Reasonable Doubt: Volume 1 (Reasonable Doubt #1)(17)

“It depends...” My breath hitched in my throat; my heart was racing a mile a minute.

“It depends?” He sat back a bit. “It depends on what?”

“If the truth would damage anything or hurt someone unnecessarily, then I believe I have a right to withhold it.”

“But what if someone blatantly asked you for the truth, several times? What if he said, I want you to tell me the truth no matter how much it hurts, or how angry it may make me?”

Where is he going with this? “Are you referring to a potential witness changing his testimony on the stand, Mr. Hamilton?”

“No...” He trailed his fingers across my collarbone, setting my nerves on fire. “This is a personal inquiry. I’m just in need of an outside opinion. Answer the question.”

“Well, I think—” I sucked in a breath as he placed his hand on my thigh and strummed his fingers against my skirt. “I think certain lies have to be told, and certain truths have to be withheld. The ultimate conviction is up to those who can discern which is which.”

“So, you believe in reasonable doubt?”

“In certain cases, yes...”

“What about in our case?” His hand was slowly slipping underneath my skirt, traveling further and further up my thigh.

“Our case?”

“Yes,” he said. “I believe you and I are currently in an unfortunate web of deceit.”

“No...” I said, breathless and confused. “We’re not in a web of deceit...”

“We definitely are, Alyssa—" He pulled me forward by the strand of pearls around my neck. "It’s the case of a woman who befriended me online, but she turned out to be someone completely different than who she told me she was. So, in this case—our case, how do you feel about reasonable doubt?”

Gasping, I could feel all the color draining from my face. My heart wasn’t racing anymore; it was flailing around wildly—ready to jump out of my chest, and my eyes were as wide as they could go.

“You were very good at covering your tracks for such a long time, so I’ll give you that,” he said. “But I thought we thoroughly discussed how I felt about liars. Did we not?”

I murmured as he tightened his grip on my pearls, as he pulled me so close that we were lip to lip.

"Do you plan on answering me, Aubrey? Are you tired of this f**king charade?"

“I never thought that...” I was stuttering, trying to look away from him, but his grip prevented me from moving. "I am so sorry..."

He didn't say anything further. He stared into my eyes, searching for something that wasn't there. Then he lowered his voice, and leaned back. "Once someone lies to me they're dead to me forever. Do you remember me saying that?"

"Yes..."

"So, you’ve always been willing to lose our friendship over lies?"

"I never wanted to meet you in person...”

“I can see that.” He hissed.

“If I had known who you really were...” I was breaking down in front of him. This was too much for one day. “I would’ve never—”

“Save it.” He cut me off. “I’ve heard enough about your thoughts on lying. Seeing as though we don’t share the same views, you’re not worthy of being my intern. You’ll be serving as my secretary’s assistant until further notice.”

“You’re demoting me?”

“It’s not a demotion. It’s a way to keep you out of my sight.”

My heart dropped.

“Our online relationship—whatever the hell that was anyway,” he said, “is over. I don’t want to hear from you outside of these walls again.”

“Thoreau...”

“It’s Mr. Hamilton, Miss Everhart.” He glared at me. “Mr. f**king Hamilton.”

“You have to believe that I’m sorry...I never thought that this would happen.”

“Take however much time you need on the Brownstein account.” He disregarded my apology and released his hold on my necklace. “You have until the end of next week. And from now on, you can just set my coffee on my bookcase. I don’t need you coming anywhere near my desk.”

“Andrew—”

“We are definitely not on a first name basis. Do not ever call me that.”

“Just let me explain...”

“There’s nothing to explain. You lied to me and you no longer exist. Get out. Now.”

I felt tears welling in my eyes. “I was serious about you being my only friend...Friends are supposed to give each other a chance to make things right. Just let me tell you why I had to lie to you...”

“I don’t deal with liars. Ever. And seeing that that’s exactly what you are, I don’t care why you felt the need to deceive me. Get out of my office, stay out of my sight as much as possible, and do your damn job.”

I stood up and looked into his eyes, pleading for him to simply hear me out, to let me explain, but he turned away from me. Then he picked up his phone.

“Jessica?” he said. “Could you help Miss Everhart find her way out of my office? And could you please have the janitor check my floors for f**king superglue?”

***

I stood underneath the scalding hot streams of my shower, crying. Right after I’d left Andrew’s office, I’d told HR that I wasn’t feeling well and needed to leave for the rest of the day.