Page 201 of Heartless Sinner

He rocked back into the cheap dresser with one shove, then planted himself there and let me hit him again.

He looked like nothing but a blurry mess as I finally took a good look at him.

But I wasn’t done yet.

“I was the one who found her!” My voice cracked. “She was unconscious in a pool of blood.”

Another shove.

“I was the one who called 911! She spent weeks in the ICU while your asshole father wiped his hands clean of her! He wouldn’t even take her fucking calls after she told him what happened!”

It was a struggle to catch my breath.

To speak.

To think about anything but that memory now.

He pushed away from the dresser and closed the space to point his finger in my face. “You’re fucking lying!”

“I’m not.” I stared down the man I loved, who shared blood with the man I despised.

I moved to the opposite side of the bed, putting the stained mattress between us. “My dad found out about the abortion, of course. She told him everything while I was in the same room.”

I scoffed. “You know my dad, Brooks. He was a fucking calm man. A level-headed one. He believed in doing the right thing.”

“Doing the right thing?” Brooks released a bitter laugh. “He fucking set a man up to die.”

My voice calmed an inch. “And how many times have you threatened to do the same for any man who touched me?”

That stunned him into silence.

“Your father was my dad’s best friend. He found out they’d been having an affair since their SVU days.”

“If we’re going with that angle, let’s not forget that your mom was also my mom’s best friend.”

I peered down at the floor at that, remembering when Brooks’s mom had visited her in the hospital. I’d never seen my mom look more ashamed. I’d also seen something in Catherine’s eyes that told me she knew about the affair.

“Fine, they had an affair!” Brooks said. “How did that become a fucking plot?”

This was the part of the story where I started to look really damn bad.

“Like my dad …” I started before returning my gaze to that stain on the wall. “I wanted your father to pay.”

Brooks walked to the door and wrapped his hand around the tarnished knob, then stopped before turning it. “You did all of this while talking to me every single day!”

My guilt twisted so deep in my gut that I waited for something inside me to rip.

“The plan was never to kill him, Brooks. I swear it!” Tears rolled down my cheeks. Snot dripped from my nose. “The best way to stop a man like your father was to destroy him politically. My dad swore all they wanted was enough evidence to impeach him. They gave me the device and asked me to put it in his office. That’s it!”

He flexed his fingers around the knob but stayed where he was.

“I was angry and wanted justice for my mom!” I pressed a hand to my stomach as nausea rolled inside me. “After that, my mom could no longer have children.” My throat tightened, making the words harder to release. “She cried in my arms because she’d been so excited to give me a brother or sister. I mourned that baby with her.” I let my arms fall helplessly to my sides as I begged my body to calm. “I never meant to hurt you. I thought I was righting a wrong. I couldn’t keep watching a sinner pretend to be a saint.”

He released the doorknob and stalked toward me so fast I backed into the edge of the mattress. “We’re all fucking sinners who pretend to be saints. Including you.”

He went back to the door, like he couldn’t decide whether he wanted answers or wanted to leave without hearing one word I said. “You asking me to show you the Oval Office was nothing but part of your treason and manipulation.”

That … I couldn’t deny, so I nodded.