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No one answered.
Since Vik stood closest to her, Astrid tried to reach for her phone first, insisting, "Let me see." But to Astrid's shock Vik backed away from her, phone clutched to her chest.
And that was when it hit her.
"It's me," Astrid said flatly."Whatever it is - it's about me. Isn't it?"
****
ACHERON WAS AT HISdesk when Wickham came striding in unannounced, an ominous look on his weathered face. "You remember when you asked cyber security to monitor any online activity concerning Ms. Jones and her family?"
The billionaire stiffened. "Have we been found out?"
"It's worse." Wickham placed the printout of the report emailed to him by the company's cyber security division.
What in hell could be worse than the world fucking Pippi's life up just because she had been foolish enough to date him?
He reached for the printout and had his answer in just a few seconds.
FUCK.
It was an anonymously posted exposé about Astrid Jones' affair with a married man and written in such a way that readers were meant to see Pippi's mother as both a home-wrecker and gold-digger. According to the post, Dolph McTavish, a businessman from Chicago, was a happily married man and father of three when he and Astrid happened to share the same flight to Miami.
It had every indication of being a paid character assassination, Acheron realized sickly, and even though his team only had preliminary results to share, he already knew that what his guts were telling him was real.
One way or another, this could and would be traced back to him, and Astrid had merely been caught in the crossfire.
People who love us only end up getting hurt.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Fuck.
The glass surface of Acheron's desk shattered into pieces at the violently forceful crash of his fist, and Wickham flinched. "Acheron—-" Bleak dark eyes turned to his, and for one painful moment, it was like seeing Acheron back when he was sixteen, and the boy had no one in the world.
"Amelia was right," Acheron said tonelessly.
The older man started shaking his head in protest. "Don't think like that—-"
"There's no other way to think about this," Acheron gritted out. "This is my fault, and it happened because I didn't have the balls to let her go."
****
PIPPI KNOCKED ON THEdoor to Astrid's room. "Mom?" She waited for Astrid to answer like she used to - gaily calling her out to come in, but there was just silence, and she wanted to cry.
My fault, she thought.This is my fault.
She tried the knob, and it turned easily under her fingers. Stepping inside, she found the room dark and silent, the curtains drawn. Astrid was a child of the sun, she loved the warmth and heat of it, and now her mother was acting like she no longer deserved to see the light of day.
Astrid was seated on the edge of her bed, her lovely face wan and tear-stained. But at the sight of her eldest daughter, she readily summoned a smile. "What is it?"
It was just like Astrid to be so strong, to not say a single word even though she must have an inkling that this could only have something to do with Pippi.
She swallowed hard.Oh God, what was there to say?
"Pi? What is it? Is anything wrong?"
