Taking On The Billionaire (Redhawk Reunion #1) - Robin Covington Page 0,54
even realizing until that moment that she was crying. “And I was going to tell you. I was just starting to tell you when...”
“When Franklin beat you to it.” Adam was stoic, hard and chiseled under the twinkle lights. “How many chances did you have to tell me the truth? All the time we worked side by side in my office? Any of the times you had access to every goddam thing about me? The times you slept in my bed? You had a million chances Tess and you let me learn this from him.”
Adam’s voice cracked on the last word and his expression crumbled. The cold lump that had settled into her chest shattered into a million pieces, the sharp edges making her bleed on the inside. And just as quickly his face was steeled into his usual mask of control. All of the kindness she’d come to love was gone. And she’d seen this face on Adam before; it was the face of the six-year-old boy in his adoption folder.
She’d never forgive herself for being the reason for that expression on his face. To be one more name on the list of people who had betrayed the trust he guarded so fiercely.
“Adam, you have to believe me.” She was begging. She’d do anything to make this right.
And she had the information to turn the tables on this entire situation at her disposal. She had the name of the mole and the person who was backing the traitor but she couldn’t reveal that in front of Franklin. It might be the only chance Adam had to protect Redhawk/Ling and she couldn’t take away his right to determine when and where he was going to use the information. She couldn’t reveal that in front of Franklin.
That would be the ultimate betrayal.
So she just stared at him, begging him with her eyes to not turn away from her now.
But all the affection and connection they’d had was gone and all that was left was the cold, dark emptiness of the chasm she had created.
“I don’t have to do anything for you right now.” Adam stared at her for a few seconds and then he turned to walk away.
And then he was gone, becoming one of the shadows surrounding the redwoods, and she was left alone with Franklin. The last two standing; it made sense that they were here together. They’d been bound by toxic tethers for more than a decade.
Franklin moved into her tear-blurred field of vision, triumph in his eyes.
“The next time you want take somebody down, Ms. Roberts, strike first.”
Seventeen
“You’re pregnant. You need to take better care of yourself,” Mia said.
Tess paused in the task of dismantling all of the material she’d been obsessively working on for as long as she could remember. Photographs, notes, printouts—everything was going in the trash.
“I just got up early. I always get up early.” It was a lie. After arriving home from the gala, she’d taken off her beautiful dress and slid into the cocoon of her bed. She’d hoped for some comfort in the dark but sleep had been impossible and after hours of tossing and turning she’d given up the pipe dream of sliding into the oblivion of unconsciousness and come downstairs to her office. Tess glanced at Mia and then at the clock. “You’re not usually up this early. Why are you here?”
“Oh, I don’t know. My big sister is knocked up by the son of the man she’s been hell-bent on destroying for the past ten years and she’s also fallen in love with the guy but he doesn’t love her back and now her heart is broken.”
“I never said anything about being in love or broken hearts.”
“I’m not an idiot. I know what’s been going on here even if you don’t want to admit it to yourself.” Mia snatched the papers from her hand, read them and tossed them into the shredder. “Are you impersonating Marie Kondo?”
“Mia, you are not bringing me joy right now.”
“Well, then what will bring you joy? Huh? What are you going to do?”
A night of restless sleep was catching up with Tess and she slid into her chair, tossing the papers in her hand across the desk. Her office was a disaster—it matched the hellmouth her life had become.
“I thought that was obvious. I’m ending this vendetta. Absolutely nothing is going to happen. I’m busted. Franklin and Adam have me on their personal most wanted list.”