Page 66 of Betraying Him
His mom.
“When did she give you this?” he whispers, and shock reverberates through me at his assumption.
“How do you know I didn’t steal it, like the last time?”
He looks at me over his shoulder, a sad smile on his face. “Because now I know who you really are, and I don’t believe you would have stolen it. Not this time.”
I swallow the lump in my throat and incline my head toward the folder. “Just open it. In there is everything you want to know.”
I wait in silence for him to open it and start reading what really happened and what’s been going on, but his eyes don’t leave mine. Something in his expression is unsettling, like he’s only moments away from either losing his shit or breaking down.
“I don’t want to read it, Savannah.”
“Why not?” I demand, not understanding what the hell he’s doing.
“Because for once, I need to hear your side of things fromyou.No assumptions, no guesses, no words written by someone who wasn’t involved. I need your version of events, and then I’m gonna help you figure out how to help yourself.”
“Yeah? You’re not gonna swoop in and fix all my problems for me?”
He grins at me. That boyish grin I miss so much, the one I haven’t seen directed my way in four years. “We both know you don’t want me to save you, but maybe I can lend a helping hand to get you there. And if you don’t want me anywhere near you or whatever it is you’re planning, then just say the word, and I’ll be quietly cheering you on from the sidelines.”
My jaw tightens. How the hell can he flip a switch so easily? For years, he’s hated me, tormented me. Hell, we’ve barely spoken a word in over a year, and now he thinks he can just swoop in and help me with all of my problems? After everything that’s happened between us?
I think the fuck not.
Still, itisabout time he finally knows the truth.
Taking a steadying breath, I incline my head toward the sofa. “I think we’d better sit down.”
FORTY-SEVEN
HARLEY
We’re sittingon opposite chairs with the coffee table between us, and while I hate the distance it creates, I know it’s something she probably needs.
She takes a deep breath, her fingers clasped tightly together on her lap. “Growing up in my house wasn’t exactly… it wasn’t fun. My father would… well, he would hit me or push me around if I didn’t do what he said.” She pauses, her gaze focused on her hands as though she can’t even look at me, and I have to swallow down the rage that hits me.
How could anyone do that to her? How could her ownfatherdo that to her?
“I could get into it completely, but that would take days. I’m only telling you this so you understand the full picture. Anyway, let’s fast forward to when we met on the pier…”
Savannah tells me about that day from her point of view, about how she didn’t want anything to do with me because it would get her in trouble, and that’s why she tried to keep a distance between us—to keep us both safe—and I start to seethings differently. I saw it as a chase, not knowing the consequences while for her, it was survival.
“I’m sorry if I made things harder for you,” I rasp, my voice thick with regret, but she shakes her head.
“It’s not your fault, Harley. None of this is your fault.”
“And it’s not yours either.”
That makes her pause, and I can see the hesitation written all over her face, clear as day. Has she really been blaming herself this entire time, when it was her father behind the entire thing?
My anger for that bastard of a man grows, but I try not to let it show because while I need to hear it, I think she also needs to tell me it and finally get it off her chest. She’s told Logan and Lana all of this already, but they’re just bystanders watching this happen. Her and I are the ones wholivedit.
“After that day, I went home and told him I had bumped into you, knowing it’d no doubt get back to him anyway since he always seemed to find out everything. If I’m being honest, he didn’t react the way I thought he would, and it became clearwhywhen he made me dress up and took me to your house for the party.”
I think over that night with a fresh perspective, remembering the way she stuck to her father like glue. I thought it was because she just wanted to keep up appearances, but now I’m realizing she probably didn’t have a choice and that she?—
Wait.
