Page 78 of Am I the Only One

“You think I don’t know that? God, Luca, I’m well aware of the destruction this could cause.”

With force, he takes my hand, refusing to let me pull away again. “I’m fucking serious. You have to cut all ties with these people. They are powerful, Emma. There’s no way you would ever have a fighting chance against them, and they will make certain that you, and only you, are the one who takes the ultimate fall.”

“You aren’t telling me anything that I don’t already know,” I say around the emotions that are beginning to surface. “It’s the constant fear of this getting out, of me being exposed and ripped to shreds by not only the media but also the most influential political powerhouses in the country that keeps me up at night. My god, Tripp is only two years out from announcing his run for the President of the United States, and everyone knows it. I’m pretty much a dead man walking, which is why I need your help.”

Luca doesn’t initially respond. He’s lost in his thoughts, ones I’m not sure I want to be privy to. His eyes bore into mine, and all I can do is pray that he isn’t seeing me as the very thing painted before him—a whore. And then, out of nowhere, he grits, “That bitch has completely taken advantage of you.”

She didn’t. If anything, it is the other way around, but ... yeah, I’m not going to tell him that. Not with the way he’s already looking at me.

“I met with her today. She doesn’t want me anywhere near her or her husband, which means no more money.”

“Fuck the money. I’ll go to my parents.”

“No.”

“Why are you so prideful?”

“I don’t think you understand the amount of debt I’m in,” I tell him before explaining, “I didn’t have the money to pay for Matthew’s living expenses, so I took out a few credit cards, but they’re all maxed out at this point, and I now have collectors calling me constantly. I have no way to continue paying for him, but it’s an expense that’s my responsibility for the rest of my life. There’s no way I can afford taking care of myself and him as well unless I can graduate and get a real job, and even then, I’ll still be scraping by, but at least he’ll be taken care of. In order to do that, I need to finish my degree, which will cost over a hundred grand, not including all my books.” I tell him and wait for him to finally understand the seriousness of my situation. “If it were a few thousand dollars that I needed, sure, go to your parents, but it isn’t. It’s more like one hundred thousand, and I could never take that amount of money from them because I would never be able to pay it back, and I can’t have that weighing on my conscience.”

He releases a heavy sigh, breathing a winded, “Fuck,” as he does.

“I never would’ve gotten myself wrapped up with the Montgomery’s if I weren’t desperate, but I am. It was the only way I could see a way out for myself.”

“But it’s over, right? She’s done with you?”

“That’s what she says, but the thing is, I can’t let her be done with me.” I go on to explain how Carly doesn’t have any hard evidence on Tripp because of my refusal to provide it, but that we could get evidence on her that will keep her wallet open for my benefit.

“You mean you want to blackmail her?”

“Exactly. They’re loaded,” I say. “The amount I need is barely even a fraction of what they have. I mean, you should see the house they live in.”

“You’ve been there?”

“I’ve only driven by out of curiosity,” I admit.

“This is crazy, you know that, right?”

“You don’t understand,” I tell him. “She makes rash decisions without thinking them through. What’s to stop her from becoming so desperate that she turns her back on me and outs my affair? Because she easily could.”

“So, tell me,” he says, pushing a stressed hand through his thick hair. “What are you going to do?”

Shrugging, I admit, “I don’t know, but I have to do something.”

Luca’s eyes drift from mine as I begin biting anxiously on the inside of my cheek. When his hand lets go of mine and he stands, I doubt my decision to tell him all of this. My eyes follow as he walks into the kitchen, opens the fridge, and grabs a bottle of beer. Popping the cap, he chugs it quickly before grabbing another two bottles. When he returns, he hands me one and takes his seat next to me.

Nerves wreak havoc on me as I wait for him to say something. He takes another draw from his beer before setting it down. “I’ll sleep with her.”

My jaw drops. “What?”

“I’ll get her to sleep with me,” he repeats. “And you’ll get photos to blackmail her with.”

Staring into his eyes that reflect his hesitation, I tell him, “I can’t ask you to do that. I can’t allow you to get involved and risk—”

“You aren’t asking. I’m offering.”

A multitude of hesitations crash overhead, and I cannot believe what he’s offering to do. “Do you have any clue how insane this is?”

He takes another sip and then sets the bottle down. “Yeah, I do. Allowing her to continue to hold all the power is insane.”

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