Page 39 of Shattered Reign

Easton pulled away first and said, “I hate that I cut our kiss short, but I want to get back here as soon as I can.”

“I want that too,” I said as I opened the door and was greeted by a rush of cold air.

“Hey, Bianca.”

I turned to look back at Easton and said, “Yes?”

“I love you.”

I was still getting used to hearing him say those words. “I love you too.”

I stepped out of the SUV and walked to my apartment building. The quicker I took a shower and changed my clothes, the better.

I pushed open the glass door and entered the lobby of my apartment building. I was immediately greeted by a gust of warm air, and I sighed. The only thing that would be better would be the shower my body was dying to take.

“Ms. Henson.”

I turned toward the voice, wondering why the person at the front desk would be calling me.

But I was wrong.

My gaze landed on Diana Caldwell. A million and a half questions flew through my head as I tried to piece together why she would be here.

“What are you doing here, Diana?” I said, harsher than necessary. I figured it was because she took me off guard. It was also a matter of me trying to mask the panic that I actually felt.

“No need to be so hostile, Bianca,” she said as she stepped forward. Her heelsclick-clackedagainst the floor, echoing in the lobby. “I just wanted to talk to you, and I won’t take up too much of your time.”

“Talk?” I scoffed, crossing my arms over my chest. “What could you possibly want to talk to me about? My father’s failing mayoral campaign? Shouldn’t you be talking to him?”

“No. I’m talking to the Henson that I want to talk to.” She sighed, and I could see she was trying to maintain her composure. After all, she was still in public, and people might recognize who she was. “Is there somewhere we can talk that is more private?”

I raised an eyebrow at her because of how suspicious I was about all of this. There was no way I was allowing her into my apartment. Hell, how had she even found out where I lived? Could she be the person who was stalking me?

I looked down at my phone and then back up at Diana as an idea popped into my head. “Let’s see if one of the conference rooms on the main floor is open and we can talk there.”

It would provide the privacy she wanted, but also allow me to remain as close to being public as possible. Diana gestured for me to walk ahead, and I led us into the area where everyone who rented or owned an apartment in the building was allowed to use these rooms during preset hours. People usually used them for work meetings or calls.

Thankfully, a smaller meeting room was empty, and I held the door open as Diana joined me in the space. Black leather ergonomic chairs were placed around a conference table. A state-of-the-art flat-screen monitor was mounted on the off-white wall at one end of the room, ready for presentations or video calls. A countertop to our left held a high-end coffee machine and a variety of snacks.

We both sat down at the table at the same time, and I waited for her to speak first.

She tapped her fingertips on the table while looking around the room. She looked unsure of herself, and I couldn’t help but wonder what was on her mind. If she didn’t start talking soon, Easton would be back, and she would have done nothing but waste my time. And the last thing I had was time to waste, so I spoke up.

“What brings you here, Diana?” I tried my best to be nicer than I’d been when she startled me with her ambush.

“I wanted to tell you that I sent those photos of you to your father.”

My blood turned cold. I wasn’t sure how to react, so instead, I froze in place for a few seconds. There’s no way she’d said what I thought she said. “What the hell? You can’t be fucking serious.”

I couldn’t process what she’d just confessed to. It had been the last thing I’d been expecting her to say.

“I am,” she said with a small nod. “After all, how would I know about them? The pictures were never leaked to the public.”

“Was it a way for you to try to blackmail him? Pretty sure that’s illegal.”

Diana rolled her eyes and as I watched her slouch in her chair, I noticed she was becoming more relaxed and less rigid, clearly removing the persona she used in public. I guessed this was supposed to be a rare treat for me.

“It had nothing to do with blackmail. It had to do with letting him know that it was easy to find this in our opposition research. If it got into the wrong hands, it could have reflected poorly on him.”

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