“Now’s not a good time, Maren. I’ll be in touch in a bit. We might have to delay production for a few days. Salinger will be responsible for all the losses, of course.” He bit out each word angrily, and I could see the way he was gritting his teeth after he spoke.
“I don’t understand. Why are you two fighting? What in the world is going on?” I put a hand on the door when it became clear Jeno was going to shut it in my face. “I just texted Salinger a couple minutes ago and everything was fine.” How did things go to hell so quickly? What could possibly be so bad it had the two of them coming to blows with one another?
Jeno opened his mouth to respond. However, much like he moved Salinger out of the way, he was suddenly pulled backward, taking the door with him so I could enter the apartment.
I gasped when I saw the state of things. Salinger hadn’t been kidding when he said his brother tore the place apart. It looked like a hurricane blew through it, or like a robber had turned every single piece of furniture on its side and inside out in search of valuables. Obviously, I interrupted something intense, and Jeno’s search of the apartment went really, really wrong.
I cleared my throat and tightened my hold on my purse. My gaze locked with Salinger’s, but he seemed so pissed off that I wasn’t sure he even saw me standing there.
“Someone explain to me what’s going on right now. How can either of you be so careless? What would you do if someone called the police because it sounded like someone was being beaten to death in here? It would end up all over the news. I shouldn’t have to be the voice of reason.” I sniffed to let them both know I was annoyed, but the truth was that I was kind of scared of all the unbridled testosterone floating around in the air. It was like I was in the middle of a dog fight, and I wasn’t sure which side was going to bite next.
Jeno pointed a shaky finger at Salinger and growled, “Ask your boy toy why he’s so willing to throw everything away. Ask him why he still doesn’t care about anyone but himself. Ask him if he’s fucking happy that he’s not only going to ruin his career, but whatever he has going on with you as well. Ask him how he can be so damn stupid after all this time.”
I blinked in shock as Salinger threw up his hands in frustration and started to pace back and forth.
“I hope you wanted to own part of our company, Maren, because that idiot over there shit all over everything we’ve worked toward and the contract you signed without thinking twice about it.” Jeno made a move toward his brother, but I dropped my purse to the floor and stepped between the two men before another brawl could break out. I put a hand on Jeno’s chest and held another out in Salinger’s direction as he glared daggers in our direction. I was still confused, but considering the condition of the apartment and what Jeno had been doing before I arrived, I put two and two together and realized he must’ve found something incriminating in Salinger’s possession.
Something dangerous.
Something deadly.
Something that really would bring the world and everything that mattered to me at the moment to a grinding halt.
I looked between the two of them, my gaze catching Salinger’s. He was angry. He was upset. He was frustrated. However, I didn’t see a single speck of guilt or regret in his gaze. He often had those emotions lingering when he looked at me from what he’d done in the past, but not right now.
He was silently pleading with me to believe in him. He was saying so much without words, it was overwhelming. At that moment, I knew it was do or die. This was the exact point in our relationship where I went all in or walked away.
I either trusted him without question, or I forced him to prove his innocence and destroyed whatever bond we’d built as we went from enemies to friends, to coworkers, to lovers.
I could put us right back at square one, and I knew there was no coming back from that.