Chapter 12: The Lie We Both Believed

Cole drove me home in silence.

Neither of us mentioned the call from Richard.

When we reached Becca's apartment, I opened the door but didn't get out immediately.

"You need to tell me everything now."

Cole kept his hands on the steering wheel.

"I will."

"Not tomorrow. Not after you decide what I can handle. Now."

He finally looked at me.

"Three months ago, Elise discovered that someone inside her father's company was stealing money. She thought it was Nathan at first, but then she found evidence pointing to Richard."

"And you helped her investigate."

"Yes."

"Why hide it from me?"

Cole swallowed.

"Because Richard had people watching Elise. When he realized she was looking into the accounts, he started watching everyone around her."

"Including me."

"Especially you."

I stared at him.

"Then why make me look like an abandoned girlfriend for five months?"

Cole looked away.

"Because Richard believed you were the easiest person to use against me."

A bitter laugh escaped me.

"So you pushed me away to protect me?"

"I thought if you hated me, you would stay away from everything involving Elise."

"You didn't protect me, Cole. You made me think I was worthless."

He lowered his head.

"I know."

For once, he didn't defend himself.

"The courthouse filing?" I asked.

"It was a legal cover. Elise needed documentation showing that someone was responsible for her if she disappeared. The partnership agreement gave her access to certain records and protected some of her father's assets while the investigation continued."

"And you signed it."

"Yes."

"Without telling me."

"Yes."

The honesty hurt more than another excuse would have.

I looked out the window.

"What about the apartment in Lakeside?"

Cole's expression changed.

"That wasn't supposed to happen."

"Explain."

"Elise rented it because she planned to disappear if the investigation went wrong. She never told me she had already signed the lease."

I remembered the storage unit.

"Then why were there photographs of me?"

Cole went completely still.

"What photographs?"

"The ones in your storage unit."

He stared at me in disbelief.

"You went there?"

"Yes."

His face turned pale.

"Mara, that storage unit wasn't mine."

I frowned.

"What?"

"I rented it for Elise. But I never put those photographs there."

My heart sank.

Someone else had access.

"Then who was watching me?"

"I don't know."

Cole reached for his phone.

"But I can find out."

Before he could make a call, his phone vibrated.

A new message appeared from Richard.

"You should have listened to me."

Cole opened it.

There was a photograph attached.

It showed Becca's apartment building.

The picture had clearly been taken from across the street.

I felt the blood drain from my face.

Richard knew where I was staying.

Then another message appeared.

"Leave this alone, and Elise comes home alive."

Cole's fingers tightened around the phone.

"He's using her as leverage."

I looked at the photograph again.

Something was wrong with it.

The building entrance was visible in the background, but there was a reflection in the glass door.

I zoomed in.

A familiar figure stood across the street.

It wasn't Richard.

It wasn't Nathan.

It was someone I had trusted for years.

Wes.