Page 116 of Hate To Love You

The problem is, how will I know if he’s telling the truth?

“Thank you, Hayden, really. You’ve always been good with advice,” I smile. Hayden looks pretty satisfied with himself.

“What can I say? I’m wise,” he says, shrugging.

We stand and he gives me a hug. It feels warm and familiar. Pulling back, he leaves a gentle kiss on the top of my head.

“See you around, Sharpe,” he says with a grin.

“See you around, Sawyer,” I say back as I walk out of the coffee shop with my mother’s apple pie in hand, feeling much lighter than I did when I first went in.

I don’t know what’s going to happen, but Hayden’s right. I do need closure, and talking to Ryker is the only way to get it.

Chapter 51

Ryker

After the shit show that was Thanksgiving dinner, my mother begged me to stay for a few more days since my father left again to go back to New York for business. He’s always leaving, and I can’t imagine how lonely my mother must feel all alone in this big house with no one to talk to.

As much as I blame my mother for never being there for Logan and me as children, I don’t like that she’s so alone all of the time. That’s why I agreed to stay.

It’s easier to be here, now that my father isn’t home. The house feels bigger, and I’m not walking on eggshells every time I leave my room.

With my father gone, it will give me some time to snoop around and see if I can find anything to use against him to get him out of The Steele Corporation. There has to be something in his office, I know it.

I think I’m so focused on it now to take my mind off of the feisty brunette I’m in love with. It’s been hell, not seeing her and not being able to talk to her. Holland’s been keeping me updated on her through eavesdropping on Ellie’s conversations.

Since Mason lives in the same town, I’ve had him keep an eye on her. I’ve pretty much got eyes and ears on her at all times. There’s no way I’m letting her leave me. She may think she’s in charge here, and I’ll continue to let her think that until I’m ready to show her that I’m the one holding all the cards.

Gwen is mine, and she will always be mine.

Mason informed me the other day that he saw her at a small coffee shop in their town. Apparently, it’s right near a liquor store. I bring up the pictures he sent me of my Rebel talking to some douchebag at the counter, smiling and laughing. Then he sent me a picture of them sitting at a table, his hand holding hers, and then them hugging. My blood boils as I look over the pictures again.

I pull up her Instagram and see pictures of her, Lainey, Ellie, Haley, and Damian, some selfies, and then, pictures of her and the douchebag. She stands in between him and another guy who looks similar to the guy at the coffee shop. I assume they’re brothers. Did she fuck them both? Hell, I don’t even want to know.

She looks younger in the picture, so does the guy who I now know as Hayden Sawyer. Her hair isn’t as long as it is now, and she looks innocent, almost pure.

A very large part of me wants to hunt this guy down and rip his fucking head off for touching what’s mine. But I can’t do that. Not if I don’t want her to know I’m keeping an eye on her.

So instead, I make my way down the grand staircase and head straight for my father’s office. Before he left, I watched him enter the passcode needed to enter, and I’m patting myself on the back for checking the lock the other day.

I peak around the corner to make sure I’m completely alone. We have staff working around the clock in this house, and the last thing I need is to get caught and for one of them to tell my father I’m snooping.

Entering the numbers into the padlock, I smile when I hear the telltale click of the door unlocking.

My heart pounds in my chest as the door creaks open.

The office is dark, and it feels colder in here. It’s weird being in here without the presence of my father looming over me.

I close the door behind me and quickly move to the large mahogany desk. My father is meticulous, and he’ll know if anything is out of place. If he finds out I was in here, he’d kill me. The sad part about that is that I’m pretty sure he actually would.

I rifle through the drawers, my heart pounding faster thinking about what I could find in here. Pens, notebooks, and standard office supplies greet me, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Frustration bubbles in my chest as I slam the drawer shut. I run my hand through my hair, glancing around the room, my eyes landing on a locked safe on the bookshelf. How did I not notice that when I was in here the night I arrived home?

How the hell am I going to open a safe?

I try to enter the same passcode as the door, but it doesn’t work. I try my mom’s birthday, the day they got married, my birthday, Logan’s birthday, and even his birthday. Nothing works, and I’m growing more agitated by the second. Of course it wouldn’t be anything having to do with his family. Robert Steele doesn’t have a family. He has himself, and that’s all he’s ever needed.

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