Page 38 of Holden

“Answer me, Chelsea.”

“Holden, I can—”

“When did you plan on telling me?” His voice is cold as ice. “Or did you think I’d never find out?”

My throat won’t open. It’s like my vocal cords are severed or something, because I can’t get a single word out. My whole body trembles.

“Answer me, Miss Faber.” He looks over and me and sneers. “Or shall I say, Miss Moorehouse?” I hate the way the name sounds coming from his mouth. He shoves the phone across the island and it pings against the sink. “Get out.”

My mouth opens. Closes. “I wanted to tell you…”

His eyes are so light, they’re almost translucent. I can see straight into his heart, and it’s turning black with hate. There is nothing I can say or do to stop it. I brace myself for the explosion.

“You decided to lie instead.”

I swallow my guilt. “I just wanted some answers, but then things got complicated between us. And I started to fall for you…”

“You didn’t lie to me just once,” he says, as though he maybe, if pressed, could forgive that. “But repeatedly. Everything about you is a lie.”

“Not everything,” I whisper.

Not the way I feel about him.

His eyes cloud with fresh anger. “I believed you,” he says, his voice dangerously low. “I thought you were a student, working on her dissertation. I should have known that was a crock of shit.” He bangs his fist on the counter, making me flinch.

“You couldn’t have known…”

He spins around. “Known that you’re the daughter of the man responsible for ruining my childhood? The daughter of a monster?” he says, shaking his head with disgust. “But perhaps I should have seen it. You clearly are a chip off the old block, someone capable of lies and manipulation and cruelty in order to get whatever they want.”

Tears come to my eyes. “Don’t say that. Don’t compare me with him.”

He shakes his head, laughing without humor. “Jesus, Chelsea. You really had me fooled. I can’t believe I was starting to—”

He cuts off the sentence with a heavy huff.

Starting to what? I want to scream. But I know better than to push, because even if the words were exactly what I wanted to hear, any chance for a relationship between us is squashed. The truth has set us free—from each other.

“I don’t know what to say…”

Holden stands. “There’s nothing left to say,” he says. “I’ve already told you too much. In fact, I demand that you turn over all of the tapes from our interviews. If you don’t, my team of lawyers will be on you so fast it will make your head spin. Do you understand me?”

My voice is so small and weak that I can barely hear it myself. “Yes. Holden I’m—”

He holds up a hand, and my apology trails off. Holden isn’t interested in I’m sorry or excuses and explanations. He isn’t interested in anything from me, ever again. My heart feels like shattered glass, splintering into a million pieces, each jagged edge cutting into my flesh. I blink back the tears, already humiliated enough.

“I’ll bring the tapes by this afternoon.”

His voice is like steel. “Have them couriered. I don’t want you to ever set foot in that building again.”

I nod.

“And if you try and speak with my partners, or reveal to anyone anything that I have told you…” His eyes bore into me with enough intensity to make my blood go cold. “I will not hesitate to destroy you. From this moment forward, I never want to speak to or see you again? Am I clear?”

Crystal.

And the worst part is, I deserve every bit of his hate.

Chapter 20