Break Me Slowly (Shattered 1)

I almost choked on my own spit. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”

His desk was between us. He leaned forward, teeth clenched. “It is when our companies are competing.”

Ah. Now it made sense. Adam did have a lot of real estate in Chicago and his reach, wealth, and power far exceeded my uncle Tim’s.

“Well?” He glared at me.

“Well, what? You guys do what you do. I’m not a part of your business dealings.”

“What the hell are you doing with him, anyway? You realize he dates models, right?” I tried not to let that sting as much as it did. “What does a guy like that want with you?”

I clenched my teeth. It wasn’t my anxiety I was worried about anymore, it was my rage.

“Obviously this guy has other motives.”

“You think Adam is using me to get to you somehow?” Adam didn’t need to hide behind anyone. I scoffed and turned to leave.

“Hey,” Tim called after me. “Do you even know anything about him? The guy is unstable. He has big f**king issues.”

I faced him fully and crossed my arms over my chest. “We all have issues.”

“Does he know about yours?”

I gritted my teeth. This was negative reinforcement at its finest. My aunt and Tim had always treated me as if I were my mother. Except when he wasn’t busy eyeing me and using every excuse to either grope or degrade me. Once I had thought the same thing about myself, too. Thought maybe I was just like my mother. But little by little, that fear was fading.

“I’m fine. He’s fine. There’s no need to concern yourself,” I snapped.

“Adam Kinkade is not fine. He’s dangerous.”

“No, he’s not.”

“Oh? Did you know that his own stepfather kicked him to the curb because Adam almost killed him?”

I recalled the article I had read. It had said that after Adam’s mother died, his stepfather had raised him for a couple of years, but then he went into foster care for “unknown reasons.”

No. No way would Adam try to kill someone. I have stared white rage in the face. I knew what it looked like, what it felt like, to be in the hands of someone who wanted to kill you. Adam wasn’t that way.

I didn’t dignify Tim’s accusation with a response. I walked out, picked up Simon at reception, and took him with me. These days, the only thing I liked about my aunt and uncle was that little boy…and that was about it.

~

Grace had just picked up Simon. I hung his latest drawing of a kangaroo on my refrigerator and grabbed an apple. Biting into my late snack, I powered up my laptop and went to work on my thesis. About an hour into it, my phone rang.

Kink.

“Well, hello there.”

“Katelyn.” His tone was dry and quick and made me feel like I was in trouble. “I’d like to see you in my office immediately.”

“Ah…why?”

“We need to have a discussion.”

“O-okay. I’ll be there in about twenty minutes.”

“Good.”

The line went dead and so did my breathing. Whatever was going on was not good. Tim’s words replayed in my head. Adam Kinkade dates models…what does he see in you…

My hands began to shake. I couldn’t help feeling that I was on the verge of being dumped.

~

“Have a seat.” Adam motioned to the chair across the desk.

“I’ll stand.” I was not about to play Master and Commander if he was just going to break up with me anyway. It took every effort I had to remain calm, and I was still failing miserably.

“It’s rude to discuss business when one party stands.”

“Business?”

He glared at me. He obviously wasn’t going to say anything until I sat, so I did. He leaned forward, all powerful and domineering, staring me down as though I had just insulted his grandmother.

“I’m going to tear down the apartment complexes.”

“What?” My voice raised an octave. “We talked about this a while ago. I told you my mother lives there.”

“Yes. Which is why I am more driven than ever to expunge that shitty part of town.”

My brain was rattling with his words. “But you said she wouldn’t be homeless.”

“There is a women’s shelter right down the street,” he snarled. What had happened? Where was my sweet, wonderful Adam?

“How can you say that? Do that?”

He tossed a manila folder across the desk and it landed in front of me. I opened it and when I saw what was in it, I almost vomited.

My medical records.

Page after page documenting every time I’d gone to the hospital for injuries. Then there were the photos…

“Where did you get this? These are my personal, private medical records.”

“Do you know how much money I have?” he asked with all the smugness in the world. “It really can buy anything.”

I shoved the folder back at him. “You had no right to do that. How would you like it if someone went digging around in your medical records?”

“Impossible,” he stated.

“You can’t do this.”

“Yes, I can.”

“No, you can’t! This is my private life.”

“I gave you plenty of time to talk to me. Confide in me about what had happened to you and who hurt you. But you refused. So I found out on my own.”

“Adam, did it ever occur to you that I didn’t want to talk about this because it’s not fun for me?”

“I need to know these things, Katelyn.”

“Why do you need to know?”

“So I can protect you.”

“I can take care of myself.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I would have told you. Despite how awful and painful it is, I would have shared every secret and recounted every detail if that’s what you wanted.”

“Then why didn’t you?”

“Because you never give me anything back. I took the leap, Adam. I stood in front of you with all my faults and scars bared. But you haven’t shared one thing about your past with me.”

“That’s different, Katelyn.”

My temper flared. “Bullshit. You don’t just get to play God and decide things based on how it best suits you.”

“I do when my property is involved.”

I looked down at my stomach because it felt like Adam had just run a knife through my gut. I wanted to scream. To cry. Why he was doing this?