Page 120 of Illicit Education

“Rylan.”

“Okay, I will.”

“Where are you? Give me an idea.”

“Whitestone.”

“Thefuck? What are you doing out there?”

“I’ll explain later.”

“Oh my God, hedidkidnap you.”

“Greer, please.”

“Okay, babe, I’m sorry. Send me your location. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

I did as she asked.

“Okay, got it. I love you.” She ended the call and the phone fell from my hands.

I pulled my knees up to my chest and hugged them, crying into my arms.

How could someone do this to me? How…?

Who?What kind of person would do something so horrible?

The more I processed what happened, the harder I cried. Sobs shook me–

The door flew open and I looked up into Reed’s wide eyes. He rushed over to me and settled beside me, pulling me against his body and holding me while I cried.

“Shh,” he murmured against my hair. “I’m going to fix this. It’s okay, it’s okay.”

But it wasn’t okay. Everything I’d worked so hard for was gone.

He rocked me for a long time, curled up on the floor with me and whispered into my hair, trying to calm me while his life was falling apart too, which only made me cry harder. We’d both be ruined after this. He’d have to explain his private life to the world, and they wouldn't understand, wouldn’t accept him. He’d lose his publishing house, his father’s company, hislivelihood, and all because of me.

Because I forced myself into his life and turned it upside down.

He’dtoldme as much.

The pain ripped at my chest, tearing me apart the more I thought about what was going to happen to us, what we would lose.

Finally, I looked up at him and he cupped my face, smoothing the tears away with his thumbs.

“I want to take a shower.”

He nodded, searching my gaze, then scooped me up and rose to his feet. He carried me to the shower and set me on the toilet while he turned it on, then, when it was warm enough, he stripped me out of his clothes, scooped me up again, then carried me into the stream of water.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Rylan

I watched Greer’s journey on the friend finder app on my phone, and as she got closer to the house, I left the bedroom and quietly made my way downstairs. After my shower, Reed had left me alone and returned to the kitchen to figure out how he was going to handle this situation. His lawyers had already been called and were likely on their way, and he had Mina. My bosses were two of the most powerful people I’d ever met, and I had faith that together, they were a force to be reckoned with.

The guilty party, whoever they were, would pay for their crimes. I didn’t doubt that.

What had me so sick to my stomach I could barely drink water was the fact that I, too, would have to pay for mine.

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