“If you won’t believe me, then tell Reeve. Look him directly in the eye and tell him what happened when you were seventeen. We all just need to sit down and work this out.”
He shoots me a scathing look. “You’d like to package this into a pretty box so your perfect life isn’t disturbed, but that’s not how this is going down.” Determination splays across his face. “I’ve paid the price for long enough. Now it’s Reeve’s turn.”
I wonder if Dillon requires psychiatric care, because he genuinely sounds insane. Maybe I should reach out to Ash. This behavior is not normal.
I make one last attempt at getting through to him. Tentatively, I reach out, touching his arm. Delicious tremors dance across my skin, reminding me what we once shared is still lying dormant, waiting to be woken from slumber. “Please, Dil. Let’s just go to my house and talk to Reeve. Let’s get everything out on the table and sort through all the lies.”
He wrenches his arm back, glaring at me. “No. I told you we’re doing this my way. You won’t breathe a word to him. You’ll do as you’re told, or I’ll release the photo.”
“Go ahead. Post it and see if I care. You can’t even see my face. No one will know it’s me.” I’m not bluffing. It will take more than that to force me into doing his bidding.
“Reeve will.” He swipes his finger across the screen, moving to the next pic, showing me the photo of us I sent to Reeve all those years ago. While Dillon’s face isn’t visible in this one—he’s hiding against my shoulder—you can see the ink on his back and his arms, and my features are unmistakable. “I’m guessing this image is imprinted in his brain the same way the image of you and him on that balcony is imprinted on mine.”
Wait? What? “Why would—"
“If you need more convincing, I think these photos will seal the deal.” He thrusts his cell at me, swiping in quick succession, revealing a host of photos I didn’t know existed. They are all of me, taken without my knowledge or consent. Some are of me in bed asleep, and others are pictures of me laughing or goofing around, either by myself or with Ash. There are even a few where I’m reading or sketching designs on the couch in my old apartment, so lost in a book I didn’t realize my boyfriend was stealing sneaky pics.
Why the hell did he hang on to these photos? Did they serve as a way to reconnect with me when the pain and loss got too much, like my photos were for me? Or has he been plotting to use them as part of his revenge plan for years?
“Say one word to him now, without me, and I’ll share all of these online along with the truth of our relationship and who Reeve is to me.” He shrugs, repocketing his cell as I stare at him in shock. “I’m sure everyone will be able to join the dots from there.”
“You unimaginable bastard.” I rub my hands over my bump as I contemplate various ways to murder Dillon O’Donoghue. “You had no right to take those pictures without my permission!”
“You were my girlfriend. I had every right, and we both know it.”
“Why, Dillon? Why are you doing this?” I know he has issues, and I get that, to a point. What I don’t understand is why he’s hell-bent on taking it out on Reeve and me.
“We will tell Reeve together because I want to see his face the moment he realizes he’s lost everything to me.”
He is delusional if he truly believes that. “Even if Easton is your biological child, Reeve is still his father.” I work hard to keep my voice controlled and calm, running my hands back and forth across my bump. “Reeve is his father in all the ways that matter, and that will never change. And he will never lose me. I would never leave him for your selfish, manipulative ass!”
“You won’t be the one to make that call. Do you think he’ll still trust you when he finds out the truth?”
“I know my husband, and I’ve done nothing wrong. I didn’t know he was a twin when I got pregnant. I did the right thing and waited to prove paternity.” Ididlie to him about that, and Reeve will be pissed when he finds out, but I did it to protect him. Once he gets over the initial shock, he’ll come around. I’m more concerned about concealing the truth of what I know now from him. “And he knew about you. I just didn’t tell him your name or that you were in Collateral Damage. Reeve never asked because you were a part of my past he didn’t want to know about.”
“I will sue you for joint custody,” he adds, drilling me with a dark look. “He’ll have to watch me develop a bond withmy son. He’ll have to live with me there for every birthday, every Christmas, every family occasion. I might not be an expert on relationships, but even I know that kind of situation isn’t conducive to a happy marriage. I will make it my life’s mission to inject myself into every aspect of your lives. To make you as miserable as sin. It’s nothing less than you both deserve.”