He paused, clearly having no retort.
“You lied to me,” she continued, pointing her finger at him. “From the moment I got here—no, before even—you’ve been lying and manipulating me so you could get what you wanted. Was this your plan all along? Get me to fuck you—tofallfor you—so you could finally win?”
“What? No. Absolutely not,” he said, standing straighter. “I would never do that.”
“Really? How do you expect me to believe you?”
He sighed. “I don’t. And I’m sure you never will. But those moments we had? They were real. And if you can believe anything, then believe that.”
Real? They could never have been real. Not when all of it had started with a lie and deception.
“Okay... if those moments were real, why this? Why this now?”
“Because it’s fine to accept that this needs to end.” He bowed his head.
“I don’t buy that. Something happened. Something between our meeting with Ethan and Sunny and your decision to get the knife by yourself. So what was it? Was it the investor?”
“Let it go. This isn’t going to do anyone any good.”
Thanks for the confirmation.
“So itwashim. What did he say to you?”
“Corrie...” he said, sounding tired and dejected.
“You owe it to me. After everything that’s happened, I deserve to know the truth.”
“Fine, you want to know?” he said, his voice raised. “He threatened you, Corrie. He threatened you, me, and everyone else in this camp. He knew about everything. Told me to halt our inquiries into the thief and told me that if we didn’t deliver the knife to him within a week, he’d go after every single person here.”
“And you believed that? What on earth could he possibly do to us? Not offer us jobs in the future? Well, fine by me. I don’t need to work for blackmailing asshats.”
“He has photos, Corrie. Photos of us by the waterfall today.”
A pit formed in the bottom of her stomach and she swallowed. Hard.
“Of us... naked?” She could hardly get the words out.
Ford’s features softened and he rested on the edge of the bed. “Yes,” he said, his voice low and gentle. “On the plus side, he doesn’t know who you are. But on the minus side, he thinks you’re my intern and he plans to release the photos to Yale if Idon’t do what he says. It won’t be hard for people to put two and two together and figure out it’s you.”
Corrie wrapped her arms around her body, shrinking into an unknown abyss. After all these years trying to preserve her reputation. All her efforts to combat the impact of that goddamnArchaeological Digestspread. And now someone had photos of her and planned to use them against her. Photos ofherbody.
It belonged to her. Her and no one else.
Ford was right—it wouldn’t take much for her identity to be figured out. Certainly no one would mistake her for the auburn-haired, fair-skinned Sunny. But, worse yet, Corrie knew how these things worked. Once the photos were out, there would be no way to control who got their hands on them. No way to protect her body.
“This is all your fault, Ford. You let this happen,” she said, her anger rumbling through her voice. But it was time for Corrie to take matters into her own hands. Fuck thisFord’s the bossbullshit. Corrie was in control now.
He hung his head. “I know. Which is why I want to give him what he wants so we can all get out of here.”
“Well, I’m not leaving.”
“What?” He shot a look to her. “No, Corrie. Please don’t start this again. We’re all packing tomorrow and heading out. It’s nonnegotiable.”
“Who said I’m negotiating? I’m staying, Ford. I’m not going to let some rich asshole dictate my decisions. If he releases those photos, then fine. But it’s going to be becauseImade the decision to stay and not because he scared me off. I came here to do a job, and I’m not leaving until we pack up those goddamn bones. And the way I see it, we still have seven days.”
“Corrie, we shouldn’t mess with him. He’s got multiple people in camp watching and reporting our every move.”
“So what? What are they going to say? That we’re doing our jobs?”
