June sniffled.
“Please don’t cry,” I said. “I’ll explain everything. Do you want to come home with me, or your apartment?”
June let out a hiccupping sob. “My apartment,” she said softly.
“Okay. Then that’s where we’ll go.” And if my Porsche gets ruined again, fuck, I deserve it, I thought as I turned towards Brooklyn.
Thankfully, Angela wasn’t home. I waited patiently in the living room while June showered and changed into yoga pants and a loose-fitting shirt. She still looked adorable as ever. When she was through, I gestured for her to crawl into my arms.
“So, the other day, I did a background check on Hannah,” I said slowly. “After I fired her, I noticed that almost all of my longtime clients wouldn’t speak to me.”
June sat up and narrowed her eyes. “Why not?” She asked softly. “What happened?”
I ran my hands through my hair and sighed. “Because Hannah wasn’t who she said she was,” I said. “She was actually impersonating someone else. Her real name is Megan Callahan, and she’s been gunning for billionaires since she was a teenager.”
“I don’t understand,” June replied.
“I don’t either,” I said. “But Megan was linked with the deaths of Richard Moss and Archibald Kramer.”
“Those were…”
“Two of the richest men in New York,” I said grimly. “Hannah, or should I say, Megan, had been chasing after them and trying to get married rich. She lied about her age – I thought she was in her early twenties, but she’s actually been doing this for over ten years.”
June swallowed. “And she hated me because she thought I stole you?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I’m so sorry, June. When I got to dinner last night, I’d just gotten the results back about Hannah’s true identity.”
“How did she know Andy?”
I sighed. “I’m guessing she stalked you,” I said. “And as soon as she realized that there was someone interested in you, she made him an offer. I’m guessing she probably paid him to try to take care of you. Andy, although what he did can’t be forgiven, was just a pawn in all of this.”
June’s green eyes went wide. “I can’t believe it,” she said softly. “I can’t believe someone would be crazy enough to do something like that.”
I sighed bitterly. “I can,” I said heavily. “Especially someone as demented as Hannah. She’d been working for me since the beginning, when my ex thought I should hire her.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah,” I said quietly. “But I’m a total heel, and I have no excuse for treating you that way. I didn’t want you to know until I’d taken care of everything, and I had no intention of scaring you off.”
June nodded.
“I just didn’t want to tell you over dinner,” I said, groping desperately for excuses. “Especially because you were so happy about your job.”
June nodded again.
“Please,” I said. “Please, if you can find it in your heart to forgive me and give me another chance, I’d be the happiest man in the world.”
June bit her lip. “Did you mean it?”
“Mean what?”
June flushed, finally looking a bit like her old self. “In the car,” she said softly. “When you said you loved me. Did you mean it, Thomas?”
I pulled June into my arms and kissed her deeply. “Yes,” I said passionately. “I meant it, June. I love you. I love you, deeply.”
“I love you,” June purred into my mouth. My tongue slipped between her pink lips and June moaned softly as I licked the inside of her mouth. She tasted like toothpaste and I pulled her into my lap.
“Is Angela going to be gone for a while,” I murmured into June’s mouth.