Page 90 of Axe Backwards
The bile threatening to make an appearance churned in my stomach.
Story of my fucking life. Yet another shitty man has taken advantage of my excitement and passion to further his own agenda. More manipulation.
I was a tool to be used. Nothing more.
The shame was palpable. Maybe my mother had been right. Graham too.
I wasn’t good enough.
I was reactive and excitable. Not cool and calculated.
I trusted too easily and allowed myself to be led astray.
With my head in my hands, I willed myself not to cry. I could do that when I was alone in my car.
“You’ve done nothing wrong.” This was the third time she’d assured me of that. “And you could be the person to help us.”
I sucked in a breath and looked up. “What do you need? I’ll do anything.” I had to fix this. God, I’d been so stupid.
“You don’t have to.” Noah put his hand on mine and straightened in his chair, his focus fixed on Parker. “You can’t put her in danger.”
“We have no reason to believe they’re dangerous,” she said. “And Vic could be a huge help. Can you play along? Keep taking meetings and learn what you can? Keep them spinning their wheels while I investigate?”
I nodded. Easily. “Denis is all ego. It probably won’t take much encouragement to get him to reveal things.”
“Yes. Go through the proposal. Ask a million questions. Take notes.”
“I can play dumb.”
She nodded and gave me a grateful smile. This woman was whip-smart, but something told me she’d had to play dumb to get ahead a few times herself.
“If you see or hear anything suspicious, call me. Ask him about the construction proposals. Make him walk you through them, line by line.”
The dread receded, and a little spark of excitement ignited. I smirked. “I’ll ask him to mansplain construction to me.”
Parker grinned. “We won’t ask you to do anything that makes you uncomfortable.”
I barked out a laugh. “Trust me. I have plenty of experience as a people pleaser seeking approval. I can make it work.”
“You should come over to our place for dinner soon,” Chloe said, leaning forward with a smile. “I’ll beat all those pleasing instincts right out of you.”
I had no doubt she would. She was pocket-sized, but I did not want to get on her bad side.
“You don’t have to do anything.” Noah regarded me, his lips turned down and his eyes swimming with concern.
“It’s fine. All I have to do is attend more boring meetings and talk about roofing materials and electrical wiring. It’s hardly international espionage.”
That didn’t lighten his mood. His only response was a long exhale.
“I’m fine. You know me. I like to be useful.” They may not have hard evidence yet, but if the Huxleys were really responsible for hurting this town and putting people in danger? Then I was all in.
No one hurt Lovewell. This place was my home.
And if I could help Noah’s family and take the obnoxious Denis Huxley down a peg or two in the process, how could I resist?
Chapter 29
Victoria
