"She pulled the security footage herself and gave it to you to try and sabotage any chance of you getting back together with Tessa."
"Christ." He scrolls through his phone, and I see him pull up the video.
He looks at me. "You love her."
It's not a question, but I answer anyway. "More than I thought I could love anyone."
He nods slowly, then presses delete. The video disappears from his screen.
"There," he says. "It's gone."
"And no other copies? Not on the cloud, not on a computer, nowhere?"
"No other copies. I'm not that guy. I know it doesn't seem like it, but I'm not."
“Thank you,” I say.
I leave his apartment and walk back to my truck. The threat is gone. The video is deleted. We're free.
Now I just have to tell Tessa what I've done.
And then tell her something even more important.
She'sat my place when I get back, curled up on the couch with a textbook and a mug of tea. She looks up when I walk in, and her smile is so genuine, so full of love, that I almost can't stand it.
"Hey," she says. "How'd the meeting go?"
I close the door and lean against it, and something in my expression must give me away because her smile falters.
"What's wrong?" she asks, setting down her textbook.
"I need to tell you something," I say. "And you're probably going to be angry with me."
She stands up, and I can see worry creeping into her eyes. "Lachlan, what did you do?"
"I went to see Derek."
"You what? Are you serious? I told you not to. Why would you do that?"
"Tessa," I interrupt gently. "The video's gone. He deleted it. Right in front of me. No copies, no backups, nothing. It's over."
She stops mid-sentence. "Are you serious?"
"I talked to him. And I got through to him. He's not going to use it. He's not going to hurt you. It's done."
"How do you know he's not lying? How do you know he won't…"
"Because I know," I say firmly. "I know people, Tessa. I spent years learning to read them and understand what motivates them. And Derek is an immature guy who made bad choices. But he understands now."
She's quiet for a long moment, processing this. "What did you say to him?"
"I told him about my past. About the trafficking case." I take a breath. "I told him I know what real evil looks like, and he's not it. I told him he had a choice, to be the guy who keeps hurting you, or be the guy who makes a different choice."
She moves toward me then, and I open my arms as she crashes into me, her face pressed against my chest.
"I'm still mad at you," she mumbles into my shirt.
"I know."
