Take a Chance on Me(92)

“Yes.” She dropped her gaze to the floor. “I’m not sure this helps, but Charlie knows Logan.”

“You talked to Charlie?”

“Yes, he helped us with the details I didn’t know.”

“So you went behind my back, talked to my friends, and told your brothers and some guy everything.”

She pressed her lips together. “Yes.”

“And you told them things about the blackmail that’s not public knowledge.”

Maddie swallowed hard as her throat constricted. “I did.”

“I trusted you with information about my family that nobody knows.”

“Mitch, I’d never jeopardize you or your family. I’d never tell them if I didn’t trust them implicitly. You know that.” She had to make him understand.

He leaned forward, putting elbows on his knees. “I want you to leave.”

“What? No. Let me explain.” The blood rushed in her ears as a wave of hot dizziness engulfed her. Fear and desperation warred inside her. “I’m sorry, but you wouldn’t listen.”

“You didn’t ask.” Flat.

She wrung her hands. “You would have said no.”

“I see,” he said, so coldly that it was like being doused with a bucket of ice water. “So that makes it right? You didn’t think I’d agree, so you went behind my back, talked to my friends, your family, and some black-ops guy, revealing the things I’ve told you in private, because you know best?”


She bit the inside of her cheek. “Yes, the same way you went behind my back and stalled the repairs on my car so I wouldn’t leave.”

His head snapped back. “That’s not the same thing, Maddie.”

“You lied, just like me. You went behind my back. Just like me.” She hoped he could see reason, but his expression said otherwise.

“I told you those things,” he said through gritted teeth, “because I thought I could trust you.”

“You can.” Her stomach clenched.

“The evidence says otherwise, now doesn’t it?” Cold, cold words.

Tears sprang to her eyes. “Please understand, I did it for you.”

“No, you didn’t. You did it for you,” he scoffed, shaking his head. “Tell me something. Why are you so interested in meddling in my life when you have your own to worry about?”

She reared back, stepping toward the door, unable to figure out how to handle this dead, cold Mitch who treated her like a stranger. “I wanted to help you.”

“You know how you could have helped me?” There was a cruel twist to his lips. “By being the one f*cking person who didn’t betray me.”

“I didn’t. That’s not what . . .” She trailed off, feeling helpless. She hung her head and said softly, “I’d never betray you.”

“Bullshit. If you thought what you were doing was right, you would have talked to me. ”

This ice. She’d prepared for fire, for burning anger, not this. She had no defense. No plan. She walked over to him and fell to her knees, taking his hands in hers. He didn’t even flinch. It was like he was made of stone, and she met his eyes. Hard chips of gold. “Mitch, I’m sorry, I wanted to help.”

He studied her as though she was a stranger. “You need to leave now.”

The words were a crushing blow, threatening to break her. She did the only thing she could think of and confessed the truth. “I love you.”

His mouth firmed. Eyes flashing, he pulled away and stood, moving around her and going over to the window that overlooked the nearly deserted parking lot. “I need you to leave.”

Her heart shattered into a million pieces and desolation swept over her. She hadn’t felt anything like this since her father had died and she’d woken in a hospital bed. That same heavy weight crushed her chest, numbing her limbs. Tears spilled onto her cheeks and she wiped them away. Her voice trembled as she spoke, already knowing the answer but unable to keep from asking the question. “Is there anything I can do?”

“Yes.” His tone was distant and unreachable. “Leave.”

There wasn’t any other choice left to be made. She got up and left. She walked like a zombie out of the office and down the hall. Out in the bar, Shane called after her, but she ignored him, breaking out into a run until she reached her car. With frozen fingers, she managed to insert the key into the ignition and start the engine.

Sobs shook her frame as the gravity of her mistake washed over her.

Her brothers and Sam rushed into the parking lot. She gunned the engine and spun out of the spot.

Everyone in Mitch’s life had lied to him. Betrayed him. Nobody, not even his mother, had stood by him. He’d risked his own career by destroying evidence, and his family had deserted him. When his life had fallen apart, he’d had no one.

Mitch didn’t trust anyone.

But he’d trusted her.

She threw the car in drive, tires squealing as she floored it out of the lot.

And what had she done? She’d gone behind his back and shared his deepest pain with strangers. It didn’t matter if her intentions were good. It didn’t matter she’d only wanted to help. All that mattered was that she’d done the one thing he could never forgive.

She could beg and explain until she was blue in the face, but it wouldn’t change anything. She’d violated his trust. Confided things that she’d had no right to reveal.