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The gig’s up.
“What do you want from me?” I ask, my voice hard.
“The truth,” he says, eyes fixed on me.
“I’ll tell you everything.”
He shakes his head back and forth. “Not me. Aiden. You’ll come clean to him now, or I will.”
He turns to leave, and my hand juts out, grabbing him. Mike twists around, looking down at my hand around his arm, lifting a brow.
“Please. Not here. I don’t want Aiden’s image to be impacted by this. Allow me to talk to him in private so we can devise a plan that won’t come back on him.”
Mike’s eyes narrow in on me, and he sucks in his cheeks. After a few painstakingly quiet moments, his features soften.
“All right. I’ll give you twenty-four hours. If you haven’t told him by then, I will.”
I wrap my arms around my waist as Mike walks away, leaving me in the middle of the floor.
My heart pounds, and my palms sweat.
I knew this day would come, but I’m not prepared for it to be here so soon.
Everything is about to change, and I’m petrified.
I’m going to lose Aiden again, and my heart can’t handle that.
Not now. Not when I know who he’s become.
A man so much better than I could’ve ever imagined.
I’m falling in love with him and that’s the most heartbreaking of all.
30
CASSIDY
The night crawls by as Aiden rubs elbows with the city elite. I’ve been introduced to far too many people I’ll never remember. We’ve eaten, drank, danced, and now we’re back to schmoozing. And every moment was brutal.
To pretend everything is all right when I’m dying inside is the hardest of all the lies. I’ve been silently freaking out, trying to determine the best way to break the news about who I am to him. Mike made it very clear. I have twenty-four hours to come clean, or he’ll tell Aiden himself.
I can’t allow that to happen.
I’ve watched Aiden so closely tonight, soaking in every last memory that I can. It’s likely that when he learns the truth, he’ll want nothing to do with me. All this time we’ve spent together will be like the past, discarded and forgotten, while he moves forward with his dreams.
You’d think it would be hard to keep the resentment at bay, but it’s not. I’ve seen Aiden’s struggles. I’ve witnessed how hard he’s had to work to get where he is. And if what he said earlier is half as bad as I suspect, he’s still running away from his past.
“He’s very good at hiding how uncomfortable he is…isn’t he?”
I turn over my shoulder to see Billy, eyes trained in on Aiden like a snake in the grass, except he’s not even trying to stay hidden.
Gone is the repentant act he’d been playing as of late. In its place is something devious. Calculated.
“What the fuck are you up to, Billy?”
He turns his head, looking down at me with a wicked half-smile. “You’ll see. Everyone will.”
My blood freezes at his words.
