Page 66 of Kiss Me

“Grandma?! Bastard,” I gripe.

“And you might as well forget seeing her in the next Winter Olympics,” Liza reads the last sentence. “He’s making you sound like a burnout. That son of a … Where does he get off?”

My assistant is furious on my behalf. While it does feel good knowing I have someone willing to defend me, it’s also a gut punch.

I have lied.

“Liza …”

“No. This will not stand. We can produce medical records to prove your injury.”

I flinch but she doesn’t notice. “Liza …”

“No, you’re right. That’s a complete invasion of your privacy. But we can sue the bastard.”

She starts dialing.

“Who are you calling?”

“Your father. He’ll know how to handle this. Tomorrow’s Christmas, but we can still have a lawyer on this within the next few days.” She stares at the phone.

“He’s not answering.” She frowns but I know he’s likely not answering because I asked him not to respond to her if she reaches out.

“Liza,” I say forcefully, snatching the phone from her. “We’re not suing anyone.”

She frowns. “Why not? He?—”

“Because it’s true,” I confess.

I sigh as I hold out my hand, offering her phone back to her. “I have no intentions of pulling out of the Games, but part of his story is true. I did fake my ankle sprain.”

Her forehead scrunches in confusion, making me feel like leftover gingerbread cookie crumbs dropped on the floor.

“Why would you do that?”

I tell her the truth.

“If you needed a break we could’ve taken some time on the calendar.”

“We both know that’s not true,” I tell her. “You’re a workaholic and I’m a people pleaser. We both want to please my dad, who goes non-stop. We can talk about my reasons later.”

“But …” She runs her hand across her forehead. “Wait, that doesn’t explain who did this.” She holds out her phone.

She’s right. Collander lives across the country. How did he even get this information? I run through the possibilities of people in my mind. The only people who knew the truth were me, my doctor, and one other person.

I automatically rule the doctor out because making it known that I paid him off to embellish my medical records could put his license in jeopardy, or at least his reputation.

That leaves …

My mind doesn’t even want to go there.

“I always get what I want.”The words Taehyun told me only days ago.

Without a word, I push through the door, exiting the stairwell. I do my best not to let my mind go to such a dark place immediately. What reason would Taehyun have following through on the threat he made almost a week ago now?

That couldn’t be the case. Someone else had to have done it. Maybe it was just a guess on Collander’s part?

I start toward the room where everyone is, to search for Taehyun, but before I can get there, I find him and Dae outside of the door, talking.

---