Page 92 of Daring You

“He said you asked for his help. That you were stuck on the facts of the Delaney case and needed his head in it.”

My back leaves the seat. All kinds of dread takes its place along my spine. “And you believed him?”

“He’s your fucking fiancé! How am I supposed to know he had nefarious intentions? As if you would do that to your future wife. As if he would be willing to destroy your career to save his own. Astor, I’ve wanted to make my feelings about him clear to you for a long time now, but this takes the whole three-tier, sprinkle-confetti wedding cake I imagined throwing in his face a whole lot more desirable.”

“What did he get, Taryn?” I already know. I’m already, terribly aware. “What’d Mike find that he didn’t have?”

Taryn sighs so hard I imagine feeling her breath tunneling through my ears. It’s better than hearing the panicked pounding of my heart. “The checks.”

I lay a palm across my forehead and it slowly slides down. “Ryan’s inheritance….Mike knows? Mike’s figured out the boy’s new identity?”

“Yeah.”

“No,” I groan through my fingers. I deleted everything! I know I did!

“It gets worse.”

How? How can this possibly be—

“He’s already told Yang. Mike’s taken the credit, Astor. He’s stolen our work and presented it to Yang like he did all the heavy-lifting, that pink, puckered, rat-assed bastard.”

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