“I don’t know! But I didn’t think it could be used to bring down two mergers. It was just one photo!”
“Show me the photo.”
“What?”
“Show me what you sent him.”
She reaches for her phone in her handbag, scrolling through the messages before handing it over. I look through their conversation as she scrambles to explain.
“When you offered me the position, I made a deal with Mark, as backup. It was stupid, I know that now, but I agreed to send him any information I could find about your company, just in case our deal didn’t work out. I didn’t know you then, not like I do now. The thought of you going back on your word is preposterous. But back then, I didn’t know that. And I had to put Beth first.”
It’s clear from their texts that their relationship isn’t what Mark made it out to be. It’s more like restrained animosity at best. I reach the photo of my calendar, spanning a two-week period from a few months back. It shows the first company merger meeting, but not the others. It’s not enough intel to sabotage two mergers, barely even one. There’s no detail about our offer, just the company name and our intention to take over. Mark would need a lot more to derail our mergers, which means he must have another source. This isn’t anywhere near as bad as I had imagined… but still. I skim through the rest of the conversation and see he was pushing for more info, which she refused.
“He threatened you,” I state after I finish reading the last text message he sent her. “Why didn’t you tell me? I would have handled him.”
“I don’t know,” she says with a small shake of her head. “I guess I didn’t think I had anything to lose, now that Beth has her heart. But I was wrong, so very wrong. I ended up losing the trust of the most amazing man I’ve ever met.” Her eyes fill with tears and she tries to blink them away. “Can you forgive me for being so stupid?”
When she looks at me like that, I can’t deny her anything. I love her. Was what she did stupid? Absolutely. But she didn’t cost us billions like I thought, and she wasn’t acting out of spite or running some grand scheme or manipulation. She wasn’t sleeping with me for information. She was used by a powerful and conniving man, and she did what she thought was necessary for Beth. I can’t blame her for that.
“Of course I forgive you,” I murmur with a sad smile. Tears roll down her cheeks, and I fight the urge to lean over and wipe them away. The relief that pours off her is palpable.
“Thank you.” She scrunches her eyes shut. “When he said he would ruin me, and that I would regret it, I didn’t know this is what he had in mind.” She chuckles through a choked sob and reaches for a napkin to wipe her nose.
“It’s never what you expect,” I offer in consolation. I should know.
“So, where do we go from here?” she asks softly.
I close my eyes briefly, then meet her hopeful stare.
“I don’t know, Hailee. I forgive you; I really do. But this whole situation has hit me hard. It brought back all the crap I went through with Mia. I felt like I was back at square one, spiraling out of control. I can’t go through that again. I need some time to process everything and move on. It wouldn’t be fair to you if we just jumped back into things if I’m still holding on to what happened. I don’t want to resent you or hold a grudge. That’s not how I want us to be. I care about you too much for that. I love you, but if I can’t get past this, then I need to let you go.”
Her gasp lands like a punch to the gut, and the hurt written all over her face is clear to see. It’s like watching her heart shatter into a million pieces right before my eyes. And my heart feels just as ruined, ripped from my chest and bleeding out in her hand.
“Give me time. Can you do that for me?”
She nods. “I’ll wait as long as it takes for you to find your way back to me.” More tears spill from her eyes. Unable to resist this time, I lean over and gently cradle her head in the palm of my hands, wiping away her tears with my thumbs.
“I’ll do my best to come back to you,” I say. “I promise.”
Chapter thirty-six
Hailee
Imissyou.
Three simple words, yet they possess the power to breathe life back into my soul. For an entire month, I’ve waited for this, waited for any sign that he still cares.
Staring at Dameon’s text message, I feel more alive than I have in a long time. A smile creeps across my face, shattering the numbness that has accompanied me for weeks.
I have no one to blame but myself. I played with fire, and I ended up singed beyond recognition. Each day blends into the next, and I move through them mechanically. I shower, I eat, I work, but I’m only half present. I’m alive, but I’m not truly living.
Even though the nightmares still haunt me, they’re not as frequent as before. I don’t wake up in a nightly cold sweat; now, it’s only a weekly occurrence when my soul reaches out and yearns for its missing half.
As I stare at those three words illuminated on my screen, my heart races with excitement, a spark of joy pushing through the suffocating fog of depression at last.
All this from three little words.
I spend far too long contemplating what to write back. I draft several responses, but in the end, I delete them all and settle on something simple, leaving the conversation in his hands.
