Page 167 of Save Me

I look her over. Her curls are dripping wet, clinging to the sides of her face and the sweatshirt she’s wearing. It’s one of mine. She looks like she ran out of the shower and threw on the first thing she could find before bursting through the door to find her father holding me at gunpoint.

“Well,” she starts, pulling out of my hold and crossing her arms over her chest, “you admitted you were wrong.”

“I’m sorry.”

“What are you apologizing for, Dae?”

“For locking you …” I trail off and shake my head. “No, for robbing you of your independence. For deceiving you and making you trust me without giving you the whole truth.”

Observing me, she drops her arms slightly.

“That’s a start,” she says, lifting her chin. She pinches her lips before asking, “Did you do what you did because there’s something you didn’t want me to find out about your relationship with Blackmon?”

My eyes widen. “What?”

She throws her arms outward. “You’ve kept secrets from me since the beginning of our relationship. First, you told me that your business relationship with Blackmon ended years ago. Then, I found out that wasn’t entirely true.

“Then I get so close to uncovering all of Blackmon’s disgusting schemes, and you lock me in your house to keep me away from him.”

“That was for your safety,” I tell her. “I thought he wanted to hurt you, and I will never let that happen. No one ever again will hurt you.”

“Does that include you?” she counters. “Because your actions did hurt me, Dae. I trusted you. I let my guard down with you because I thought you understood me. But you used my lowered defenses against me.”

I shake my head. “I won’t ever do that again.” I go to her, wrapping my hands around her arms.

“Not ever. Your safety is and will always be my highest priority. But,” I pause and swallow, “I’ll never use your trust in me against you.”

“How can I believe you?”

I drop my hands away from her arms, step back, and pull out the thumb drive I’ve had in my pocket since the day before.

“What’s this?” she asks as I hand it to her.

“More proof.”

She looks from the thumb drive to me.

“Blackmon helped my uncle start this business with the money he earned from illegal deals. About ten years ago, my uncle hired some overnight staff through connections he got from Blackmon.

“As it turns out, they were teens, part of Blackmon’s child labor ring. Blackmon hung this over my uncle’s head until the day he died. I never knew about it until recently. Now, that information is yours to do what you need to do with it.”

She holds up the drive. “If I include this in my articles, it could ruin your business.”

“Yes.” I nod.

“You could lose everything you’ve worked so hard for.”

I shake my head. “This means nothing if you don’t trust me. If I don’t have your heart, I don’t have anything.”

“You’re saying I can take this information to my desk and include it in my series on Blackmon?”

“I’m saying if you want me to sit at the computer myself and type it up, I will. My truth is yours, Kennedy. Everything I have is yours.” I take a step forward and cup her face.

“Just say you’re mine, too. Please.”

She lowers her eyelids, shielding her eyes from me. Then she inhales deeply before looking back up at me. Her eyes shine with unshed tears. But it’s not tears of pain.

“I don’t think I’ve ever belonged to anyone else.”

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