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You weren’t supposed to be here. He had been looking right at Connor when he said it. My heart threatened to crush itself in the grief that exploded in my chest. This man, this beautiful man… how could he?
“Sadie, what’s up?” Connor’s eyebrows pulled together, and my arm ached terribly, but I pushed away from him again, nearly falling into the pouring rain in the street.
“Don’t touch me,” I hissed, blinking away tears. “Don’t you dare touch me.”
“Huh?” Connor looked genuinely confused and I almost felt bad for him for a moment. I pushed away my feelings and shook my head.
“It was your father, Connor.” It hurt me to even say his name and I felt the bitter taste of it on my tongue. “He orchestrated the whole thing, both times. He paid the man to attack us at the train station and then he paid him to come to Oliver’s shop and… hell, I don’t even know. Kill him? I wouldn’t put anything below Elias Lennox at this point.”
“How do you know that? Why would he do that?” Connor asked me, taking a step toward me and then retreating when I flinched.
I had to admit that Connor was good at pretending to be innocent. If I hadn’t felt the truth in my very bones, I probably would have believed him myself. I wanted to believe him and to have everything go back to the way it was, just the two of us, perfectly in love.
“Well, uh,” Alex said from behind us, unaware that he was interrupting anything at all. “I have to get this footage back to the studio. If you guys are okay now, I mean. You’re coming later, right?”
I couldn’t speak, but Connor nodded. “Yeah, man. We’ll be there to back you up.”
Alex gave us both a little grin, looking tired. “Try not to look in love or anything, alright? I know it’s difficult but try for me at least?”
“It won’t be a problem,” I told him emotionlessly, looking at where my brother was talking to a cop under an umbrella, waving his hands around enigmatically. “Thank you for letting us know, Alex.”
“Yeah,” Alex nodded, looking between us with a concerned expression on his face. “You guys sure you’re alright? Sadie, you look a little pale.”
I shot him a smile that I knew was strained. “We’re both fine. Everything is fine.”
“Right,” he dragged the word out awkwardly, pulling up his hood and covering his camera as he ran through the rain to hail a cab.
Lightning flashed over Connor’s face, catching on high cheekbones and pale eyes. This morning, I would have been glad to have Connor staring at me, unconcerned with anything else. The look he was giving me was one of confusion and maybe a little bit of anger. Good, then it wasn’t just me. I had let myself fall for this man, let myself bare my soul to those blue eyes, and been given heartbreak in return. Stupidly, I had been planning out some kind of life with Connor Lennox. I felt like an idiot now, getting the rug snatched from underneath my feet and falling onto my ass. I should have known that the child of Elias Lennox could never be anything but his father’s son.
“You told him, Connor,” I whispered brokenly. “You helped him do it, didn’t you?”
I caught sight of Oliver staring at us in concern from his spot in front of the cop as Connor threw up his hands. “Are you serious right now? Are you actually implying that I had something to do with this? That my father had something to do with this? I mean, I knew that you hated him, but this is just ridiculous.”
“Oh, now I’m ridiculous and your father is a saint, huh?” I scoffed, pointing a finger at him. “You know who he is, and now, now I know who you are too.”
“You’re not making any sense here, you know that?” Connor’s voice was taut, pulled on the edge, and ready to snap at any moment. “Why don’t you just be clear with me? What exactly do you think that I did?”
“Are you serious?” I wanted to laugh, but my head hurt, and my arm ached, and I wanted nothing more than to be away from Connor and the crushing heartbreak that had come with him.
“Yeah,” Connor shrugged shortly, looking away. “Just tell me what you think I did.”
“You helped your father threaten me and try to kill my brother,” I said flatly.
Connor’s face was unreadable.
“You both tried to intimidate us, and you let him know when Oliver would be at the shop by himself and that he didn’t lock the door. You did that because there’s no one else that knew it.”
“I can’t believe what I’m hearing right now.” Connor shook his head, his mouth pinched into a sour frown. He actually looked heartbroken and in pain. “After everything we’ve been through together, you really think I would do that? Even after risking myself for you and your brother in the way that I did? Sadie, please think about it.”
