Page 147 of Untouchable

The monitor broke into pieces with a resounding crash, smashed remnants littering the polished floor.

He stared at what he’d destroyed, trying to feel relief and satisfaction at this embodiment of his feelings.

He couldn’t. It hadn’t worked.

Because his heart was just as broken as that monitor.

He saw her car pull up less than an hour later.

He wasn’t any more controlled than he’d been before, and he had no idea what he would say when he saw her.

There was nothing he could do. Nothing that would come close to equaling the damage she’d done to him.

So he waited in a numb stupor, assuming the answer would come to him when he saw her.

He hadn’t left his office, and Breah must have told her where he was, because Kelly tapped on the door and opened it a few minutes later.

“Caleb?” she asked, coming into the room, looking fresh and lovely and as untouched as she’d ever been. Completely innocent. Completely a lie. “Are you—?” Her eyes landed on his face, and she must have seen something there. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

She came over toward him, but then she obviously saw the wreck of the monitor, which was still in pieces on the other side of the room. “God, what happened, Caleb? Are you okay?”

He stood up because that was how one faced an enemy.

He couldn’t take a step though. Couldn’t speak.

She hurried over to him, reaching out to cling to his shirt. “Caleb, sweetie, what’s the matter? What happened?”

Her eyes were wide and worried and tender, and he still—even now—could swear that she meant it, that she cared for him, that she was scared for him, that she wanted to take care of him.

And it hurt more than anything ever had.

Because hestillalmost believed her.

“Please, Caleb.” She reached up to take his face in her hands. “Tell me what happened.”

Then suddenly he was hit with an inspiration—blinding, cold, and exactly right. “It’s…” He cleared his throat to make his voice work. “It’s… work. One of my projects fell through. I spent four years on it.”

Her face twisted with sympathy. “Oh no. I’m so sorry. You should have called, and I would have come back right away.”

“It’s okay. I’m okay. It’s nothing to worry about.”

He was lying to her now, the way she’d always lied to him. If she could do it to him, then he could do it back.

He could play this game just as well as she could. She wasn’t the master here.

“Don’t lie to me, baby.” She wrapped her arms around him and held him. An hour ago he would have needed the embrace. He would have taken such comfort in it.

Now he wrapped his arms around her too, and he pretended that nothing had changed.

She thought she could break him, but she couldn’t.

He was going to find out what was really going on here.

By the time this thing was over, he would have broken her.

31

Kelly tookRalph for a walk the following morning.