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Why am I defending myself? Why do I think it will even matter to her?
She shakes her head, clearly fighting off new tears. “Stop! I can’t handle more of your bullshit. Yes, I probably deserve this heartbreak for all the wretched things I’ve done in the past. Fine. I’ll heal. I’ll learn from this mistake and move on. At least I can live with the knowledge that I was genuine with you. But you know the really terrible part? If you had come to me and told me your actual name and said that you’d once wanted payback but had changed your mind, I would have believed you. I would have forgiven you. I still would have loved you. But that’s my fatal flaw: blind loyalty. No more. I’m done being lied to and used. Fuck off.” She wrenches free. “And don’t come back.”
I stand numbly as she dashes away and disappears into the bar. Through the open awning, I see her disappear down the hall. She appears a moment later under the bright lights, wiping her cheeks, purse on her shoulder. Samantha hugs her. Andy says something that has her shaking her head. Then she disappears out the back door.
“I fucking want to break your goddamn face right now.”
Zipping around, I glare at Lund. “Because I fucked your girl, too?”
It’s a nasty swipe, and I wish I could take the words back the minute they’re out of my mouth. What if Bethany was being honest and Stephen really is just a friend? What if she genuinely gave all her body not to keep herself—but her father—from prosecution? What if she really loved me?
What if I was too fucking suspicious to listen?
That seems to break his calm. “No, because you fucked her over, just like I suspected you would the minute I started digging into you and nothing added up. You broke a good friend’s fragile heart. Did I take Bethany to bed once? Yeah. She’d never known what it was like to have sex with someone she liked and trusted. So I tried to be there for her. It wasn’t passionate. It never happened again. I tried to be good to her. And you’re being an absolute shit for not grasping that the multimillionaire scumbags her father hooked her up with were strangers who saw her as nothing more than a piece of ass. Believe me when I tell you Barclay didn’t give two shits what Bethany had to do to make his life better. He expected it of her, and she tried so, so hard to please that terrible son of a bitch. She had no one else. The worst of it is after Braden finished with her, she felt so dirty and terrible and worthless. She admitted to me years ago that’s how she always felt after sex. I hated Barclay for putting her in that position. But you know what? I loathe you even more right now because you just made her feel a hundred times worse than her father ever did.”
I flinch, but his words still flay me open. “Don’t lecture me.”
“You need to hear the fucking truth,” he roars back. “Finally faced with overwhelming evidence that her father had swindled all their clients, Bethany did the bravest thing she could, you righteous motherfucker. She took everything Barclay had stashed in her safe, prowled through every bit of it, including his electronic records she accessed via his password records. Then she made sure it all reached the FBI. That woman you think took everything from you, including your father? When they first arrested Barclay, the FBI only had circumstantial evidence. Bethany changed that. She’s the only reason Barclay Reed will be going to prison.”
I stagger back. Stare. The words repeat themselves in my head.
Oh, my god.
“How do you know that for sure?”
“Suspicious till the end?” He shakes his head. “My half sister, Nia, told me. Her husband, Evan, confirmed since Bethany asked him to provide the feds access to Barclay’s files on his private storage servers. I came to Maui because, like her, I’m having to deal with the sins of my father. And there are a lot of them, some I may never be able to forgive. But I also came because I knew Bethany was here and because I suspected she’d be hurting and need a friend. I intended to convince her that I didn’t blame her for Barclay getting Amanda pregnant. I’m pissed, but my sister is an adult. She knew exactly who he was. At least half this shit is her fault. My dad wouldn’t hear any of that. He went all V is for Vendetta on Bethany’s father. And now we’re in this fucking mess.” He shakes his head in disgust. “But I’ll take her from here. You go back to North Dakota, though I’d rather you burn in hell. And stay the hell away from Bethany. I’ll take care of her until the real Mr. Right comes along.”
