Page 99 of Filthy Rich Temptation
‘Axel?’
‘She’s Taylor,’ he clips out. ‘She’s as fierce as they come.’
‘She didn’t sound fierce, not when she called me the morning after he got?—’
‘Theo?’
The soft voice comes from behind me and my stomach drops. My eyes slam shut.
‘Yeah,’ Axel says in my ear, ‘but she?—’
‘I’ve gotta go,’ I cut him off, heart slamming as I turn. ‘Sadie…’
She’s standing there, hair billowing in the breeze, white cotton shirt billowing with it –mywhite cotton shirt. Everything I want and everything I’m about to break.
‘What’s going on, Theo?’
She wraps her arms around her middle, and I can already see it in her eyes: the hurt I’m about to inflict with the secret I can no longer keep.
‘Answer me.’
‘Hear me out, okay.’ I raise a desperate hand. ‘Before you react, just let me explain.’
‘I’m listening.’
‘What did you hear?’
Her brows lift, eyes sharp and piercing, stabbing at my heart. ‘I heard enough, now I want the whole story.’
‘Sadie…’
‘Don’t “Sadie”, me.’ Her voice trembles. ‘Thisis about me. The least you can do is tell me everything.’
I swallow hard. ‘Danny’s in London… or he was.’
Her lashes flutter. ‘When?’
‘He— he was waiting outside Taylor’s apartment the night you two met for drinks.’
She goes still. So very still, it’s like the world stops with her. ‘He got to Taylor?’
I nod and her throat bobs, fear widening her gaze.
‘Is she?—’
‘She’s okay,’ I hurry out. ‘He shook her up, but she’s okay.’
Her face tightens. ‘Why didn’t you say anything? Why didn’tshesay anything?’
‘I— We didn’t want to upset you.’
Her jaw clenches, nostrils flaring. ‘Hehurtmy sister, andyoudidn’t want to upset me?’ Then her mouth falls open on a gasp. ‘Oh my God! That night – that was the day before you brought us here. You… Your sudden need to get us on holiday… You wanted to get us away from him?’
‘Yes.’ I rub the back of my neck, heart pounding as I fight to keep my voice steady. ‘I couldn’t risk him getting to you too. You were doing so well, and I wanted to protect that, keep?—’
‘You think hiding the truthprotectsme?’ Her jaw trembles. ‘You thinklyingto me, talking about howstrongI am while treating me like glass –that’sprotection?’
I shake my head, unable to bear the way she’s spun it. ‘No. No, I wasn’t lying?—’
