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But I don’t even make it into the foyer.

“Dani,” he calls, but I keep walking briskly, avoiding the elevator and getting all the way to the stairwell with every intention of fleeing that way, before his hand catches my elbow. “Dani.”

I tug at my arm, pushing through the heavy door leading to the stairs, but he follows me there too.

“Just wait a minute,” he huffs. “I don’t know what you’re—”

I drop my notes onto the floor, wheeling around to shove at his chest. “How fuckingdareyou.”

“What?” His eyes round. “What are you talking about?”

“You know exactly what you did,” I seethe. “Bringing up her accusations from back then.”

“Dani,” he says incredulously. “We talked about this. This is a job. I have to—”

My eyes have begun to water, and I willfully beg them to stay dry. “When did you go through my notes, Ezra?”

To his credit, he looks properly taken aback.

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb. Was it at my house? When we fucked in my office? When was it, Ezra? Were you always planning to fuck me over? Or are you going to tell me it was an accident? That you were just doing yourjob?”

“Go through your…Dani.” He reaches for me, but I jerk away. I ignore his hurt expression. “Dani, I didn’t go through your notes. I wouldneverbetray your trust like that. How could you even think that?”

“Tell me how you knew then,” I practically spit, anger and hurt coursing through me and robbing me of my good sense. “How the fuck did you know why she left? She told me that in confidence.”

Ezra looks slightly desperate now, and there’s an errant urge to comfort him, but I fight it vehemently.

“Dani, I—” He shakes his head, still looking dazed. “You know I can’t tell you about my private conversations with my client. Youknowthat. But I am looking you in the eye right now and telling you I wouldnevergo through your notes or do anything like you’re accusing me of doing. You have to know I would never do that.”

“So you just want me to believe that, what? He told you? Youhappenedto come across it? Both of those scenarios seem very fucking unlikely.”

“Dani, you’re being unreasonable,” he huffs. “You can’t—”

“I’m beingunreasonable?” I feel myself gaping, hot fury licking over my entire body. “Let me tell you aboutunreasonable, Ezra.Unreasonableis you acting like a fucking snake so that you can save that slimeball of a human from paying what he fucking owes Bianca. You sit there and call me unreasonable while inhaling every lie Alexander gives you like a good little lapdog just to save an asshole a few bucks.”

Ezra breathes in sharply at the same time that I do. I regret it immediately.

“I mean…” I swallow hard, trying to catch my breath and gather my thoughts, which are a scattered mess right now. “That’s not what I—”

Ezra holds up a hand to stop me. “Yes, it is.” His face is suddenly devastatingly blank. “It’s exactly what you meant.”

His jaw twitches, and the urge to apologize is there; I know what I just said was a low blow, but so is rifling through my notes. Whichhasto be what he did. Right?

Ezra huffs out a laugh, but there’s no humor in it. Like a caricature of the act. It’s scornful and laced with pain. “It’s what youbelieve deep down. Isn’t it, Dani? That I’m just as much of a piece of shit as Alexander is? It’s what you always thought.”

“That’s not what I—”

“I just thought the last few weeks had changed that,” he says woodenly. “I thought maybe you’d realized that I…” He shakes his head again. “But deep down, part of you will always think that, won’t you.”

“Ezra, don’t try to make me the villain here. You’re the one who—”

“You know,” he says with another joyless laugh. “If you weren’t so determined to get in your own way, one of these days you might realize that people really do care about you. That these walls you’ve built up in your head are doing nothing but keeping you from seeing just how much.”

Confusion bleeds into the rage, leaving me unsure. “Ezra, you—”

“I’m sorry,” he cuts me off. “I need some time. If you decide you want to talk about this like an actual adult, you know where to find me.”