Page 120 of Oblivion

Pure anger filled Paul’s eyes. “Ask your mother. She’s the one who divided our family, so she can do the explaining.”

“You cheated too. This isn’t all on her. You’rebothas bad as the other. No, actually,youare so,somuch worse!”

A toxic snicker came. “I’m really not, Bunny.”

“You make me sick! This is going to blow up, and when it does, your political career is over! I can’t wait for that moment.”

“It won’t,” he snapped. “You’re going to graciously accept the remaining half of your ‘inheritance,’ and keep this conversation between the three of us. Got it?”

“LikehellI’m accepting your money now. I’d rather live on the streets.”

A sinister chuckle like I’d never heard from Paul before sent goosebumps down my spine. “That can be arranged, I’m sure.”

“Fuck you. Even if it’s not me who talks, someone will. Someonealwaysdoes.”

He laughed and pointed to himself, and then Ronan. “I sure as hell won’t be, and he won’t be. Ronan has as much to lose as I do. So, that just leaves you, Bunny.” He leaned closer. “It’s literally up to you whether this makes—or breaks—your life.”

“Don’t call me Bunny,” I hissed through my clenched teeth. The nickname now made my skin crawl.

He ignored the demand and sat in his office chair. A few typed words on the computer, then a series of clicks spurred the printer to life. Paul plucked the paper from the tray and slid it across his desk to me, along with a pen.

“Sign this.”

I skim-read the heading, and my blood ran cold. “There’s no way I’m signing a non-disclosure. No fucking way.”

“Tone,Penelope.”

I laughed in his face. “You lost the right to correct mytonewhen you hired someone tokidnap me!And you can fuck yourself with this NDA. I’m not signing it.”

He spread his hands wide. “No NDA, no money. It’s as simple as that.”

“Fine.” I rose to my feet, ready to leave.

“Ronan.”

Psycho Killer grabbed my arm and locked me in place to endure my father’s warning.

“You walk out of here today without signing that, you’ve effectively cut yourself out of my life. That means no money, no more spending on my credit cards, no job, and no more fucking overpriced car I bought you. It also means that you don’t come back on Monday and beg for it all back.”

“There’s nowayI’m coming back after this.” I glared until I needed to blink, then turned my burning glower on Ronan.

“Just tell me one thing. Tell mehowyou did it. How did you get me to that hotel room without me resisting and without me remembering?”

A sordid mix of pride and triumph lit Ronan’s expression. “I’m a hypnotist. Who knew those skills would come in handy for things like this.”

“Youhypnotizedme?”

I cut my eyes to the floor out of fear he would do it again. Trickles of horror prickled throughout my entire body and punched the air from my lungs.

The conversation with Dante two weeks ago came to mind. The one where he’d explained that a reputable hypnotist had been a match to my facial-recognition sketch, but he’d been cleared because his alibi checked out. All the details fell into place.

“Your alibi…” I whispered around the shock, studying Paul. “It wasyou,wasn’t it?”

He scoffed. “Not directly. And I have to admit, I had my doubts the plan would work. Not everyone can be hypnotized. But you left me pleasantly surprised, Bunny.”

“I said don’t call me that!And let me go,” I screamed, rekindling my efforts to tug out of Ronan’s hold.

Experiencing how quickly he calmed my fight at the hotel, I was terrified of him hypnotizing me into signing the NDA.

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