"Relax. And if you’re good, I’ll let you get some cotton candy after you eat all of your dinner."
"You have to tell me where we are going? This is kidnapping."
"No, this isn't kidnapping… it's adult-napping. Or as I like to call it, this is 'save your friend from making a huge mistake'. And besides, it’s a surprise."
My stomach tightens. "Adultnapping? Really?"
"You can’t fix something if you don’t face it. If I have to force you to do it, so be it," she says calmly.
"I am facing it," I argue. "I flew here."
"You flew here, and then what? Planned to cry in your childhood bedroom while he continues ignoring you?"
I hate that she’s right.
"I’m not crying."
She glances at me.
"You’re right, your eyes don’t look puffy and your cheeks aren’t splotchy. You look like today is the best day of your life."
I turn toward the window so she doesn’t see the fresh sting in my eyes.
"He thinks I used him," I say after a moment, the words finally pushing their way out. "He saw Carey’s text. The way she worded it. It sounds like I slept with him to manipulate him into agreeing. He’s been used before."
Molly’s jaw tightens. "That’s bad."
"I didn’t," I say quickly. "You know that."
"I know that. But he doesn’t."
I press my fingers into my temples. "He won’t even let me explain."
Molly goes quiet for a second before asking, "Did you tell Carey about the email?"
"Yes."
"Did you give her the email?"
I shake my head. "No. I don’t even have it."
"Did you tell her to leak it?"
My eyebrows stitch together. She knows I wouldn't do that. "Of course not. I would never have sold him, or any other client, out like that. I told her that Luka didn't want to use it."
"Then you didn’t weaponize him."
I let out a shaky breath. "That’s not how he sees it. He told me not to tell anyone. He made me promise."
"And Carey is on your team," Molly counters. "You had no reason to assume she would push hearsay to a magazine without documentation. Or that she would go against the client wishes."
"You don’t know Luka," I say softly. "Trust isn’t complicated for him. It’s binary. You’re either in or you’re out."
"And showing up to talk to him is crossing a boundary?" she presses.
"Yes," I answer immediately. "He hates surprises."
She smiles faintly. "Who doesn’t like grand gestures?"
