“You’d be much better off with a good, godly girl. A proper wife who knows her place.”He’s speaking about Miriam here, trying to urge Micah back to her, but I double-checked the recording to ensure he never mentions her by name.“Have your fun with Antonina if you like. Bed her if you want. Get it out of your system. Then marry the right kind of girl.”He chuckles again.“But you’re still single now, aren’t you? Might as well enjoy yourself?—”
I’m not sure why Aaron waited this long. Maybe he forgot just how bad this conversation actually was. Maybe he got a taste of what it feels like to be frozen in place, unable to move in a moment of crisis. But suddenly he’s on me, his handclamping down on my shoulder, wrenching me back so he can snatch the phone out of my hands.
It all happens so fast, I don’t hear if the crowd reacts. I don’t even know if I scream or try to pull away. All I’m aware of is one voice, cutting through the crowd.
“Get your fucking hands off her!”
Chapter 41
Wes
The next few minutes are completely surreal. Watching Nina stand up to Aaron and air out all his dirty laundry is so unexpected, and I am so fucking proud of her. Then pride morphs into outrage on her behalf as I listen to the story of how he basically pimped her out to some creep in his church, the audio recording of their conversation sending my blood boiling.
But none of that is anything compared to the moment Aaron lays his hands on her. Pure and blinding fury washes over me. I’m not thinking rationally. And I’m not thinking tactically. Tactically, I’m still Nate R., and even though Nina has just revealed some very incendiary things about Aaron’s character, we still don’t have the proof we need to file charges.
The second Aaron grabs her, though, I stop being Nate R. Nate R. is dead. There is no way in hell I can just stand by and watch that.
I don’t realize what I’ve said out loud until several heads in the crowd swivel to stare at me. With what’s going on onstage, it would have to be something pretty wild to draw away any attention from that spectacle. As soon as it clicks for me—that I’ve outed myself and Nina—it’s hard to care, especially when he’s still clutching her shoulder despite her best efforts to squirm away.
“Let her go!” I shout again, pushing my way towardthe stage.
Luckily I’m not the only one moving. Someone closer to the stage throws their shoe at him. “Let go of her, asshole!” I recognize the voice as being Deja’s.
Lyle gets onto the stage before me, shoving Aaron back and away from Nina. His normally affable features are twisted with outrage. “Big tough guy, huh, picking on a girl half your size? Why don’t you try that with me?”
Aaron backs away, and Lyle uses his body as a physical barrier to keep him from getting any closer, so I’m able to move directly to Nina once I make it onto the stage myself. Shaking, she grips me tightly as soon as I get close. There are tears in her eyes, and the sight of them makes my gut clench. But I see, too, the way she keeps her chin up, even though she’s clearly trying not to cry. I’m still buzzing with anger and adrenaline, yet I can’t help but soften at the sight of that. She is so fucking strong, my Nina.
“I’m so proud of you,” I tell her quietly, aware of the people still watching, the cameras still capturing all of this. It’s starting to catch up to me, what I’ve just done, but I’m finding it hard to care. I keep my gaze locked onto hers. She’s the only thing that matters in all of this.
Her eyes dart back and forth between mine, and I can see the pieces clicking into place for her, too. “What about the investigation?” she whispers, not wanting anyone to overhear her.
I don’t care. I should care, but I don’t. I cup her face in my hands. “I’m so proud of you,” I tell her again.
“What the hell?” a voice calls out from the auditorium.
Harmony.
Even though I wish I could keep drowning out the rest of the world, the moment of reckoning is here. With a bracing sigh, I turn to face the crowd, angling my body between them and Nina. If there’s going to be blowback from this, I want it to land on me, not her.
I hold up a hand to block out some of the stage lights. I can see Harmony, her face incredulous, her hands on her hips. Sienna and Raquel are farther back, both of them uncharacteristically discomposed: Sienna’s mouth is open, and Raquel’s eyebrows are up so high they’re almost to her hairline.
Wincing, I seek out Morrie in the crowd. He is going to be so, so pissed. But to my surprise, he isn’t even looking at me. He’s texting something furiously into hisphone—probably reporting me to Agent Decker, getting the paperwork started for my firing. God, it’s going to be a lot of paperwork.
“What the hell?” Harmony repeats. I can’t tell if she’s really that outraged, or if she’s just as flabbergasted as the rest of us.
“Harmony!” Aaron chides her from the stage. “Language.”
I can’t help but give him my most scathing look. After everything that was just revealed about him in these last few minutes, he still has the gall to chastise his daughter for (mildly) swearing. “Fuck off,” I tell him, enjoying the look of astonishment on his face. He isn’t used to being told off. Between Nina and Lyle and me, this is the third time it’s happened tonight. I have a feeling, after the way Nina told her story, it won’t be the last time.
Glancing back at Morrie again, I realize there’s still a way I can salvage this. My position as one of Harmony’s contestants is clearly over, but there’s no reason anyone needs to connect this back to the FBI. Maybe they’ll be able to send in an undercover agent another way, once the dust has settled. “It’s true. I was one of Harmony’s contestants—just a normal guy from Small Town, Tennessee ...” That’s probably laying it on too thick, but maybe people will think I’m just shell-shocked from having to make this confession on camera. “But I fell in love with her cousin.”
Too late, I realize it’s the first time I’ve used that word.Love. At least out loud. It wasn’t exactly how I’d planned on sharing my feelings with Nina, but it’s too late to take it back. And I don’t want to. How could anyone see what she did on stage tonight, how fearlessly and ruthlessly honest and brave she was, and not be head over heels?
Her hand slips into mine. She gives it a squeeze.
I swallow back the lump in my throat. “So obviously, I’m going to have to leave the show now. I hope Nina will come with me.” Far away from these lights, these cameras. Away from Aaron Miller. Somewhere quiet, just the two of us.
She squeezes my hand again.
