The summer evening breeze was cooler than the heavy warmth of the day.
Jonathan, rarely this patient, had been waiting for quite a while.
Still, Niamh said nothing.
“I can take care of this for you,” he finally broke the silence, unable to hold back any longer.
Niamh’s response was as indifferent as ever.
“What’s the catch?”
“Resign, come home, never bring up divorce again. Stay my wife, just like before.”
Jonathan’s voice was just as emotionless.
This time, Niamh’s silence stretched even longer.
“If
you
don’t want a divorce, you’re definitely not going to let that photo get out.”
She looked Jonathan square in the eyes, and for the first time, she saw a flicker of surprise there.
“If it does, even if you object, your parents–and the whole Thomas family–will force us to get divorced. The scandal would hit the Thomas Group hard, maybe irreparably.”
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11
“So even if I refuse your terms, you’ll have to handle this anyway.”
Her calm, unyielding logic made Jonathan chuckle instead of getting angry.
“Niamh, do you really think I can’t let you go?”
She paused, caught off guard.
“Don’t flatter yourself.” Jonathan’s smirk vanished. His face darkened, voice turning icy. “There are plenty of ways for me–and the Thomases–to cut ourselves free from this mess. But you… If that photo gets out, your life is finished.”
“It won’t get out.” Niamh’s tone was steady.
“If someone took my five million and still dares leak that photo, he’s just asking to be blacklisted from the business.”
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A wry smile flickered across her face as she started up the steps toward the building. But she stopped, turned back, and asked Jonathan quietly,
“Jonathan, the man in that photo… That’s you, isn’t it?”
Caught, Jonathan’s expression didn’t change at all.
He didn’t confirm. He didn’t deny.
Which said everything.
Niamh felt her eyes sting.
She should thank that photographer for catching that hotel–room shot.
If she hadn’t seen the man’s back in that photograph, she might really have believed Daniel had assaulted her.
But…
Daniel didn’t have that build.
She’d let her emotions get the best of her before–who wouldn’t, after something like this? Despair had clouded everything. But she forced herself to calm down.
And then she recognized it: the man’s silhouette in the photo was unmistakably
Jonathan’s.
Earlier, when Jonathan had shown her the picture, he’d been perfectly composed.
Because he knew very well–the man in the photo was himself.
Not someone else.
Seeing Niamh’s eyes go red, Jonathan frowned in confusion.
“Are you angry? Why?”
He honestly didn’t get it.
“Shouldn’t you be grateful I stepped in to help you?”
His serious question made Niamh’s fingers clench tighter around the photo in her
hand.
“What if it hadn’t been you that night, Jonathan? What if it really had been Daniel–did you ever think about what might’ve happened to me?”
“You’re the one who took me to that party…”
Niamh’s voice was shaking.
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“It was for business.”
“And you left me there, alone-”
For Marina!
“But I left Prescott with you.”
“So I’m supposed to thank you for that, is that it?!”
It was rare for Niamh to lose control, and Jonathan was stunned by her outburst.
“Niamh, I didn’t come here to fight with you.”
“If I hadn’t recognized your back in that photo, would you have just let me keep believing Daniel had violated me?”
Jonathan said nothing as tears welled up in Niamh’s eyes.
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