Page 99 of Words We Didn't Say

The mask slipped. Chris’s face twisted to reveal the monster he was, and his fingers clawed around my arm. He yanked me closer. The pressure digging into my skin was so punishing the blue ocean blurred to black, and I fought with every ounce of strength inside me to hide just how much it hurt. The bruises all over his fiancée told me he was capable of worse. It was the same story of every girlfriend my father had ever had.Of me.

Defiant, I hiked my chin and stood even taller. “Is this how you convince the pretty doctor to stay with you? What amanyou are.”

Sneering, he shoved me. My back bounced off the railing, and I yelped as the pain snapped up my spine. His hands were off me, but he stalked closer and crowded me into the corner until there was no escape.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” he spat.

“I’m Eden fucking Phillips.”

He smirked. “White trash who jumped on every eligible dick in this city to make some money.”

“Oh, honey, is that what you need to tell yourself to feel better? Can’t handle a woman who sees opportunity and takes it?” I fluttered my eyelashes. “Or are you disappointed that even after takingall that dick,I still wouldn’t be caught dead on yours?”

His lips pressed into a straight line.

“I can’t wait to tell Zach all about the piece of shit you are,” I said. “He will end you.”

“Is that what you think?” Chris barked a laugh. “Zach’s career ends with a snap of my fingers. It wouldn’t take much to convince the other partners to hold him back for another few years while he sorts out all his…problems.”

My bottom lip caught in my teeth.

Chris smirked. “How do you think Zach will handle that?” His head cocked. “After everything he’s been through… We both know it’d destroy him. But… I’m sure we could come up with some kind of…arrangement.” My bones chilled when his fingers ran down my arm. “You’re a savvy businesswoman, aren’t you? You know how to negotiate terms. Make…deals…” He slurred over the last two words because he was too busy leering at my boobs. “You keep your mouth shut about me, and I’ll make Zach’s dreams come true.”

“That’s blackmail.”

“No, honey, that’s business.” Chris’s mocking voice chilled even more. “Do you really think he’d believe a bit of trash like you over me?”

I shoved him off me.

“You may think you matter,” Chris said, “but you’re not more important than the future Zach’s been working for his entire career. He owes me everything. He chosemeover hisown mother. I suggest you choose your next moveveryfucking carefully.”

His smug smile was the last thing I saw as he left.

My hand trembled as I fumbled to steady myself on the railing. My breaths were shallow and shaky, and every emotion I’d been holding back threatened to flood out of me. Fear. Anger. Humiliation. Devastation.

But I forced everything behind the walls I’d built in childhood. Barely. I held myself together. Somehow.

What the hell was I going to do?

26

He said, “I need to go back to work.”

Zach

Something was wrong.

The mattress bobbed. Cotton sheets rustled. Eden rolled over to face me, her hair tangled on the pillow. I’d convinced her to switch off the lights, but she hadn’t tugged the drapes closed, and enough of the urban glow wedged through the gap to show the worry creased between her eyebrows.

“Denny Dee, is everything okay? You haven’t said much since we left the party.”

An understatement. Eden hadn’t spoken a word in the taxi back to her place. No brutal commentary about the dull outfits. No scorecards for the food. She was an anxious cloud suspended in murky silence.

“I want you to be happy,” she whispered.

“I am.” The truth. “Talk to me about this.” I gently pressed my finger into the line knitted between her brows. “What can I do?”

“Will you hold me?”

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