Page 33 of Don't Lie to Me

“I’ll go make sure everything is okay while you go speak to your guests.” I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, which was outside my rules considering any of his business partners could have seen me, but I couldn’t resist.

Jack held me tightly for just a second longer than professionally acceptable before letting me go. I smiled as he walked away, looking as polished as ever.

I took a step towards the kitchen when I heard a knock on the door. Instead of checking on the catering, I turned around to welcome one of Jack’s guests.

I opened the door and immediately wished I wouldn’t have.

Fuck, me.

ELEVEN

I felt the color drain immediately from my face.

What in the hell was he doing here? And then I remembered Jack’s words from last Friday and I knew. Shit. Marcus was the new attorney.

Of course he was. I never should have brushed the thought so quickly out of my mind. Marcus Whitmore the Third was standing in front of me – his face as pale as the white carpet in Jack’s penthouse.

His face showed an equal amount of shock at my presence. I had hoped, every day for the last five and a half years that I would never run into this man again. And here he was, standing at the entrance to Jack’s condo.

I covered my arms across my stomach instantly. I wanted to hide my secret from him. The only thing it did was bring attention to the one place I never wanted him to look again. His green eyes dropped immediately to my stomach, almost searing into me. I felt like just by looking at me he knew what I had done.

His hands clenched into fists at his side; full of tension.

We stood there, Marcus still in the doorway, me frozen in the same spot, staring at each other, our silence speaking volumes in and of itself. I don’t know how long we stood there, the tension between us flaring so much I thought the space between us might burst into flames.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” My voice sounded scratchy to my own ears and I felt my fingers ball tightly into fists at my side. There was no way to hide the amount of shock I was experiencing.

“Emma.” I wanted to run as soon as my name escaped his lips. I wanted to flee as fast as possible. Pick up Logan and run to some place obscure like Bora Bora and start our lives all over. Unfortunately, my feet became deeply rooted into Jack’s perfectly shined wood entryway floor and I couldn’t move a single inch. I wasn’t even sure I was still breathing.

This couldn’t be happening.

He reached for my hand, but I flinched and he stopped himself.

“It’s good to see you.” His quiet words and recovered look of shock didn’t startle me. Marcus was always perfect at playing the role of a smooth player. It’s undoubtedly how I got sucked into his vast web of lies to begin with.

“I can’t say the same.” I eyed him with disgust and pain. His blond hair mirrored Logan’s and a small part of me wanted to reach out and mess it up just like I did to his son’s. I gasped at my own thought. Marcus was here, looking like a grown-up replica of the boy I gave birth to almost five years ago and he had no idea his son existed.

I watched his eyes flicker back to my abdomen and back to mine.

“You two know each other?” Jack’s deeply tense voice finally released my feet from their frozen prison. I jumped and looked to him. Both Marcus and I did. He stood in the entryway, just a few steps behind me, looking every bit the professional CEO he was, but I knew by the tick of his jaw that he was on alert. He felt the tension between us and was clearly confused. And concerned.

I tried to smile when he looked to me, but it was an absolute pathetic attempt at best. I felt like throwing up and knew it showed.

I wanted Jack to comfort me. I needed to feel his arms around me, protecting me from the hell that had just landed in my lap. He must have sensed it because he finally moved closer and wrapped an arm around my waist before turning to Marcus, extending his other hand.

“Come on in.” I watched the men shake hands. My self-professed broken man next to me, shaking hands with the man who broke me. I felt bile rise in my throat at the fact that Marcus now worked for Jack and I would be seeing much more of him. I cleared my throat to force the vile taste back down.

Jack’s expression was completely professional. Anyone who knew him only on a professional level wouldn’t see past the mask of indifference he wore. I saw it. I saw the tension around the outer edges of his eyes and felt it from the hand wrapped firmly around me. His hand pressed tightly into my back. I didn’t know how to explain what was happening. Marcus didn’t either. But he didn’t know the half of it.

Finally, I found my voice. I looked to Marcus and then Jack. “Marcus and I went to school together, Jack.”

I tried as hard as I could to look pleasant. To hide the fear and anger that was bubbling just beneath the surface. I was always amazed at how quickly people could shut down their emotions and move on as if nothing bothered them. Jack and Marcus clearly had that gift because they quickly looked to me and then back to each other, looking completely composed and professional.

Marcus looked between us, now inside the condo I spent so much time in and I wanted to kick him out but knew I couldn’t.

“Are you two…?” He looked almost sheepish as he started the question, as if his new boss’s personal life was any of his business.

Jack’s grip tightened around me fractionally. I felt safe instantly. He wouldn’t let Marcus hurt me. Then I realized how stupid the thought was. Marcus had the power to hurt me more than anyone in the entire world, he just didn’t know it yet.

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