“The difference is I told you,” she says. “I told you about the auction, about Vince, about Lot Seventeen. I put every secret I had on the table eventually. You—”
“When you had no other choice,” he cuts in. “When the lies stopped working and the walls closed in. Don’t come into my office and preach about honesty like you didn’t start this as a job. You came into my life with lies first. Don’t you dare stand there and act like you’re clean.”
The words hit harder than any shout.
She flinches before she can stop herself.
“Do you hear yourself?” she whispers. “You sound just like him.”
Silence drops like a stone.
His eyes narrow.
“Like who?” he asks, even though there’s only one answer.
“Vince,” she says. “Every time I tried to show him what he’d done, every time I asked how many peopl
