Page 174 of Obey

My palm stings, and Nate’s head is turned to the side, a red mark already blooming across his cheek. I don’t apologize. I can’t. Not when my entire body is shaking with the force of what he just said.

“I should have never trusted you,” I whisper just as the office door opens.

Elias comes in first, Jace close behind. Whatever they were talking about dies the second they see us.

Jace’s attention jumps to my face, then the screen, then Nate. “What happened?”

A bitter sound escapes me. “Apparently, I’m under investigation.”

Elias becomes a wall of stillness as Jace looks at Nate. “You told her?”

“No,” I say. “He didn’t have to. I found the surveillance reports.”

Elias closes the door behind them. “Sloane—”

“Don’t.” I lift a hand when he starts toward me. “Don’t you dare stand there and treat me like I’m the one who’s confused.”

“I’m not saying you’re confused.”

“Then tell me the truth, Elias, since you've apparently known what's been going on this whole time.” I turn fully toward him. “Do you think I leaked the files?”

His gaze flicks to Nate, then back to me, but I have my answer. “I don’t know what to believe yet.”

“You told me you love me,” My eyes burn with unshed tears, “but you think I’d destroy everything you’ve worked for?”

“That's not it. Your credentials were used, Sloane, and we still don't know how. I'm trying to reconcile what the system recorded with the woman I know.”

“So until you can, I’m guilty.”

“Little doe—”

“Don’t call me that. That’s reserved for the man who believes me. And right now, that is not you.”

Elias flinches, his expression is torn between the protective man I fell for and the one who is standing with my accuser.

“What about you, Jace?" I sniff before turning to him. "Do you think I did it?”

“No.” His answer is immediate. “I know you didn’t. I know you would never do something like this.”

“Well, that makes one of you.” A sad smile pulls at my mouth as I look at the screen. “After everything, this is what you really think of me. Nice that I got to see the men behind the masks before it was too late.”

“That's not fair, Sloane.” Elias says.

I look at the three of them; Nate and Elias present a united front, while Jace is stranded in between. The divide is a chasm.

“Tell me something." I turn to Nate, needing one last answer, "Jace and Elias's credentials were used too. Did you ever question or doubt them?”

Nate looks away, and something inside me finally gives. He never put them through this. Only me.

“That’s what I thought. You’d never doubt them. But me?” I gesture at the screen still glowing with my name in red. “I’m the outsider. The one you don’t really know. The one you let into your bed but not your circle.”

Nate recoils. “Sloane, stop.”

“Don’t worry,” I say. “The snake will be out of your apartment soon. Wouldn’t want to give her more access than she already has, right?”

I move toward the door, and Elias shifts to block my path before he catches himself, the instinct to contain me warring with the knowledge that he has no right.

“Move.”