Emily
The next morning, I didn’t lock when I entered his office. I opened the door and walked in, reminding myself to be confident as I clutched the folder of evidence against my chest.
He looked up from his desk, startled “Emily?”
I stayed by the doorway, tension wound tight around my spine. “We need to talk.”
He stood, slowly, like approaching a spooked wolf. “I didn’t know Chloe would be here. I didn’t ask her to be.”
“Then why did you allow her to stay and to get so close to you?”
He flinched. “I’m trying to protect you. There are things happening behind the scenes that I can’t even explain yet. But I swear
“I don’t need protection.” My voice cracked like a whip. “Ineed partnership. I need to know that when someone tries to tear me down, you’re at my side, not sneaking around behind my back.”
He ran a hand down his face. “I know. I know I messed up. But you’re not the only one trying to fight for something
I tilted my chin up. “Then fight with me.
here.”
Thadn’t gone into his office to accuse him. I just wanted to hear him defend himself and defend me. I wanted to know we were working together.
Something shifted in the space between us. The tension that had once bristled like thoms now felt raw.
He stepped closer. “I hate this distance between us,
1 didn’t back away. “So close it.”
He took another step. I could feel the heat of him now. It was like basking in a warm spring suTL
“Why do you keep pulling away?” he asked, voice low.
“Because every time I get close to someone, they use it against me” My voice trembled.
“I won’t.” The words left him like a vow. “We are in this together.
I blinked rapidly and looked away. I can’t focus when he looks at me with a gaze that is so loyal. “We have to focus. I got a lead last night.”
He paused,
his steely gaze focused entirely on me. “Where do we start?”
I looked up at him, eyes fierce. “I can’t use it in court. But maybe we can’t bring the documents in, we bring the people out.”
Logan’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?
“Chloe’s desperate for your attention,” I said carefully. “That’s why you let her into your office yesterday, right? We can use that against her.”
His lips tightened. “I’d rather chew glass.”
‘Lucky for you, you won’t have to.” I crossed my arms. “We let her think she’s winning. She’ll try to sabotage me and try to impress you. Maybe she’ll even bring you the proof we need. It’s something I can’t get on my own.”
Logan nodded slowly. “Alright. We play the long game.”
We stood there in the hush of that moment as two partners staring down the storm together. We weren’t perfect, but we chose each other anyway.
1/3
Chapour al
He cleared his throat. “You said you had a lead?”
Thanded him the folder. Logan flipped it apen, and his expression hardened with each page.
“Monaco accounts,” he murmured. “They really did this to you.
I folded my arms across my chest. “They stole my money and tried to cover it up with offshore accounts. They never had any Intention of giving it back to me. They turned me into a charity case in my own life”
Logan looked up “You’re not a charity case. You’re the strongest person I know.”
My throat tightened. I can’t remember the last time someone gave jne such a compliment. To hear it from Logan was an entirely new experience.
He set the folder down and walled around the desk slowly, cautiously, like he w want to help. I don’t want to be another person who lets you down.
“Then don’t,” I whispered.
wasn’t sure how close he was allowed to be. “I
“I meant what I said,” he murmured. “I don’t want to meet with Chloe again. If using her gets us what we n make her think she has a chance.”
we need, I’ll do it. I’ll
Iblinked up
bat him. “No matter what?!
He stopped–in front of me, close enough that the scent of cedar and amber wrapped around my senses.
Logan’s jaw clenched. “That’s why I’m telling you now. I’ll let her think what we need her to, but I have no interest in her. I need you to know that.”
Emotion pressed behind my ribs, sharp and insistent. “Because it’s better to get revenge, right?”
He stepped closer, and I felt the heat between us as it pulsed like a second heartbeat. “That’s right. I’ve been trying to protect you from everything, instead of fighting with you. And maybe that was my pride talking.”
“I’m still mad,” Isaid, voice trembling. “Still scared.”
“I’ll wait,” he said, brushing a thumb gently along her jaw. “However long it takes.”
My heart thudded so hard I swore he could hear it.
His forehead lowered to mine, our breaths mingling.
- ng. “We’ll take it for Chloe. But everything between us? That’s real”
I leaned into him slightly. “We’re partners, right?”
“Yes,” he said, and the promise in his voice wrapped around me like a safety net.
For a moment, the world shrank to the space between us. The heat was too real to deny. I felt my heart skipping in delight to be close to him, but it didn’t feel real. There was too much going on in the background that I couldn’t trust him.
Logan had told his father that I was all apart of his plan. He’d tried to use Chloe without talking to me. In some small, dark space in my heart, I wondered if he was truly using me.
Even then, I didn’t have it in me to close my heart off to him. We both knew what this was when we started, I couldn’t be that mad that it was exactly that a contract relationship to help us both achieve our dreams.
I stepped back Logan let me, though his jaw was set hard. For a moment, I thought he’d chase after me, but he didn’t. He watched as I walked around the room to his desk.
“I need to be sure of what we’re walking into,” I said softly. “So here’s the plan.”
We sat down, this time side by side in the chairs opposite his desk instead of across from one another. I laid out everything I knew. Lopan offered to get the private investigator to dig deeper, and together, we started to construct the next steps.
It was a sting operation of sorts. We would let Chlor think Logan was softening. We’d let her believe she was winning. In return, she’d inevitably make a mistake. Or maybe even volunteer anything she knew freely.
“Play the game,” I murmured, “but don’t forget who you’re fighting for.”
He reached over and gently placed his hand on top of mine. “I won‘
And for the first time in what felt like weeks, I felt something solid beneath my feet.
1 didn’t trust easily, but somewhere between the space of a look and the warmth of his words, a part of me started to believe that we have something worth fighting for.
It was a fragile new start to our already tumultuous relationship.
