Alle Kapitel von After You Broke My Heart: Kapitel 31 – Kapitel 40

"I have thirty minutes," I said."Thank you for coming." He sat across from me carefully. "I didn't think you would.""Neither did I."He placed the envelope on the table, then the phone beside it. His hands were shaking. I noticed that and forced myself to feel nothing."You said you'd bring everything," I said."I did.""Then start."He swallowed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Leah walk in, take a seat at the counter with a laptop open, and begin pretending to type.Dan picked up the old phone and unlocked it. "This was my phone before I changed it. I kept everything on it. I couldn't delete it, I don't know why. Maybe I knew one day I'd need it."He slid it across the table. "Look at the messages with her. The first one."I didn't pick it up. "Read it to me.""Rita…""Read it, Dan."He took the phone back and cleared his throat. His voice was barely above a whisper."The date is three years ago. The night of our anniversary." He swallowed. "She wrote, 'I heard about the fight.

I picked up the first folder and slid it across the desk. "What did you find on the girl?""Miss Zara Adeyemi." Marcus opened it for me. "Twenty-three. No criminal record. Works part-time at a boutique, but the hours don't match what she tells people. Her mother lives two cities away. She hasn't been to visit in four months."I looked at him. "Her mother hasn't been ill?""Not according to the neighbors, sir. And not according to the hospital records." He cleared his throat. "She's been using her mother as an excuse for a while. I checked dates. Every time Miss Morgan made plans, or was hurt, or needed someone, Miss Adeyemi had somewhere else to be."Somewhere else to be. With him."And Gordon?""The drug charge from last year is still technically open. It was shelved after an administrative error. One phone call would reopen it."I looked at the second folder, the one with Dan's name on it. It was thick with names, dates, and photographs I didn't want to look at again.One phone call

I let out a shaky breath and turned toward the window, because I couldn't look at him while I said the next part."Nick, I spent five years with a man who told me everything I wanted to hear and nothing I needed to know. I can't do that again. I won't.""I'm not him.""Then don't act like him."He flinched, and I regretted it a little, though I didn't take it back."I won't lie to you," he said."Omitting is lying.""Then I'll tell you when I can.""That's not good enough.""I know." He pushed off the desk and took a slow step toward me, then stopped like he'd remembered the distance I had put between us. "But it's what I can honestly offer."I looked at him for a long time. Every sensible part of me wanted to leave. Every other part kept seeing the way he had folded the reports on his floor, the way he had said then I'll wait, the way he had gone still when I said Zara's name."Here are my terms," I said.He waited."No more locked doors until I know exactly who I'm dealing with."Hi

She reached across the table and squeezed my hand. Her fingers were warm and slightly damp, and I forced myself not to pull away.We talked for another ten minutes. She told me about a customer at the boutique who tried to return a dress she had clearly worn, and a man at her gym who kept asking for her number. I smiled in the right places. My hand ached from being held.When the waiter brought the bill, she snatched it before I could. "My treat. For making me feel less guilty.""For what?""Not being there for you." She looked genuinely sad. "I'm so sorry for everything you're going through. I really am."The thing was, I almost believed her.We walked back across the street together. Outside Bellmont's glass doors, she turned and pulled me into a hug. Her perfume wrapped around me, vanilla and flowers, and I held my breath."Be careful, Rita," she whispered against my ear.I stiffened. "Careful of what?"She leaned back and gave me a gentle, worried smile. "I did some digging after

At 6:20, I changed into a loose T-shirt and shorts, because Zara would notice if I wore anything else. At 6:30, Leah hid the folder of printouts at the bottom of my wardrobe, under a stack of old sweaters. At 6:35, we sat on the sofa and put on a movie we had already watched twice. "Breathe," Leah whispered. "I am." "You're not." The doorbell rang. We both froze. It was 6:40. Twenty minutes early. Leah looked at me. I looked at her. "Normal," she mouthed. "Be normal." I stood, wiped my palms on my shorts, and walked to the door. My hand was damp on the knob. I took a deep breath and opened it. Zara stood in the hallway with a pizza box balanced on one hand, a bottle of wine in the other, and a small duffel bag slung over her shoulder. Her hair was tied up, her face bare of makeup, and she wore an oversized sweatshirt I had given her years ago. For a moment she looked exactly like the girl who had sat on my floor in college, crying over a failed exam. "Pizza delivery," she