“Is that it, then?”
Knox’s gaze swung to me. “What would you have me do?”
“Tell her you love her, you bloody bastard!” I shouted. “Beg her forgiveness. Anything, Knox. For fuck’s sake.”
“You think that’ll make it better?” He snorted. “You’re blinded by your own emotions, Kieran. She doesn’t want my love.”
“You’re a cold bastard, you know that?” I snarled, heading for the door.
I wouldn’t go after Emily. Not yet. But I damn sure couldn’t sit here and watch while Knox let it all fall apart.
“Where are you going?” Knox called after me.
“Does it really fucking matter?”
With that parting shot, I walked out of that apartment and away from Knox. It pained me to do so, but I realized that without Emily, nothing with Knox would ever be the same.
Without her …Iwould never be the same.
37
Friday, December 16, 2022
Emily
I spent the next two weeks onan emotional roller coaster. One second I would be smiling, the next crying until my face was splotchy and my nose was running. After locking myself in my apartment for a few days, ignoring everyone and everything, I’d intended to hide out there indefinitely. It wasn’t until I realized that was what Knox would expect me to do that I made a valid effort to go to work.
Each time I thought I was doing better, I attempted to go to the office. The first time, I ended up coming home without ever stepping foot in Delta June’s. I made it three hours the second time, but my father showed up. I refused to talk to him, but he insisted. While he went toe to toe with Zena and Emmett, I snuck out of the building, went home to lick my wounds some more. After that, it was easier just to stay here and wallow in my own self-pity.
My father called me relentlessly, blowing up my phone until I had no choice but to shut it off. According to Zena, he’d come to Delta June’s three to four times a day looking for me. When she asked to pass along a message, he told her he was waiting to hear back about the proposal.
Not that he was concerned. Not that he wanted to make sure I was all right. Rhett wanted to know if I’d come to a decision about bringing him into the company.
I hated him, too.
So for two weeks, I’d stewed in my anger and sadness to the point I couldn’t convince myself to get off the couch.
“All right, sunshine,” Stewart chirped as he strolled into the living room. “It’s high time you shower and make yourself presentable.”
“No.” I continued to stare out the window.
“I’ve been told to use force if necessary.”
I wanted to ask by who, but I didn’t. I kept my response the same as every other time he’d attempted to bring me back to the land of the living. “No.”
Stewart came to stand directly in front of me, blocking my view. I let my eyes slide up to his face. “Leave me alone.”
For some asinine reason, he took that as an invitation to sit.
At least he wasn’t blocking my view anymore.
“I was privy to what was going on back then,” he said softly. “Not all of it,” he added quickly. “I didn’t know about…”
About the punishments. No, he hadn’t. No one had. I knew that much to be true because I couldn’t believe that Stewart or Guillermo would’ve allowed it to happen if they had.
My gaze shot to him, and a renewed sense of anger began to brew.
“You knew Hannah was a plant,” I accused.
