45. Dan
DAN
Lincoln lifted his head, tugging his hoodie back, revealing his tousled hair, damp from the shower. I could see his face properly, and the anguish in his eyes was almost too much to bear. “I didn’t know.”
“Those papers were on your fucking desk. Of course you knew.”
“I-I didn’t. I only just got those. When you— When I was messaging you that night when we swapped numbers, I was at my parents’ house.
I knew I needed to do something. I couldn’t go to Mike because I didn’t want to compromise him.
I didn’t want to risk doing anything to jeopardise his career.
The only thing I could think of was to break into my dad’s home office, to see if I could find something I could use against him as leverage.
There had to be a reason he was so insistent that Operation Foxglove needed to investigate the Hoyton Firm. That court case happened years ago.”
“And yet you still hold a grudge against me,” I bit out.
His lip curled. “You hold one against me.”
We glared at each other, neither willing to back down. I felt fucking sick. Everything was so twisted. So wrong.
Eventually, I deflated, tipping my head back against the wall. “I don’t hold a grudge against you anymore. Clearly. Not about that, at least.”
Shock flashed in his gorgeous hazel eyes. “You don’t?”
“No.” I love you. “You think I would’ve let you join my mission if I did? You think I would’ve let you in my home, in my fucking bedroom? Then I find out this whole fucking time you were plotting against me—”
“I wasn’t!” His shout tore through the space between us.
“I never plotted against you, Dan. You have to believe me. You have to. Fuck, what can I do?” Digging into his pocket with a shaking hand, he tugged out his phone.
“Here. Look. You can see the texts from my dad. Want me to, fuck, I don’t know, set up a meeting with him?
Record him saying everything to my face?
I’ll do whatever it takes to prove it to you. ”
His voice broke, a tear glistening on his lashes. He blinked, and it fell, tracking down his cheek.
“Link.” Damn him for stirring up this tornado of warring emotions inside of me, but I could not stand another fucking second of seeing him in this state.
I yanked him forwards, wrapping my arms around his broad back.
His delicious, familiar scent surrounded me, and I breathed him in, my lungs finally working properly again.
“I promise I didn’t betray you, baby. Fuck.
” He was definitely crying now, his body trembling against mine as his tears soaked my cheek and his stubble abraded my skin.
My own eyes were wet. “I know this all looks bad. I know it makes me look guilty as fuck, and I don’t blame you for the way you’ve reacted.
I would have done the same if it was the other way around.
But if this—” He sucked in a shuddering breath.
“If this is it, then I want you to know how fucking much you mean to me. I couldn’t choose between you and my uncle and cousin.
Do you understand what that means, Dan? They’re the two most important people in my entire fucking world, and yet I couldn’t pick them over you. ”
The lump in my throat was too big to speak around.
I hugged him tighter to me, drowning under this tsunami of feelings I couldn’t even begin to hope to navigate.
There was still a part of me that told me to be cautious, to not accept his words, but a much bigger part of me wanted to believe him.
He couldn’t be that good an actor, surely.
Those would be Oscar-winning tears if that was the case.
Or was I just gaslighting myself into believing him?
With an effort, I drew back, steeling myself at the sight of his gorgeous face wet with tears, his mouth trembling as he rubbed at his eyes. It was so fucking painful to look at him.
“I don’t know if I can believe you.”
His entire face crumpled. “Dan—”
“You broke my trust, Lincoln. Whatever your reasons were, the fact was, you did things with the intention of betraying me. When you unlocked my phone when you thought I was asleep—”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah, I was awake. Why did you do it?”
“I-I— Fuck. I didn’t look at anything.”
“Because my battery was almost dead.”
“No! The second I unlocked it, I knew I couldn’t go through with it.”
“Then you followed me with the intention of getting information you could use against my family. I get it, I really do, but the fact was, you didn’t trust me enough to tell me what was going on.
You betrayed my trust with the things you did.
How can there be anything between us after that? Without trust, what do we have?”
He stared at me hopelessly, not even bothering to wipe away his tears anymore. My own were coming thick and fast, burning my eyes and the back of my throat.
“W-what can I do to make you trust me again?”
Closing my eyes, I let my head fall back against the wall as the raw, painful truth spilled from my lips. “Honestly, Link? I don’t know if you can.”