Page 94 of Nothing Breaks Like A Heart

"But that wasn't enough for her."

"No, it wasn't. I didn't realize how far she would go until you ended up in the water. She refused to admit culpability, but I knew it was her doing. I told her that if she tried to hurt you again, she would regret it. She promised to leave you alone. When she turned up dead, and I realized the file was also missing, I knew she'd betrayed me, and that person had killed her."

"She sold the information to Bennett."

"I figured it was him."

"When I survived, Bennett killed her because she'd failed, and she knew too much."

"If he hadn't taken her out, I would have," he said coldly. "She almost ruined everything. I needed you alive. You were no use to me if you were dead."

"That's cold."

He gave an uncaring shrug. "It's the truth."

"I'm surprised you know what the truth is. You won't get away with any of this, Andrew."

"Oh, I think I will," he said with a laugh.

"Ethan Stark knows you're the thief and that Colin and Jay helped you. He'll spend the rest of his life hunting you down."

"Stark won't find me. I'm very good at reinventing myself."

I thought about that. "Is anything about you real? Was anything aboutusreal?"

"No."

A pain ripped through me at that single, devastating word and the callous look in his eyes. "I thought you were so charming, kind, and attentive. You were always reassuring and caring. You tried to give me whatever I wanted."

"I was playing a part, and, frankly, it was exhausting. I've never had to reassure a woman so much in my life. You need to grow a spine, Lauren, get some guts."

My pain was replaced with anger. "I have a spine."

He rolled his eyes. "No, you don't. You get nervous standing up in front of a crowd. I practically had to hold you up at our rehearsal dinner. When we met, I quickly saw that you were a lonely, weak, insecure, and needy woman. That made you the perfect mark."

My hands clenched into fists. If I hadn't been cuffed to the chair, I would have punched him in the face. Although, I'd never hit anyone.Did I have it in me?Of course, I did. I wasn't as weak as he thought I was. I'd taken care of my mother when she was dying. I'd faced a lot of hard things in my life, and I'd survived. "Maybe you don't know me as well as you think you do."

"Maybe you don't know yourself. You like to hide behind other people, behind work. You hate the spotlight. You're like a little mouse that scurries away when the lights go on."

"You're a terrible person, Andrew."

"I'll be terribly rich very shortly," he replied, my harsh words not making a bit of difference to him.

"Victor won't trade the diamond for me."

"You better hope he does, Lauren. Because I've played my card, and if I don't get what I want, then I'm going to burn everything down. And you will not be saved from that fire."

A shiver ran down my spine because I believed every word he'd said. He was a man with nothing to lose, and I was a woman with everything to lose.

He straightened as his phone buzzed. He gave me a pleased smile. "Your father has arrived."

Heavy footsteps approached, followed by Victor's voice demanding to know where I was.

Then Colin shoved Victor into the room, positioning himself against the door, gun raised. The facade of friendly college buddies had vanished. Andrew and Colin now looked every inch the criminals they were. I wondered if Harper had known anything about this, or if Colin had just been using her to monitor what I might know.

"Lauren," Victor said, his eyes pleading for understanding. "I don't know what he's told you?—"

"He told me you're my father. Is that true?"

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