“I believe you broke the law recently.”
Her eyes widened.
“I believe your parents’ house was repossessed by the bank, correct? There was a notice posted that all possessions in the house then belonged to the bank. However, you went inside to clean out some of your things.”
“You were there too,” Meg shot back.
“I did it because I love you, Meg,” I said, pressing a hand to my chest. “You know I’d do anything for you.”
“You don’t love me, Hunter,” Meg snarled. “You only care about yourself.”
* * *
“Look, Meg,”I begged after the debate was over. “I’m sorry, okay?” I grabbed her by the arm as I caught up to her when she headed down the hall to the back exit. “I thought this was going to be a friendly debate, but you went out there swinging.”
“I had to because you were about to screw me over just like you always did,” she said, whirling around. “I knew it. I knew I couldn’t trust you. All this time, all this time you pretended like you loved me, made me think you had changed…”
“Meg, you know I didn’t mean it. I got carried away.”
“Fuck you!” she screamed at me. “You’re not sorry. You’re not sorry about any of it. You only wanted to use me for your own gain.”
I took a breath.
“Don’t,” she warned, voice trembling, “Don’t open your mouth to spew more lies. I know exactly what’s going on. You think I wasn’t going to find out? About why you were so cagey, about why you pretended like you wanted to move in with me and build a life with me? You… you… bastard.” She blinked back tears. “You were just buttering me up, trying to pull the wool over my eyes so I wouldn’t see through your plan. But I know everything now.”
Shit, had she figured out Crawford’s plan? Should I lie? That seemed to not have been working out.The truth it is, then.“Okay, Meg,” I said, holding up my hands. “You’re right. I’m not going to lie to you. But I had to! Don’t you see? I needed to rescue my sisters. The state isn’t going to sign over a bunch of girls to just me. It had to be both of us. You’re a licensed foster parent, and so am I. They can’t deny us guardianship.”
“Wait, what?” Meg said in confusion. “What do your sisters have to do with this?”
71
Meghan
His sisters?I reeled. That… that didn’t make any sense.
Except that of course it did. That was what Hunter had wanted, what he had always wanted. He wanted me to raise his siblings for him while he lived a carefree life and received accolades for being such a loving, caring brother.
I smiled bitterly. “You know, it’s ironic,” I said. “The reason I had dumped you the first time was because, as we saw at the debate, you want other people to do the work while you take the credit.”
“No, I—”
I huffed out a mocking laugh. “So you’re not going to tell me about the other devious plan of yours?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he insisted.
“Liar!” I yelled. “Karen told me everything. She told me about how you were going to post all the dirty pictures I sent you online.”
“No way,” he said, sounding convincingly shocked.
“She had them, Hunter,” I said flatly. “She showed me. She said you instructed her to go to the next state over and send them from an internet café so no one could trace it back to you. And then once they were out and my reputation was ruined, you were going to be my only option.”
Hunter looked like I had kicked him in the teeth.
“That was your plan all along, to trap me, wasn’t it?” I said. “I thought maybe it was because you just hated to lose, but now I see that you wanted free labor. How predictable.”
“That’s not…” He shook his head. “Please, Meg, you have to believe me. I’ll tell everyone the carriage houses were your idea. Plus, I’m already buying the farmstead land! I’ll buy your house back,” he begged as I turned to leave.
“Meg, I love you,” Hunter said hoarsely. “I can’t lose you.”
