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“Okay…” My brows drew together as he brought me the folder. He handed it to me but didn’t let go right away.
“Let me warn you—it’s not going to be easy to see this.” He glanced at Axel. “You told her I was doing this, right?”
Axel paused, looking my way guiltily. “I didn’t.”
I widened my eyes. “Uh, guys? What is in here?”
Damian cleared his throat, easing into the chair beside me. We set the folder on the table between us. “I did some investigating.”
“That’s code for hacking,” Axel piped up.
Damian shrugged. “Call it what you want. There’s no trace of it anyway. I just did some digging into Eli at Axel’s request. I combed through the files that I could find.”
“Which were probably all of them,” Axel added.
Damian twisted to look at him, then looked back at me. “He makes it sound like I don’t do anything but absorb illicit information.”
Axel laughed. “I’m just giving her background information.”
Damian rolled his eyes before he continued. “Listen. There’s some difficult stuff in here. I brought out the most important information though. What you do with it is completely your call, of course. But I think it’ll help you in your next steps.” He squeezed my wrist before standing. “And now, I need to go work out some stress. I’ll be in the gym if you guys need me.”
Damian saluted his brother before heading into the recesses of the penthouse. When it was just Axel and I, we shared a heavy look.
“So you don’t know what’s in here?” I asked.
“I don’t. I didn’t even realize he’d done it already.” He came over to the table, occupying the seat Damian had used. “I completely forgot to tell you I’d asked him to do some digging. But I did tell you Eli didn’t have my hacktivist.”
“You did.” I licked dry lips. “I’m just a little nervous to open this.”
“Do you want me to look first?” he offered.
I nodded, swallowing a knot in my throat. I had approximately one hundred bad ideas of what might await me in that folder. I just hoped that some of it might make my pending divorce case even slightly easier.
Axel took the folder from me gently. I tried to gauge his expressions as he read silently, but he remained staunchly neutral. He’d only give the occasional “Hm” as he read.
“What’s in there?” I finally asked, when the thumping of my heart had grown almost painful.
Axel didn’t respond right away. But when he finally dragged his gaze up to meet mine, I saw the reactions he'd been hiding from me. Sadness spilled out of him. He was hurting for me. And that made my stomach plummet all over again.
“Do you want the bad or the worst news first?” His words came out on the edge of a whisper.
“Worst.”
“He’s been cheating on you since before you got married.”
I pinched my eyes shut, relief warring with disgust. I had no right to feel wronged—I’d been technically cheating on him for the past few weeks, even though our separation had started months ago. But when we’d been living under the pretense of a happy couple, I’d never have imagined sleeping with anyone else.
And I’d stupidly thought that might have applied to him, as well.
“The woman he’s texted the most over the past year is someone named Jazz,” Axel murmured.
A gasp rocketed out of me. “Jazz? Are you fucking serious?”
Axel looked up at me. “Do you know her?”
“She’s my fucking Pilates instructor.” Pieces began clicking together. I remembered the last time I’d seen them in the same room, the oddly intimate undertones to their conversation that had struck me as odd, but I’d brushed off. “I thought she was cool. I really liked her.”
“Fuck Jazz,” Axel confirmed. “I’ll find you a cooler Pilates instructor.”
