Finally, he whispered, “I had to double-mortgage the house.The company’s bleeding out.If something doesn’t change, in six months, there won’tbea business left.”
I stared at him, stunned, then snapped, “Are you fucking kidding me?Clara and Jackson are going to be left with nothing?”
“I didn’t want this!”His voice cracked, and then he buried his face in his hands.“I never wanted any of this.I’ve never cheated on her, Cassidy.Never.I swear on my life.I brought Mel to meetings because I needed to look like I had my shit together, and she made it seem like she was fixing everything.But I dug in deeper this week, and it’s worse than I thought.”
“How much worse?”
“She’s been buying shit on my credit cards.Expensive stuff.Things I never authorized.And I found emails.I think she tanked a few deals on purpose.I don’t even know why.I don’t know what she wants.”
I stared at him, my thoughts spinning so fast it made me dizzy.I should’ve been disgusted.I should’ve walked away.Instead, part of me wanted to tear Mel’s smug little narrative apart, because if Mason wasn’t lying, she wasn’t just destroying him; she was dismantling Clara and Jackson’s world too.“Why would she do all that if nothing is going on between you?”
He raked both hands through his hair, looking one breath away from unravelling completely.“I don’t fucking know, Cass.I don’t know her outside of work.Someone referred her, and I thought she’d help.I thought I was fixing it.I thought I was fixingeverything.”
I closed my eyes, drawing in a long, shaky breath, because if I didn’t, I was going to start screaming.
When I opened them again, I asked, “Do you have your laptop?”
His head snapped up, hope flashing across his face.“You’re… you’re going to help?”
“Not for you.”I set my glass down and levelled him with a hard look.“For Clara.For Jackson.And because I want to wipe that smug little smirk off Mel’s face.But listen to me carefully, if I find out you’re lying, if youdidhave an affair, I will bury you, Mason.”
His throat bobbed as he swallowed hard.“I’m not lying.I love her so much...I...I could never.”
“Good,” I said, standing.“Then you’re going to fire her.You’re going to get counselling.Individualandcouples, if Clara’s willing.And you’re going to start telling her the truth.All of it.”
His eyes widened, panic flaring.
“And,” I sighed, rubbing my temples, “I’ll loan you enough to keep things afloat until we figure this out.But that’s it.No more secrets, Mason.We get to the bottom of this, and we figure out why the hell she’s targeting you.”
He nodded quickly, like a drowning man grabbing onto a lifeline.
A moment later, his laptop was on the coffee table, and I was elbow-deep in files and emails, combing through everything she’d touched.
I could do this.For once, I wasn’t cleaning up my own mess.I was making sure no one else's mess drowned the people I loved.
As I started to dig, one thought wouldn’t leave me alone:
WhywasMel doing this?
And how the fuck did we all end up here?
Chapter 24
I woke up to gray light bleeding in around the edges of the curtains, my head pounding like I’d been drinking all night, even though I hadn’t.I was sure there was a half-drunk glass of wine still out in my living room.The clock on the nightstand said it was almost nine, but it felt like I’d barely closed my eyes.
His laptop was still open on the coffee table, files and notes scattered around like pieces of a puzzle I didn’t know how to solve yet.Mason was sprawled on the couch, one arm flung over his face, his chest rising and falling in slow, uneven breaths.He was out, like finally sharing his burden gave his body permission to sleep.
The whole night replayed in fragments: his wrecked face at my door, the bottle of wine, the avalanche of his confessions.The company bleeding out.The double mortgage.The assistant from hell.
And me, agreeing to help him.
But only with conditions:
Fire Mel.
Figure out what he could from the person who referred her.
Come clean to Clara.
