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“Let me find out what’s going on first.” I rubbed my fingers above my eyes to try to ease the tension pooling there. “If I even can. Then, I’m going to need your help to stop this wedding.”
He slapped his hands together and rubbed like a murderous mastermind. “I like the sound of that. I’m in.”
I wanted to be annoyed at his overt excitement, but I was more than a little grateful for it instead. Going through this torment day in and day out was one thing, but having a friend who actually gave a shit made me feel less alone.
And I was going to need all the help I could get on Dove’s wedding day.
SECRETS ARE THE WORST
DOVE
Iparked my Range Rover in front of the real estate office that I owned. Normally, I’d feel the surge of pride up and down my spine as I walked toward the front door. But today, like most days recently, I wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out. It used to be my sanctuary, and now, it felt soiled. A place where I’d relished in what I’d built and accomplished had turned sour.
I pulled open the glass door, and the air-conditioning hit me as I stepped inside. My best friend, Kristina, worked with me there, and her eyes met mine, narrowing as her smile turned into a frown.
“Your fiancé is waiting for you in your office.” She made a gagging sound and put her finger down her throat.
Kristina had no idea what was really going on. She didn’t buy the engagement ruse at all, and her nonstop questions about it had grown tiresome. For whatever reason though, it was easier to hide the truth from her and eventually get her to back off and calm down. Dominic never would. Surely, Trevor had to know that.
I hated that he was here, in my space, where he didn’t belong and never would. Walking through my office door, I plastered on a fake smile and sat down at my desk—as far away from him as possible.
“Where were you?” Trevor closed the door shut with one arm before leaning his body forward, inching toward me.
“Looking at a property. Why?”
“Don’t lie to me, Dove,” he growled, and I imagined picking up a chair, tossing it at his head, and watching him bleed out all over my floor.
“If you already know where I was, then why are you asking me?” I felt nerves course through my already-tense body.
I assumed Trevor had me followed at times, but I’d been careful today. No cars had tailed me. I’d made sure and checked the way my dad had taught me when I was just a teenager.
“You’re not allowed to see him.” His blue eyes narrowed into angry slits, and I hated that he truly believed he could control me. He pointed a finger at me. “Don’t see Dom again. Don’t talk to him. Don’t text him. Don’t call him. No more private fucking meetings someplace you think I won’t know about. I. Know. Everything.” His fists slammed on top of my desk, punctuating the last three words before he looked around to make sure no one in my office was watching him lose his composure.
My throat instantly dried up. “What are you talking about?”
Reaching for his cell phone, he typed quickly before spinning it around to face me. “Don’t play stupid and don’t act like I’m not always going to be ten steps ahead of you, sweetheart.”
I squinted my eyes to try to read what was on it before realizing it was information about my phone—location, recent texts sent, and messages received. I should have known better. Trevor was deep in the political arena, so being able to infiltrate my phone shouldn’t have surprised me, but for some reason, it still did.
If there were strings to be pulled, Trevor yanked on them. The second he left my office, I planned on heading down to the cell phone store to make sure my device couldn’t be tracked like that. If he had put something on it, I’d have it taken off. If there was software available to block my phone from being accessed from the outside, I’d purchase it. I refused to lose my privacy that easily.
“What did you tell him, Dove? What did you tell Dom?” he pushed, and my mind raced, trying to think up an excuse that sounded plausible enough.
“Nothing. I didn’t tell him anything,” I said. It wasn’t a lie.
“Then, why did you see him? Oh, right. Because the two of you can’t live without each other.” He mimicked a weak-sounding voice, clearly making fun of what Dominic and I shared. “Better start learning how or else he’ll be the next to fall. You have no idea the amount of dirt I have on them. I’ve been planning this for years.”
Threatening my dad had scared me half to death, but threatening Dominic filled my guts with pure, unadulterated rage. My jaw slid open with my surprise at his admission. Who the hell had the patience to plot something for so long? Someone with a vendetta, I imagined. And I genuinely believed that he had the power to go through with it, especially since when he had first told me about said dirt on my dad, he’d mentioned the person that my dad had taken the bribe from all those years ago. It wasn’t out of the question that my dad had done it more than just that one time. It was probably more likely that he had than that he hadn’t.
“He’s been texting and calling me nonstop. I had to see him to tell him to back off.”
“I highly doubt that.” Trevor knew better.
He leaned even further across my desk in some feeble attempt to close the space between us, but my body pulled away in response. He laughed at my discomfort. It was like it brought him joy in some sick and twisted way.
Forcing myself to calm down, I took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “What more do you want from me, Trevor? I’ve agreed to marry you, and I will. I’ve kept my mouth shut, which I will also continue doing. All of this is going to destroy Dominic, and I know that’s all you really want anyway.”
His features curled as a smug smile appeared across his face. “You’re not wrong.”
