ALEX.
I didn’t know what hurt more—the words Derek was saying, or the fact that a part of me was starting to believe them.
We had moved from where we were previously to a quiet café nearby, sitting across from each other. It was the kind of place that pretended to be warm and inviting but felt cold once you realized you were there to have a difficult conversation. Derek leaned back in his chair, fingers wrapped around his cup like he needed something solid to anchor himself.
“Niko hired you because of me,” he said calmly.
I laughed once, sharp and disbelieving. “That’s not funny.”
“I’m not joking, Alex.”
I shook my head. “That doesn’t even make sense.”
“It does,” he replied. “When you look at it from his angle.”
I crossed my arms. “Explain. I badly need you to, because everything y
