Page 19 of Obsessed Fox

"It means we need to talk and I would much prefer to do that with you sitting on my lap."

I could see our earlier discussion come crashing back, front and center in her brain. Her eyes expanded to the size of dinner saucers, her body started to shake, and her lips quivered.

"What you said, can't be true." Her words were barely more than a whisper, but they might as well have been as loud as a bomb, the way they smashed through my cold dead heart.

"I wish it wasn't, but I have the evidence. That's why I was coming home so early. I needed to tell you myself."

Maisie shook her head violently. "He wouldn't! He hated Atlas and all he stood for as much as I did!"

Maybe that was true at one point, but people changed. Greediness had a tendency to make people do stupid things, and from what I could find, Atlas was worth a lot before he was killed. Not just money, but power. It’s possible the temptation was too much for Matty to pass up.

I couldn't tell Maisie any of that though. She was having a hard enough time believing me. It was important I stuck to the facts and kept my assumptions out of the mix.

"Let me show you what Nolen and I found."

I made the mistake of losing my grip just enough that Maisie got her hands between us and shoved at my chest. "You told Nolen about me?" The accusation in her tone was hard to miss.

"I told him you were looking for your long-lost brother. I never said anything to him about what you did."

She didn't look like she believed me and I didn't know how to convince her other than calling Nolen to validate my story.

Except that would give him reason to question me more and I was sure that was the last thing Maisie wanted.

"How do I know you're telling me the truth?"

It was scary how well I could read her.

"You're just going to have to trust me."

She scoffed in my face.

Literally, since I still had my hands planted firmly on her hips.

"I don't trust anyone. Especially not a man who tricked me into having sex with him the first time."

I opened my mouth to protest, but quickly shut it. I merely didn’t talk when I pulled her into the dark closet and used my body to do all the talking. It wasn't my fault she got swept away the moment our lips connected.

"Cat got your tongue?" She lifted her brow in challenge.

"I don't feel like tricked is the right word."

Maisie managed to use the little space between us to cross her arms. "And what would you call it?"

"Seizing the opportunity."

With a roll of her eyes, she uncrossed her arms and slapped my chest. "Never mind. Forget I brought it up."

That was fine with me. I would take her attitude over the tears any day of the week. Hopefully the break in tension would make this easier for her to accept.

I shifted her to my left side so I could reach into my pocket to pull my cell phone out. I barely had it unlocked before I felt her tense against me again. "I know you don't want to but I need you to see this."

I didn't give her a chance to think about it. Within seconds, I had the email pulled up with all the files Nolen collected. "Please just look so we can move forward on figuring out what you want to do."

With much reluctance, Maisie took the phone out of my hands, and started to scroll. I expected to feel anger pouring out of her or even sadness, but the way she slumped in my arms, I knew there was nothing but acceptance. Even if it was unwillingly.

"I don't understand." Her words were barely more than a whisper. "When we realized what Atlas was up to, we talked about how we would destroy everything he built. How could Matty take over for him?"

"I don't know, but you have a decision to make. We can forget everything we’ve learned and go back to living your life here,knowing you won't be arrested. Or we can dig deeper and stop your brother from fulfilling Atlas's legacy. The decision is yours."

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