My CEO's Blackmail Tape - Chapter 33: Chapter 33

This was eating at me. I needed answers, now.
Daniel Evans fired back instantly, "What text?"
I let out a bitter laugh. "Cut the act. That text had to be how you really feel, right? If you had the guts to send it, why play dumb now? Or are you seriously going to tell me that was another one of your coworker's brilliant pranks?"
Dead silence on the other end. Only the sound of Daniel's uneven breathing filled the line.
Just as he started to speak again, I slammed my finger down on the end call button. The anger I'd barely kept under control came roaring back. Something between us was broken—whether it could be fixed was anyone's guess.
Twenty minutes later, my phone lit up again.
"It really was just my coworker messing around! He thought it would be funny—Jesus, I'm straight as they come. After all this time, you can't actually believe—"
"Why the hell not?" My voice cracked. "Everyone's wearing masks these days. Nothing's what it seems anymore."
This time, Daniel was the one who hung up first.
I spent the night staring at the water-stained hospital ceiling, sleep nowhere in sight. He cheated. I cheated. Did that balance some cosmic scale? But what if he was telling the truth? How could I even look him in the eye after what I'd done? The guilt hit like a sucker punch to the gut.
By morning shift change, exhaustion had settled deep in my bones. The doctor explained my minor lung infection required monitoring but I could go home.
Behind him, that nurse—the one I was sure had stolen from me—wouldn't stop staring. Her eyes felt like spiders crawling over my skin. I just wanted out, away from her prying gaze.
But as I gathered my things, Daniel came barreling through the doors, hair wild like he'd driven all night without stopping.
The sight of him made my blood boil. "What are you doing here?"
Before I could react, he crushed me against his chest. "Sophia's damn Instagram post—that's how I find out you're hospitalized? Were you ever going to tell me?" His voice was raw, his shirt smelling like highway coffee and exhaustion.
For a heartbeat, I forgot how to breathe.
"I took emergency leave. We're staying until you're actually better." His hands were gentle as he guided me back to bed, tucking the sheets around me like nothing had changed. Like I hadn't destroyed everything. The lump in my throat threatened to choke me. I turned my face away, but the tears came anyway.
Daniel rounded the bed and dropped to his knees beside me, catching my tears with his thumb.
"Listen to me—that guy at work means nothing. He's some new kid who doesn't know when to quit with the jokes. But when I saw how much this hurt you..." His jaw tightened. "Let's just say he won't be pulling that shit again. Wants to apologize in person when he's back from Denver."
His eyes were so damn warm. The kinder he was, the more my stomach twisted.
He thought these tears were about him not being here when I got sick. They weren't. They were for last night. For Nathan. For the line I'd crossed and could never uncross.