Page 119 of Until You

Chapter Thirty-One

She dropped his hand and sat back in the seat, feeling like the air was being sucked out of the car. “What? But Randy…he said you weren’t on the case. Victor was.”

“He was right. I wasn’t involved that night. After the barbecue, they removed Victor from the case and they put me on instead.” He slammed his palm into the steering wheel. “That’s the big case I’ve been working on. I’ve been working my ass off to shut you down.” He shook his head. “I didn’t know. I swear, I didn’t know.”

“I know,” Lanie whispered. “I believe you.” But it didn’t change the fact that he’d destroyed her.

Oh, God. He’d destroyed them.

He sucked in a deep breath, then turned to her with pleading eyes. “What are you going to do?”

She smiled, but her chin quivered. “You’re very good at what you do. My attorneys aren’t sure they can overturn it.”

“Lanie.” His voice broke. “I didn’t know.”

Her eyes burned, and she started to cry. “I know.”

He turned away and ran his hand over his head. “You lost your promotion.”

“Tyler…”

“The headhunter? Is there anything here?”

“No.”

“What are you going to do?”

She sat back in the seat again. “I’m moving to Atlanta. I called Aiden yesterday afternoon.”

“What? You can’t go.”

“I have to. Next week I’ll be homeless and I won’t have a job.”

“You could take some time to figure out something else. You could stay with me.”

She turned to look at him, her heart breaking into pieces. “I can’t,” she said, her voice cracking. “It’s not in me to not work, and I can’t freeload off you.”

“Lanie, for God sakes, I fucking got you fired. You wouldn’t be freeloading!”

She reached for the door handle. “I can’t do this right now. I have to think.”

“I’m sorry, Lanie. I’m so fucking sorry.”

“I know.” She knew that he was losing just as much as she was, but it didn’t make her feel any better. It only made her feel worse.

***

Tyler felt like he was going to throw up. In a matter of moments, he had lost the only woman he had ever loved. But he’d also lost the case. Now he had to go in and tell the partners that he’d been sleeping with the woman who was in charge of opening the Margo Benson Boutique.

Son of a bitch.

What the fuck had Randy been thinking, keeping this a secret?

He drove to his office on autopilot and told himself over and over that he wasn’t going to beat the shit out of his friend.

His partners weren’t happy that he was in a relationship with Lanie, but he was relieved they didn’t bring any disciplinary action against him. When they finished with him, he headed straight for Randy’s office.

Randy was sitting at his desk, but he stood as soon as he saw Tyler in his doorway.

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