Page 31 of Even if You Fall

I didn’t want to give voice to words that had already been said so many times before...to Owen. But bearing my greatest shame to anyone else, especially the man watching me? I would’ve rather faced my greatest fears. “That he was married,” I finally admitted.

A condescending sound tore from Adam that had me feeling about two inches tall. Worse, it made me feel like I wasnothing. “Right,” he muttered as he glanced to the side, head shaking.

“Ididn’t.”

“And how exactly did you miss that for over a year, Bubbles?” he shot back as those judgmental eyes snapped to me.

“You don’t know what he’s like,” I cried out, then clenched my hands into tight fists as I struggled to control and calm myself.

“Apparently, he’s good enough to ignore a ring.”

I flinched as if Adam had slapped me. “There wasn’t a ring,” I informed him as that shame burned deeper. “There were no hints that he was married. He was with me nearly every night. I only?—”

“What, in your bed only?” Adam taunted. “Or did he take you to cheap motels too?”

My head snapped back at the blow, but I didn’t respond. I wasn’t sure I could with the way it felt like I couldn’t breathe around my humiliation and Adam’s judgment.

With a muted cry, I turned and staggered toward the door as heavy tears fell. But when I managed to open the door, my shoulders only sagged when I saw the man standing on the opposite side.

Legs spread wide and arms folded over his chest. Brow furrowed and looking terrifying in a way Adam’s anger couldn’t touch.

His dark eyes searched my face for only a moment before darting deeper into the room and narrowing on Adam. “Go with Gray, Chloe,” Asher softly seethed, shifting to the side only enough for me to slip through.

When I did, I turned and found Hudson Gray waiting just a few feet away; identical stance as Asher as he stood in the middle of the hallway, blocking my escape. His expression was uncharacteristically blank, even though he offered me a worried smile.

“I’m going home,” I told him, and hated how my voice shook from the tears I couldn’t seem to stop.

Hudson gave a subtle nod. “I’ll take you.”

My head shook wildly as I desperately tried to plaster a smile on my face—I didn’t care that he was currently witnessing my tears. “I drove; I’m fine. I’ll see you Monday.”

But he didn’t move, and when I tried stepping around him, he gently touched my wrist and waited until I was looking at him. “I need any and all information you have on Owen Vance.” When a desperate, strangled noise sounded in my throat, he added, “I’ll let you say what Thatch wouldn’t and won’t hold a word of it against you.”

A scoff that was equal parts bitterness and embarrassment bled from me because I’d heard similar words from Adam, and they’d clearly meant nothing.

“None of us will—Thatch never should’ve,” Hudson whispered as he leaned closer, trying to catch my eye. “Considering the guy is nowhere near a saint, I dunno why he did.”

I struggled to find my composure, all while Adam’s words and the feel of his judgment replayed over and over again, until it turned into a weight, dragging me down. “I just wanna forget.”

“I get it,” Hudson said in understanding. “But from what we heard, you know more about this guy than we’re able to find from any of our searches, or even sending someone undercover. So, let me take you home. You can tell me everything you know in one conversation, and then we’ll be done with it.”

I wavered for far too long before asking, “Done, done?”

“Promise, Nerd,” he vowed.

Contemplating Hudson’s offer, I glanced back at the closed door of the room I’d just left. Now that nearly half of Shadow Industries was aware I was connected to Owen, I knew they’d only keep asking until they got what they wanted. And to be honest, if I was going to have to tell someone, I’d rather it be anyone other than the man who tormented nearly every waking thought and already hated me enough as it was.

“Let’s go,” I agreed, then let Hudson lead me out of the house and to my car once we’d grabbed our things.

As soon as we got in, I looked at where I held my phone in my shaking hands, at where Owen’s messages from this week were already on the screen, including the one he’d sent minutes before, repeating that he loved me. Handing my phone to Hudson, I burst into tears and began confessing everything.

“What’d I say?” Briggs demanded once Chloe was out of the room and the door was closed behind her, his voice soft and threatening.

“I think Vance contacted?—”

“What’d I say?” he snapped over me.

I worked my jaw before admitting, “Wait for her to come to me.”

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