Page 129 of Threaded Lies

Each piece of paper shattering my faith in my judgment of people. In the sanctity of Holden’s promises. In the trust he falsely earned again. In the real reason Holden is here in Westmore.

Holy shit.

My hands tremble and my heart races. I have to get out of there. I have to go. I have to—

“Row? You up yet?” Holden calls out as the front door clicks shut and his footsteps fall on the tiled floor.

I stand in his kitchen, thoughts racing and heart aching. Our eyes meet. “You’re breaking apart the company and selling it off piece by piece?” My voice is way steadier than I feel.

Holden glances at the blue folder on the counter but his face doesn’t show a flicker of emotion as he sets a cup of coffee down in front of me. “I got pastries,” he says. “Doughnuts. Croissants. A few other things from that new deli just down the street.”

“No more lies, remember? Isn’t that what you said before? No. More. Lies.” Please tell me I’m wrong.

He turns to face me, head angled to the side and the slightest flicker of irritation in his jawline.

“You promised me this wasn’t why you bought the company. You made me feel crazy for asking. No more lies, Holden.”

“Ask the question, Rowan.” His voice is barely a whisper as he stands and stares at me.

“Did you buy TinSpirits to sell it off and destroy it?”

“Yes.” Unflinching.

I try to process this. To understand this. To fathom this.

“I asked you a couple months ago. You lied to me.”

“And months ago we didn’t have this agreement. The no more lies. Now we do.”

“So just like that, you’re going to take what my family has created, has owned, and destroy it.”

“Partially, yes.”

“Partially?” I ask. What? How? I mean … my throat feels like it’s closing in and my chest feels like it hurts to breathe. “Why?”

“I have my reasons.”

“Your reasons?” I shake my head and move around the counter so there is nothing between us. “I came to you last night. I was vulnerable and needed you like I’ve never allowed myself to need another person and you … you took it. Took what I gave you. Took it knowing all of this was going on in the background. That this folder was sitting in a drawer ten feet away. You used me, Holden.”

His jaw clenches and his Adam’s apple bobs. “I believe it was the other way around if I remember correctly.”

“Fuck you,” I shout at him. He nods, stoic, when all I want is a reaction, a show of emotion, anything. “You’re a bastard.” Another nod from him. “Fight me,” I shriek. “Fucking fight me.”

“It’s probably best if you go now, Rowan,” he says as he moves to grab my car keys from the coffee table and put them next to my cell phone.

“How can you stand there and be so calm? So callous? How can you—”

“Be a good businessman and sell off the parts of the company that are dying and costing us money? Easy. That’s what I came to do.”

Bring it back to business instead of talking about us. Instead of bringing it back to my shattering heart and fucked-up head. Both of which he created.

“You know what TinSpirits means to me, Holden. I’ve poured my heart out to you over this. I’ve fought with you to show you and prove this.” There’s no way he can mean this. “Even if this was your intention in the beginning, you’re still willing to go through with it now, after us? After knowing what this company means to me?”

“Unequivocally. Nothing changes my endgame.”

“I don’t believe you.” The words stick in my throat.

“Then don’t. I’ve told you all along that you shouldn’t. Facts are facts, Rowan, and your brother ran this company into the ground for his own reasons.”