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“You wouldn’t,” I say with certainty. “You think you could, imagine you’d get satisfaction from it, but when push came to shove, you wouldn’t do it.”
Her smile falls because she knows I’m right. She’s strong, capable, and brilliant, but she’s not cold-hearted enough to do what she’s imagining. That’s why fucking with Evan in the first place was my idea, not hers.
“Would you?Didyou? Have you ever blackmailed anyone?” she asks.
She knows better than to think I would back away from the option if the situation called for it.
But she needs all the information for us to move forward on level ground, so I add, “I’ve never outright blackmailed someone the way you mean, like a movie villain demanding money and threatening exposure, but if a tidbit of information is useful, letting me apply pressure to accomplish a goal, then yeah, I would… I have… and I’ll do it again.” I pin her with a gaze, making sure she hears that truth.
“You didn’t blackmail him, then?” she questions.
“No,” I answer honestly.
"So Evan’s full of shit,” she states with a scoff. “I knew it.”
“Yet, here you are,” I remind her.
She sighs, looking around my office before her eyes land heavily on my computer, making me wonder exactly what Evan told her.
“I thought being here would help me find clarity to figure out Evan’s play, because I knew he was up to something, so I’ve been sitting here, trying to work it out in my mind and examine it from every angle. And I knew you’d come, so Iwas waiting on you.”
I raise a brow, frowning. “You could’ve called me. We could’ve talked at my place tonight.”
Her smile is wry. “I didn’t want to warn you, and I was afraid I’d get distracted if I showed up at your house tonight. And…”
“And what?” I question as I watch her pick at a nonexistent thread on her blouse.
“I want you to show me,” she says tightly before swallowing and then looking up at me.
“Show you what?”
She can barely look me in the eyes.
“What did Evan tell you, exactly?”
“He said you were mentally abusive to Olivia, which ran her to his arms for some sort of sanctuary, and in your fury, you blackmailed her, forcing her to flee the city. And then you’re lording some email over him, which I’m supposed to delete.”
That motherfucker!I jump from the desk, unable to stay seated and attempt to control my rising anger. He’s a fucking prick through and through.
Raven flinches at my sudden movement and volume, but there is no fear in her eyes. She’s looking back at me boldly. She says, “I want to see the email,” and it’s nearly my undoing.
“You don’t believe that, do you?” I demand, feeling sick to my stomach. “That I’m abusive and she ran to him because of me?”
She shakes her head. “Of course not. But after Evan and Elise, I’m a ‘trust, but verify’ girl, especially on matters of the heart, and I… I am in deep with you, and I….”
She clears her throat but doesn’t finish.
“You what?” I push, feeling a touch of hope from the way she’s talking. “You what?”
“I just want to see the email, Dylan.”
My pulse rages, and I stare at her, vulnerable, and I know it’s an ultimatum.
What she’s saying sounds reasonable, but what she’s askingis too much. She wants me to rip through scars that I’ve long buried and hold my heart up to the light of her judgment, trusting that she won’t see the worst of me and simply walk away, leaving me in shambles.
It’s then I notice the tear stains on the sleeve of her blouse and the way she can barely look at me.
“Is there something else I don’t know?” I ask her.
