Page 138 of What Comes Around

I tasted coffee and something darker that was purely him, and I leaned into him instinctively, my hand finding his chest and feeling the strength beneath his shirt.

He kissed me like he had time. Like nothing outside this room existed.

When he finally pulled back, he rested his forehead against mine. His thumb brushed once along my jaw.

“You have to promise to call me if you get tired,” he said. “Or if you need to go home.”

I almost rolled my eyes. “I promise.”

His jaw tightened slightly, like he knew I was humoring him but didn’t care. He reached out and brushed his thumb across my cheek. “I mean it, Ashley.”

“I know,” I said softly.

He studied me for another second, then nodded once. “I’ll be back soon.”

Titan rose the moment Knox moved toward the door, stretching once before padding after him without hesitation. He paused briefly beside me, pressing his head lightly against my hand, then followed Knox out.

The door closed behind them with a quiet click.

I stayed at his desk longer than I needed to, staring at nothing in particular while the quiet settled around me. Knox’s scent lingered faintly in the air, woven into everything.

My fingers drifted to the ring, turning it slowly so the diamond caught the light and scattered it across the desk in fractured reflections.

And Apple was trying to trap him.

Just like she had tried to trap Nick.

The memory surfaced before I could stop it. Nick’s face, the defeat in his eyes. I felt sorry for him. He was Apple’s victim too. In this life and in the last one. Apple had lied, manipulated, violated him. Just to trap him. Just to control him.

And now she was trying to do it again.

To Knox.

My fingers stilled on the ring.

Suddenly, I knew exactly what I needed to do.

I reached for my phone and opened the encrypted folder I hadn’t touched in years. The files stared back at me. Screenshots. Messages. The receipt from the doctor she had bribed. Proof of how Apple had faked her pregnancy back then. I had kept it all, waiting for the right moment.

I turned on my VPN and created a new anonymous email account. No name. No trace.

I attached every file.

For a second, my finger hovered over the screen. Then I hit send.

The email vanished instantly, swallowed by the digital void.

I stared at the screen for a moment longer. What Nick chose to do with the evidence was his decision. His life. His line in the sand.

But at least now he finally had the truth.

A few hours later, while I was sitting at my desk pretending to focus on work, my phone rang. Amy’s name lit up the screen.

I stood, grabbed the phone and walked down the hall to an empty conference room. The moment the door clicked shut behind me, I answered.

“It’s happening,” she said without preamble. “Brandon’s company is circling the drain.”

I moved toward the window automatically, my fingers tightening slightly around the phone. The city stretched below me in clean lines of steel and motion. People walking. Cars moving. Normal life continuing, unaware that something years in the making was finally reaching its conclusion.