Page 84 of Burning for You
So Teller started it all, and Josh, heart made of a five-dollar-bill, fell for it. Now I know their moves, and I will be able to counter them. But what will I tell Levi about the recording?
* * *
The next morning,I bolt out of my apartment as soon as Josh leaves for work and take a taxi back to Levi’s place.
Levi must’ve heard my footsteps. He opens the door even before I get a chance to knock. I lope into his arms. God, I missed him.
“Hey…” Levi says and kisses my crown. “What have I done to deserve this?”
I cling to him as if I would fall over a deep cliff if I let go.
In return, Levi raises me, prompting my legs to clip on his sturdy hips. Then he takes me inside, into the bed. “You look terrible.”
He doesn’t have to tell me.
“Have you filled Jesse in about our progress?”
“Yes. He actually said thank you.” Levi pauses. “And he’s off to rehab.”
The statement sounds so farcical, it might as well have come from Hogwarts. It’s the miracle of the decade that somehow I got through to that pothead.
Levi rests his chin on my shoulder as I show him what I found from Josh’s laptop. I’ve asked Rhea to download the chat records and clean up any trace of my snooping around last night. “Rupert approached Josh not long after we announced our relationship.”
“He really hates you, huh?” he says.
“Yeah.”
“By the way, I got news from Grant Barnes. Josh is quite active on the dark web,” Levi says. “He offered five thousand dollars to execute you, and then cover up the identity theft of you.”
“Wow. He did manage to surprise me.”
“How did you even fall in love with this guy?”
“I didn’t. I always thought with my head when it comes to men. But I guess my head was messed up too when I decided to get engaged to him, or even accepting a date with him in the first place.” I let out a growl. The scene of Josh kissing my hand and begging me to have dinner with him in Paris is still fresh on my mind. Now I know why he’d changed. The lure of riches and the persuasion of Rupert Teller had turned my so-called ‘dream man’ against me.
Involuntarily, my growl continues. I still can’t deal with my own stupidity.
“Alright, alright, take it easy,” Levi says, perhaps sensing the anger building in me. Beneath what’s said, I can hear him say: ‘You’re only human.’
Indeed. And I’ll own all of my mistakes, including my second-time-learning-my-lessons engagement to Josh. If I didn’t learn my lessons then, at least with Levi, it’s the first time I’ve trusted my instincts—and I know I’m doing something right.
I then show him further copies of the correspondence between Josh and Rupert. “Look at this one,” I say, opening the post about Josh’s plan to buy Brilliance back after they kick me out of the company.
My shoulders heave, but I continue, “Levi, they have a recording of me seducing my dad’s former right-hand man. For business, for my gain.”
Levi looks at me with a frown, as if digesting what I really mean. He asks, “When was this?”
“Almost six years ago. His name is Anton Mendez. He was my fiancé at the time, but I persuaded him to steal money from my dad and use it to fund Sass. I hated my dad then. He shot down my dreams, he belittled me, he crushed me. We were basically at war.” My voice shakes around my words.
I sigh out the pain from the thorns piercing my heart and add, “I’m not proud of it. But I did it.”
Silence falls over us. I raise my eyes, letting him see my shame.
“What are you scared of?” Levi asks, understanding.
I’m not usually scared of anything. Had I been by myself and the scandal got out, I’d face it head-on. But now that Levi is with me, an attack on me will be an attack on him. My shame will be his shame.
“Dad was suspicious, and he ordered Rupert to tap Anton’s house. I want you to know this from me. Not from Rupert, not from Josh, and not from the press. The content is disgusting, but I want you to listen to it.”