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She was exhausted by deception. Weary from trying to walk the line between truth and an outright lie.
When she returned to West Virginia, she’d tell her grandfather everything.
Before she could dial his number, there was a knock at the door.
Kayleigh.
Savannah hadn’t moved her car or left the apartment in two days. Until this morning, when she’d made her run to the pharmacy looking a disheveled mess. Kayleigh would have noticed and been worried.
Plus, it was Magnolia Lake. News of her firing was probably all over town by now.
Savannah counted to three and opened the door.
“Blake?” Her heart nearly stopped.
He was as handsome as ever in a pair of gray dress pants and a baby blue checkered shirt. Yet there was something in his face and eyes. He looked tired and as miserable as she felt.
“What are you doing here? Did your family decide to—”
“Nothing’s been decided yet.” His response was curt. “That’s why we need to talk. Now.”
Savannah let him in. “Have a seat.”
“No, thank you. I won’t be long.”
Another wave of nausea rolled over her. She sat on the sofa, her legs folded beneath her as Blake paced the floor.
Finally, he turned and glared at her.
“I’m so angry with you, Savannah. I don’t know where to begin.”
She chewed on her lower lip. “Then let me start by saying I am truly sorry. I honestly never meant to hurt you. Even before I knew—”
“How easily you could manipulate me?”
That hurt.
“Before I knew what an incredible man you are. That you’d never purposely hurt anyone. I was wrong about you.”
“Not as wrong as I was about you.” He dropped into the chair across from her, as if his legs had buckled from the weight of the animosity he was carrying.
“I deserve that.”
“You’re damn right you do.” His eyes blazed. “You’re not the first corporate spy we’ve encountered. But none of them seemed willing to take things as far as you did.”
“I didn’t intend to get involved with you. I came here to do a job. And maybe in the beginning, I didn’t care who got hurt. But then I got to know you. All of you. Suddenly, things weren’t so simple.”
“Not that you let that stop you.”
“There was too much at stake. I couldn’t let my feelings for you get in the way.”
His steely gaze cut through her. “You still haven’t told me why you did this. What was your endgame?”
“You wouldn’t understand.” Savannah went to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of ginger ale.
He stood, too, and turned to her, his arms folded. “Try me.”
“Why does it matter?” She put the glass down roughly. “What I did was wrong, but I swear to you, I did it for an honorable reason.”
They stared at each other in silence. They were playing a game of chicken and waiting for the other person to blink.
Savannah walked around Blake, back toward the couch.
“How’s your grandfather?”
She froze, then glanced over her shoulder at him. The hair stood on the back of her neck and her hands trembled. He wasn’t making a friendly inquiry about her family.
Blake knew who she really was.
Still, she wouldn’t blink first. “I was about to call him before you arrived.”
“Why? To tell him his little spy got pinched?” Blake shook his head. “What kind of man would send his granddaughter to do his dirty work for him?”
“My grandfather didn’t send me.” She folded her arms over her chest. “He’d never have allowed me to put myself in jeopardy this way.”
“You expect me to believe Martin McDowell didn’t send you here? That he was oblivious to your little plan?”
“It’s the truth.”
Blake stepped closer. “Your word doesn’t hold water around here anymore.”
Savannah lowered her gaze. Her voice was softer. “Grandpa didn’t know, I swear.”
“Maybe we’re going after the wrong person.” Blake folded his arms and rocked back on his heels. “The marionette instead of the puppet master.”
“No, please…my grandfather didn’t have anything to do with this. It was all me. My sister can testify to that.”
“And was she involved, too?”
“Laney never wanted me to come here, and she’s been begging me to give up and come home.”
Blake rubbed his chin. “You want to keep them out of this? Then tell me the truth. Why did you come here? What does Martin McDowell have against our family?”
Savannah fought back tears. If she showed her hand to the Abbotts, she’d lose the element of surprise and jeopardize any chance of making a claim against them. If she didn’t, her sister and grandfather would be pulled into the mess she’d made.
