But Christian doesn’t flinch. He keeps going.
“Not long after the accident,” he says carefully, “Gabriel received photos. Of Wren. She was holding something, some kind of drugs she’d bought. That kind of thing… the press would have eaten alive.”
My stomach twists.
“He was blackmailed. The message was clear. If he didn’t shut the investigation down, didn’tburyit, those photos would go public.”
“For the Steeles,” Christian adds, quieter now, “image is everything.”
The silence that follows is heavy. I glance at Kai again, but he hasn’t moved. Not a word.
Just… nothing.
It hurts more than I’d like to admit.
I shift my gaze back to Christian. “But why was Wren buying drugs in the first place?”
Christian presses his lips together, then shrugs. “No one
knows.”
THIRTY-FIVE
Iturn slowly toward Christian.
“Can you please go tell Merrick I’ll be down in a few minutes?”
Christian hesitates. I can feel him watching me, then Kai, then back again. There’s something wary in his expression now.
But he nods. “Alright,” he says quietly.
The door clicks shut behind him, and I wait until the footsteps fade before I speak.
“How long have you known?”
“A while,” he says calmly.
I nod once, slowly. My arms are still crossed, partly for warmth, mostly to hold myself together.
“And you didn’t think to tell me? About my father? About what happened with Irina?”
He glances briefly away before his gaze returns, unwavering. “What would it have changed?”
“Everything,” I say, and the word is bitter in my mouth. “It would’ve changed everything, Kai.”
He tilts his head slightly, studying me. “No,” he says softly, like he’s explaining something to a child. “It would’ve broken you sooner. And I needed you intact.”
My stomach twists. “Youneededme?”
Kai’s jaw tics, just once, but the crack in his expression vanishes so quickly, I’m not even sure it was there to begin with.
“I needed you to be strong enough to stay,” he says simply.
“That’s not an answer,” I fire back. “That’s just another way of saying you used me. And lied to me.”
Finally, he says, with infuriating calm, “I never lied to you.”
For a moment, I hesitate. With the way he says what he does—so plainly—it makes me feel ridiculous for ever doubting him.
