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“Hadn’t put a stop to what?” he inquired.
I didn’t answer that. “Rachel said if I went ahead with my plan, she’d work it so the ‘right’ people knew I had Kat which would get my ass busted for kidnapping a minor.”
“We need to talk to your grandfather about making that charge disappear.”
I swallowed. “Already have.”
“It’s gone?”
I nodded.
“Good. Now, that was a pretty solid threat. Why did she use that against you?”
“Damian Headley wasn’t just the mastermind behind a kidnapping ring. He wasn’t just a serial date rapist. He was also a blackmailer.” I stared down at my boots. “Some of the women had very high-powered fathers.”
A blanket of silence settled over us.
“One of the fathers was a bank president, right?”
His flat tone had me swallowing because I knew he was piecing together what had happened.
“Yeah. Headley had footage of his victims.”
“That’s what Rachel meant. She was talking about you blackmailing someone. The day after the siege at Troy’s.”
I bowed my head. “Yeah.”
“I was a rape victim.”
I kept my gaze on my boots. “And you think I’m not?”
That didn’t appease his anger. “Someone could have done that to me. Hell, to us. I, I mean, we could have been… No one deserves that.” I could hear the ire in his voice shifting, morphing.
Then, there was more silence.
Dead. Stark. Roiling silence.
Until: “I can’t look at you right now.”
And the prophecy came true…
He was leaving.
Fuck, he was leaving.
When his chair rolled back, and he got to his feet and walked out of the room, I didn’t chase after him, didn’t try to defend myself when he knew who I was and what I was capable of.
Instead of justifying myself, I closed my eyes and sought calm.
He had every right to be angry, to be disappointed even.
I just…
I liked this.
Us.
The idea of breaking it was paralyzing.
