Tit For Tat Chapter 16
Only Adrian and I remained in the office.
He stood there for a long time before quietly saying my name.
“Evelyn.”
His voice was tired and hoarse, edged with a rare helplessness.
I didn’t look up.
“Is there something else, Mr. Cole?”
“I shouldn’t have logged into the backend that night.”
I turned a page in my file.
“Mm-hmm.”
“I shouldn’t have changed the recipient list.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“And I definitely shouldn’t have assumed you would forgive me.”
My fingers paused.
He looked at me.
“Before I heard that recording, I kept telling myself I was just drunk, that Sloane had worked up the room and I got swept along, that I never expected it to spread.”
“But I knew who was on that list.”
“And I knew those words would hurt you.”
“I still clicked send.”
For the first time, he wasn’t trying to soften the blow with “I didn’t know “.
I looked up.
“Adrian, do you know what disgusts me the most?”
He didn’t answer.
“You stormed the Bennett house for me back then, acting like you were the one man in the world who didn’t care about my past.”
“For the last three years, every time we fought, you’d remind me that you were the one who pulled me from the rain, the one who helped the Harts get back on their feet, the one who didn’t mind that I’d once been engaged.”
“You wanted me to be forever grateful that you had saved me, while turning my lowest moment into a debt.”
“And whenever you were unhappy, you could pull it out and show it to me.”
His eyes had gone red.
“I never looked down on you.”
“Then why did that email include photos that only you had access to?”
“Why, when Sloane said everyone should see if I had a sense of humor, did you change the recipients to ‘all guests’ instead of just shutting her down?”
“Why, when the system asked if you wanted to continue, did you hit ‘continue’?”
He opened his mouth, but no answer came.