“I can handle this on my own.”
“The hell you can. He’s just here to—”
“This isn’t your decision,” Emily bit out. “This ismycompany, remember?”
I stopped cold, staring at her. She was pissed, that much was obvious. “You can’t be rational where he’s concerned, Em.”
Her eyes widened, and her anger was replaced by what looked a hell of a lot like pain. Instantly, I regretted what I’d said, but it was too late to take it back. Not that I would. It was the truth. Rhett had been groomed by Kitty, which meant he knew exactly how to manipulate Emily, and from the looks of it, he was well on his way to getting his hooks into her.
“You need to leave,” Emily said smoothly, her mouth firm.
“You heard her,” Rhett taunted with a self-satisfied smile.
“You need to leave, too,” Emily told Rhett.
“But honey, we were discussing business,” he said quickly, turning his attention to her. “I’d like to finish showing you the proposal.”
“I’ll take a look at it when I can. But right now, I need you both to go.”
I waited for Rhett to stand, refusing to leave before he did.
“Remember what I told you, Emily. It took me a while to find you. Now that I have, I want us to work through our differences. We have a lot of time to make up for.” Rhett’s gaze shot to me briefly. “Time that was stolen from us both.”
Any hope I might’ve had that Rhett hadn’t relayed every dirty secret went right out the window with that statement. And based on Emily’s hardened expression, she had believed every word.
I was too late.
~~~~
Emily
When Rhett and Knox left my office, I closed the door, sealing myself in.
My heart was racing, my mind scattered in an effort to process everything my father had told me.
Seventy million dollars.
Payback.
Tried to buy you.
Forced me to stay away.
While everything had come together to form a rather compelling tale, I knew my father was lying. Well, maybe not lying. There was a ring of truth in every word, but there was no doubt in my mind he had modified events to suit his purpose. That’s what Rhett did. It was obvious Rhett despised Knox, blamed him for everything.
Insisted Kitty divorce me.
Hid you so I couldn’t find you.
Paid people to keep tabs on you.
My father’s words continued to bounce around in my head, but I couldn’t make sense of them.
The scholarship wasn’t real.
Knox’s way of controlling you.
Manipulated … plants … spies…
