Page 37 of Discretion at Its Finest

“That’s not necessary—” I said quickly.

“It wasn’t a suggestion,” he replied, voice even and decisive. “I’ll only be a minute.”

The muscles in my jaw clenched. For a second, I almost argued… almost. But Jamie’s eyes lingered on us longer than I probably wanted them to. Watching every shift and movement of our eyes, she could probably feel the tension in the room that was so thick a knife wouldn’t have been able to cut through it.

Without another word, I moved toward the door. Like the gentleman he was, Reid held it open, forcing me to squeeze by him, to take in his intoxicating scent that almost made my knees buckle. His cologne that warmed my insides in all the wrong places, the heat of his body melting into my skin for just that split second.

I waited only for a short while before turning to walk away when he finally came out. Reid fell into step beside me. Neither of us spoke as we stepped into the elevator.

The doors closed, and only then did I find my voice. “What did you have to talk to her about?”

He didn’t even look at me. “Nothing important.”

The elevator chimed, opening to the quiet lobby. I adjusted Eugene’s weight in my arms, his little body still limp against my chest, and stepped out first.

Outside, the air was cool with night chill. Reid’s car was already waiting, parked illegally near the curb as if it had every right to be there. Like the world started and stopped with him, bending to his will, the rules of it having no effect on him.

He opened the back door without me asking. I slid in carefully, buckling Eugene in. I made a move to sit, but I could feel his hand on my elbow, silently telling me to get out of the car. Reluctantly, I stepped back out into the night, hugging myself protectively as he closed the door, his jaw clenching as he watched me.

“You didn’t tell me you needed someone to watch Eugene.” He towered over me, his forearms bulging out of his rolled-up dress shirt, his upper chest on display as his top few buttons were undone. The hint of stubble graced his jaw, giving him a five o’clock shadow. He looked tired, disheveled—and dangerous…

“I don’t,” I said quietly.

“I could hire you someone,” he added, his tone nonchalant. As if all of this wasn’t his fault. “A nanny. Just until—”

“I said I don’t need your help,” I said, my tone clipped this time.

“Clearly you do,” he countered, his tone too casual to be harmless. “You brought him to a center… to sit beside someone with a failing immune system. While she’s on bed rest. That’s not just desperate… it’s reckless.”

I stiffened. “You think I don’t know that?” My voice cracked. I hated that he noticed the moment it did.

I shook my head. “You don’t get to stand there and point out how I’m drowning when you’re the reason I’m under the water in the first place.”

“Vieve. You and I both know you were drowning long before I came back into the picture.”

“I was doing just fine before you came back. My son and I were perfectly happy.”

“Really?” The way he said it made me flinch almost. “Lying yourself, lying to everyone around you made you happy? Pretending to be the picture-perfect woman in this fabricated family makes you happy?”

“What is it with you and this stupid rhetoric?” I snapped. “So what if I have to pretend? You keep digging and digging, like you want me to admit something I’m not even allowed to feel. Why can’t you just let me be happy?”

He didn’t hesitate.

“Because I want the truth.”

Chapter sixteen

Genevieve

“Because I want the truth.”

My throat tightened, but I held his stare. “You want the truth?”

There was a beat of silence. His jaw locked.

“Fine. You want the truth?” My voice rose, sharp with something between pain and defiance. “I left you, Reid.I. Left. You. And there was nothing you could’ve done to stop me.”

His body went still, like I’d slapped him across the face.