mouth, but didn’t say anything. Silence was as good as an admission.
And it hit me like a freight train.
“Oh God,” I breathed. “It’s true, isn’t it?”
Caleb stepped towards me. “I can explain.” He sounded frantic, and his face drained of color.
“I helped you,” I whispered, feeling my throat tighten. “You lied to me.”
“Just listen to me, Kadence, please.” He reached for my hand, but I snatched it away.
“Tell me it’s not true. Tell me you didn’t use me to get back at my Father for what happened five years ago.”
Caleb looked away from me.
“Why would you do that? I never did anything to you!”
I was bordering on yelling, but didn’t really care who heard me. Everyone on the other side of Caleb’s office door already knew everything anyway.
“I made a mistake,” replied Caleb. “I thought it would be easy, but then I fell in love with you and I didn’t know how to tell you.”
“Tell me? You never should have done this to me at all, Caleb.” Tears spilled onto my cheek. This was worse than walking in on Baxter having sex with my sister. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to recover from this betrayal.
“You didn’t ask me because of the Board, did you?”
Caleb shook his head.
So my sister had been telling the truth.
And the whole city knew it before I did.
How stupid could I be?
“Who else was in on it?” I looked at Aaliyah. “Did you know?”
Aaliyah nodded, but didn’t say anything.
Her quietude was also very telling.
“How could you?” I asked them both. “Has everyone been laughing me the entire time I’ve been here?”
“No,” Aaliyah rushed out. “Macy and I are the only ones who know about this.”
