Jace looked at me, clearly still not getting it.


    “Tanya was just the final straw,” I said, giving him a tiny smile.


    I remembered something I’d heard before: ‘If you canugh about it, you’re over it.‘


    “Rea, I don’t get it. Fine, me me for what happened with Tanya, but before that? I was good to


    you,” he insisted, like he just couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that I’d checked out long


    before.


    “I’m not saying you weren’t good to me,” I shrugged. “But did you ever stop to think about how I


    treated you? Or were you too busy looking in the mirror?” I asked, keeping my voice light.


    He stared at me for what felt like forever, then dropped his head. “I didn’t appreciate you. That’s


    how I lost you.”


    “What’s the point in rehashing this now?” I said, steering things back to Tanya. “Let’s talk about her.


    You worried your parents won’t be cool if you’re serious about her?”


    “Serious? With Tanya?” Jace snapped. “Do you think I’m aplete idiot?”


    Okay, valid question, but I kept that to myself.


    “She’s trying to ckmail me with that video. Let her. I’m not letting anyone threaten me,” he said,


    full of that ssic Jace bravado.


    He never allowed himself to be ckmailed–whether in life or in business. Tanya had clearly


    miscalcted with this move.


    “Sure, but if she actually releases it? RiverwaveCorp will take a hit, and Matthew? He won’t handle


    that well, I reminded him, tossing a look his way.


    “That’s why I need your help,” he finally admitted.


    Ah, there it was.


    I studied him for a second. In the early morning light, he still looked sharp, his features all chiseled


    and handsome, but there was a heaviness in his expression that made him feel distant. “What do


    you need?” “Talk to my dad,” Jace said, shaking his head. “Wayne and I? We’re both brick walls


    with him. You’re the only one who can actually get through. If it wasn’t for, you know, your real


    background, I swear people would think you’re his long–lost daughter.”


    I snorted, giving him a yful kick. “Stop talking nonsense.”


    Jace smiled, watching me a little too closely. “I haven’t seen youugh like that in a long time.”


    My smile faded. “Are you seriously ready to take on Tanya?”


    “If I don’t, she’ll keeping after me. All she really wants is money. I doubt she’d actually release


    the video,” Jace said with a shrug.


    He always knew how to read people.


    1 sighed, thinking about how Tanya had used Desmond who loved her, just for her own gain. “She’s


    given


    + 35 BONUS


    Downstairs, a crowd had gathered Firefighters were setting up safety mats, but for a pregnant


    woman. even surviving a fall wouldn’t guarantee the baby’s safety


    I spotted Jace, being led by a few firefighters into the belding My eyes flicked up to the roof of the


    twenty -something story building. There she was–Tanys, in a long white dress hair flying wildly in


    the wind.


    It was like something out of a movie


    She was beautiful, always had been. But that soul of hers? Rotten.


    “Is that her husband” someone in the crowd whispered “He’s probably the reason she’s up there.


    “reat, he’s either cheating, or her inws are awful,” another chimed in.


    “She’s dumb: If a guy doesn’t want you, pulling something like this won’t change it.”


    The crowd was relentless, throwing around judgments like confetti. It hit me again–how cruel people


    can


    Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.


    be with their words