Page 94 of Hate Me Like You Mean It
“I really thought it was her,” I eventually said, unsurprised by the subdued tone of my voice.
Robert reached for the photo, adjusting his glasses. “It wasn’t, but she sure as shit wasn’t all that quick to correct me or her parents when we assumed.”
I rubbed at my chin. “Any idea why?”
Maxwell, now done with his snacking, hopped onto my forearm and began climbing up my sleeve.
“No, but it might have something to do with the fact that whoever did take the photo was inside your mother’s car—and potentially driving it—without permission, and Alice didn’t want them to get into trouble, so she took the bullet. Unless Rosie kept a communal set of keys for the vehicle we didn’t know about.”
She hadn’t. The only person who’d ever driven that car was my mom, which was what made it the perfect place to stash a bunch of “stolen” jewelry if you were going to frame her.
“You know who it was,” I said. Maxwell had started grooming my hair and whistling happily about good boys staying still during bath time.
The edges of Robert’s mouth ticked down. “I’ve made an educated guess. Same as you.”
There was only one other common denominator, and while I was sure Robert was thinking the same thing, I had a feeling Alice would rather toss herself into a den of vipers than believe it.
The theory wasn’t going to land well, especially if I was the one delivering it. I needed to make sure we were right before I acted on anything.
But even if I had all the evidence in the world, how was I supposed to tell her that her best friend—who’d been there when Alice had broken down and told me she wanted me gone—had looked me dead in the eyes and cried about how she’d tried to stop Alice from doing it, going on and on about how she’d begged her not to break into my mom’s car and take the picture. “But she wouldn’t listen, and I don’t think… she wants you gone so badly that she’s not acting rationally. She knew it would be your mom’s word against hers. And she knew who her family would believe when push came to shove.”
I clamped my jaw shut, afraid of what I’d say and at what volume.
Robert picked up a finger sandwich. “I would offer a few words of consolation if I thought you deserved it, but I’m also quite bitter over what you did to Adrien, who, so far as I’m aware, had nothing to do with any of this.” He sipped his tea with the unhurried energy of someone who didn’t have a care in the world. “And speaking of messing with my grandchildren.I knew you and Alice enjoyed teasing each other, but it always came across as more playful than callous. I didn’t realize you were in the business of orchestrating such elaborate and cruel pranks, Dominic. You even had me convinced, what with coming to me for advice on howyour friendshould go about revealinghisfeelings to a girl he was sure wanted him dead half the time.”
I wanted to flip the table. “Why didn’t you tell her it wasn’t a prank?”
He swatted at the air dismissively. “You know how I don’t like to meddle.”
This was said with a straight face.
The fact that my teeth hadn’t turned into dust in my mouth was nothing short of a miracle.
“I knew something had happened during those last few weeks with how the two of you were acting,” Robert went on. “The house was too quiet. There was no teasing or bickering or violent threats being thrown over gaming consoles. But I made the mistake of leaving it alone, trusting that you’d both eventually figure it out.”
“You could have still told her when you found out she’d been misled.”
“And say what?” he challenged. “What would I have told her, without definitive proof, that wouldn’t have sent her free-falling again? You weren’t there, Dominic. You didn’t see what it did to her. Best I could do was listen and try my darnedest not to make it any worse.”
He’d finally lost his cool, his blotched face twitching in several spots. I felt sick.
“You know what’s funny?” he went on. “She’d had no interest—had given no indication whatsoever—that she wanted to move back to Ontario, let alone cut herself off from her inherited fortune for the sake of ‘financial independence,’ until you reappeared, agreeing to do an in-person interview for somemagazine, opened up about your personal life, and went on the record saying that if you were to get married, it would be to someone who’d ‘made it’ on their own like you had. That you couldn’tstandnepotism, having grown up around rich kids who had every opportunity handed to them on a silver platter. And that nothing gave you the ick like someone who was too spoiled to do anything for themselves.”
My mouth had turned sour.
I remembered that interview. I’d only said it out of bitter resentment because I was still angry. Still heartbroken. Still not over her.
And I’d hated myself for it.
“One week later, she mentioned in passing that it was time for her to move out. Two weeks after that, she’d informed Adrien that she’d changed her mind about working at Cloutier hotels, cut up her credit cards, and was conspiring with Ria and Jamie on getting a job in an industry that lay outside of her parents’ influence, with a boss who couldn’t care less about her last name.
“And I don’t know what happened, Dominic. I don’t know whether you found her, or she finally found you, but mark my words, kid, I’ll be six feet under before I let you take away her light again.” He paused briefly, letting the promise sink in. “And believe you me, I ain’t the only one.”
I gave a stiff nod, my gaze lowering. “I get it.”
“Good.” He leaned back, giving himself a minute to calm back down as Maxwell switched from grooming me to cuddling closer for a nap. Eventually, he said, “Is it my turn now? To ask questions?”
I shoved a hand through my hair, knowing he’d make me regret saying yes. But I at least owed him this much. “What do you want to know?”
