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A horrible thought occurred to me. Had he purposely driven a wedge between Killian and me with the contract deals? I hadn’t wanted to believe he lied, but I wasn’t sure which end was up right now. “When Umbria first signed you … Did you lie to me about Killian’s deal?”
He frowned. “I don’t understand. What do you think I lied to you about?”
“Killian’s deal. You said he didn’t take it because he was jealous of you.” My chest ached at the thought he might have had a hand in Killian walking away from me.
“No, he turned it down because he couldn’t stand that I was headlining.” His gaze stayed steady on mine. My internal Peter lie detector said he was telling the truth.
I felt like I was talking to a child, needing to spell out what I was asking. “Did you know his deal was a shitty one?”
He hesitated.
Son of a fucking bitch.
“What the hell, Peter?!”
He stood. “It wasn’t like that, Tris. I swear!”
“Then what was it like?”
His shoulders slumped. “I knew it wasn’t as good as mine, but I didn’t think it was all that terrible, either.”
“Did you see his contract?”
Peter shook his head. “Umbria gave me the gist of it when I refused to sign unless he got a contract, too.”
Fucking Peter.
“I deserved the recognition, Tris. I worked my ass off to get that deal.”
I rubbed my fingers over the grooves in my forehead. He could be so selfish. “Killian worked just as hard.”
He sighed. “I know. I should’ve done more. I was young and stupid. There’s no other reason than I was blinded by what they promised me.”
Things were falling into place a little more clearly. “What you did was still shitty, Peter.”
I should’ve listened more to Killian back then. God, I had so many regrets.
A flicker of remorse flared in his eyes before he extinguished it.
I sighed. Exhaustion swept through me. “Did you know why Killian walked away from us?”
“I’d assumed he finally told you he loved you and you didn’t feel the same way.” A light shade of pink graced his cheeks. He figured I’d turned Killian down because I’d been in love with him.
Asshole.
I hissed out a breath. “Youknewhe was in love with me?”
The surprised look on his face was not manufactured. “You didn’t?”
“Um, no! Why the hell didn’tsomeonetell me this at any point?” It seemed I was the only clueless one at that time.
Poor Killian.
Peter shrugged. “I guess we all thought you knew. He wasn’t exactly as subtle as he thought he was.”
“Newsflash, I was so wrapped up in my feelings for you that I never noticed.Damn it.And now?—”
His eyes widened. “Ffff—uck.” He held on to the letter f, making the word drawn out.