Page 3 of Threaded Lies

“Charming as always, aren’t you?” I mutter.

But my chest aches and my gut churns and neither will go the fuck away. Same goes for the image imprinted in my fucking brain of Rowan straddling my lap and staring into my eyes on the balcony in New York.

How did we go from that to fucking this?

Chad? Seriously? My hands fist and an acrid taste poisons my tongue.

“Want to tell me what you’re looking for over there?” she asks.

I turn and face her, hands now on my hips and tension set in my shoulders. “The WillowBend folder,” I state, seeing as the door is closed.

“The WillowBend folder. The contract. The transfer of ownership. All three are locked in my desk drawers along with everything else you’ve given me for safekeeping. Nothing has changed.”

“When?”

“English, please, Holden, because you sound a tad unhinged.”

“I feel a tad unhinged,” I mutter. “When did you take them from me?”

“Last week? I think.” She lifts her eyebrows and levels me a look. “Whenever you asked me to.”

I stare at her, my teeth chewing my bottom lip. Something isn’t right and I can’t put my finger on what exactly that is. “And you’ve made sure to keep my top drawer locked as well?”

“Your top drawer is always locked.” She puts her hands on her hips and huffs. Great. I’ve pissed her off too. “Holden Knight. In the decade we’ve worked together, you’ve never had to question my integrity about anything. Are you questioning my integrity?”

“No. Yes.” I scrub a hand over my face and sigh. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”

“Again, I’d appreciate if you let me in on the conversation we seem to be having.”

“If my drawer was locked, then she couldn’t have seen it. Then she doesn’t know.” I tug on the drawer and it doesn’t budge.

“Seen what?”

The fucking cuff links. They had to have been from her but by the time I saw them, she’d already dropped the bomb on me about Chad.

So if the goddamn contract hadn’t been sitting on my desk out in the open, then what the hell prompted Rowan to do what she did? To get engaged to Chad?

I was certain that was the reason. That in some haphazard way she’d found the contract. She’d seen my betrayal. That she took it, that she believed it, rather than believe me and my word.

Because the woman I was with three days prior was all about me. Was all about us.

What the fuck happened?

“When did you take them from my desk again? You’re sure I didn’t leave them out on top of it?” I ask when I know I didn’t.

She lifts her eyebrows. “The Holden Knight I know doesn’t overlook details like that.”

“Everybody has their moments.”

“Seems like you’re having lots of those lately.”

I clench my jaw and match her, glare for judgmental glare. “Is there a reason you’re in here?” I ask and take a few steps toward the window. In a move I’ve practiced more times than I care to admit over the past few days, I go to the window to see if Rowan’s showed up to work. My feet falter. She’s here.

“She’s here, you know.”

Don’t react, Knight. Don’t fucking react.

My hand falters on the blinds.