Falling to Pieces by Denise Grover Swank Read Free Book Online Page B

to love you.”
    “They’re holding something over your head,” she whispered. “That’s why it took you so long last night. You were telling them no thank you , and they threw something bad at you to make sure you did what they said.” Her eyes lit up with understanding. “It’s about me.”
    I closed my eyes. I didn’t want her to know the danger she was in. I was supposed to protect her, not put her in the position to be hurt. I’d failed her last night and I was failing her again.
    “No more secrets, Joe. We can’t make this work if we have secrets.”
    “You don’t want to know,” I pleaded with her. “Just let it go. Let me go.”
    “Let you go? No! We can fight this together.”
    “Rose, my parents are terrible people.” Defeated, I rested my head in my hands. “It’s not just about you and none of it’s true. But the media doesn’t care. They’ll run with it, and no one pays any attention to retractions.”
    “What is it?”
    “They’ve concocted some nonsense about Mike bribing county officials for his construction business.”
    Her face paled. “Oh, that’s bad.”
    “They have photos of Violet with Brody McIntosh coming out of a motel. They plan to say they had an affair and left their spouses for each other.”
    “Oh, God.” She looked like she was about to be sick. “What about me?”
    “It’s not true.”
    “I know. What is it?”
    My head pounded. “My father has set up an account in your name, and he had someone postdate the opening for last May.”
    “Why would they do that?”
    “He also postdated a money transfer for last May.”
    “I don’t understand.” Her voice rose in alarm.
    “Rose, they transferred the money into one of Daniel Crocker’s bank accounts. They set it up to make it look like you hired Crocker to kill your mother.”
    She looked like she was about to pass out so I sat in a chair and pulled her onto my lap. Anything to be close to her before I was forced to leave her. “I was gone so long because I begged and pleaded for them to not do this, not to take you away from me.” I searched her face, tears burning my eyes. “You’re the only good thing I’ve ever had in my life. I want you . You have no idea how much I need you.” I paused, the pain of what I had to do nearly consuming me. “But I can’t destroy you.” I groaned and pressed my lips against hers. “Oh, God. I can’t believe I even considered it.” I pulled her against my chest, burying my face into her shoulder as I started to cry. “If I love you, I’ll let you go.”
    Her head shook and she panicked. “No! I don’t want you to let me go.”
    “If I don’t, they’ll destroy you. They’ve agreed for me to have a test engagement to see how the voters respond to you, but the things they expect you to do and not do will make you miserable. You’ll end up resenting me for it. The life they expect me to live isn’t you.”
    She grabbed my face. “But it’s not you, either. Can you tell me that you’ll be happy?”
    “Rose, it doesn’t matter if I’m happy. My parents don’t care.”
    “But I care. I can’t let you do this, Joe. I can’t let you throw us away.”
    “Don’t you see?” I pleaded. “If I don’t run for this senate seat, my parents will ruin you. There won’t be any us because you’ll be in prison. Not to mention what they plan on doing to Violet and Mike.”
    She clung to my arms. “Then I’ll do what I have to do to be with you. I’ll follow their rules.”
    I smiled, but my heart wasn’t in it. “You think you can pretend you don’t know Neely Kate and live with it? You can ignore someone who needs help? It will eat you up inside. Why do you think I was so messed up before I met you?”
    “Joe, there has to be a way!”
    I leaned my forehead against hers, searching for the strength I needed. For once in my miserable life I had to think about someone else. I owed this to Rose. I couldn’t protect her before, but I could do it now.