Page 59 of Broken Surrender
“Then perhaps they were right,” I said.
“You know that’s not fair to me. It’s not fair to Corinne.” She raised her hands. “You can’t bury her underground. You have to do something—”
I punched the wall, my hand bloodied and marred, silencing her words.
“I am,” I muttered.
A breath caught in her throat. Her eyes fell to the file on the floor. I never acted out like that before. My eyes were burning. My nostrils flared.
I couldn’t let my emotions get the best of me. I had to be stronger than that.
I smoothed my hands down my side, the blood trickling down my knuckles. “I will handle this,” I said. I tossed a hand at the door. “Now get out of my office.”
She glared at me. “I’m not leaving.”
“I don’t care what you do.” I rubbed my lips together. “But you’re going to get out, or I will fucking remove you.”
She drew in a steady breath, then walked past me, avoiding eye contact.
As soon as she was gone, I sighed.
How was I going to fix this?
CHAPTER 20
Lena
I stormed out of the Callen House, refusing to check if he was following me. I wasn’t going to give him that chance. Even though the guards had nothing to do with what had happened between us, I didn’t look anyone in the eye. It was too much. I was angry. Hurt. Maybe even embarrassed. I trusted Desmond when he obviously didn’t trust me. How had I fallen for that mistake? I did it again, and again, like a broken record skimming over that same pathetic track.
For the next day, I stared at the double doors leading to the balcony, but I refused to go out. I hid like I had for years. Because going outside, exposing myself to those unnecessary risks—that’s what had led me to Desmond.
But my mind waged war. I didn’t want to sit back and watch things happen anymore. I had done that with Aaron, and then again with John, and I wasn’t going to make that mistake again with Desmond. And even if Desmond denied it, there was something between us. Somethingreal.And even if he wasn’t willing to fight for it yet,Iwas going to.
Because I deserved to trust someone like that.
We both did.
I knocked on his front door, ready to give him a piece of my mind, to knock some sense into him. For once, instead of letting the estate manager handle everything, Desmond opened the front door swiftly, his head lowered. My heart raced. This wasn’t going to be easy, was it?
I followed him inside, but as soon as we passed the door to the basement, it swung open and Corinne popped out.
“I thought I heard you!” she said. “Hey, did you get my email—”
Her face dropped. All three of us froze, eyeing each other.
“Nevermind,” Corinne whispered.
“Go on,” Desmond said. “Did Lena get your what? Your email?” He clenched his fists. “Are you supposed to have an email, Corinne?”
“It’s just an email account,” I said.
“You don’t know what’s safe for my sister,” he said.
“Because you won’t tell me!”
Desmond stormed down the hallway. Corinne ran up to him, grabbing his shoulder.
“It was my idea,” she said.
