He started to say something but stopped himself.

“What did your mother say to convince Max to come home from college and run the tavern? When I asked her, she told me she reminded him of his family obligations. What would those be?”

His body stiffened and he whipped his head around to face me. “When did you talk to my mother?”

I was tired of keeping secrets, especially from him. Maybe sharing a few of mine would jog some of his loose. “Yesterday.”

“Where?”

“I went to their house for tea. Your father invited me when I saw him at the construction site.”

“What?”

“Your mother and I had a lovely chat. For some reason, she thinks we’re still dating. And apparently Max is perpetuating this illusion. You both have supposedly created a few excuses for why I haven’t agreed to meet with her. If you’re doing it to appease your father, he knows we’re not together. He thinks I’m sleeping with Marco.”

“Sometimes illusions serve their purpose. Sometimes everyone has a part to play, and when they stop playin’ those parts, innocent people pay the price.”

I shook my head. “What are you talkin’ about?”

“When I broke free from my father, I didn’t just hurt him. I hurt myself and other people in this town. I thought it was all about me, but it went deeper than that. Only I had no idea until recently.”

“Let me guess…your father enlightened you,” I said in disgust.

“I realize that for some reason you don’t fear him like everyone else in this town, but he’s still very much the boogeyman, Carly. Pretendin’ like he’s not doesn’t make him any less dangerous.”

“Oh, I know how he works, trust me. And he knows enough secrets to be powerful, but he’s like a cockroach hiding in the shadows. Once you shine a light on him, you don’t need a gun or even an army to destroy him. You only need a shoe.”

“You can’t be serious,” he said in horror.

“I am. So you can either join me or hide in the shadows too.”

“And what if you find information that could hurt my father, but also someone else? Someone who doesn’t deserve it. What will you do then, Carly?”

“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. Right now all I see is a pathetic excuse of a man who likes to use threats to control a whole town. But here’s the truth: your father has lost most of his power and Bingham’s waiting to swoop in and take the rest.”

He released a bitter laugh. “You think Bingham gives a shit about this town? You of all people know that everything he does is to benefit himself.”

“And you can’t say the same about your father?” I asked in disbelief. “I don’t for one minute believe he’s building that resort for the town. He’s doing it for himself, and the town just happens to benefit from it. Men like him aren’t altruistic, nor are they compassionate. So he’ll pay the lowest wages possible, all but indenturing the employees to him, and while they’ll think he’s helping them, he’ll really be entrapping them, pinning their wings, but doing it so slowly they won’t realize it’s happening.”

“What do you know?” he asked, and I could hear the hesitation in his voice, along with a hint of fear.

“Enough to know your father is vile, but not enough to pin him down yet.”

“Carly, you’re playin’ with fire.”

“Then I’ll be sure to bring a fire extinguisher.”

I turned onto the road that led to his house.

“What are you doin’?” he asked. “I’m supposed to be taking you home.”

“I’m perfectly capable of taking my own self home.” I took a deep breath before I continued. “While I appreciate your offer of help, I’m a strong, capable woman. Do I need help sometimes? Yeah, but so do you. I helped find out what really happened to Heather. I went to that cabin to save you from Paul Conrad. Surely I’ve earned your respect.”

“Of course I respect you. How can I not? But you can’t expect me to share everything I know just to make things more equal between us. Sure, your secret is huge, but mine? They affect more than just me. More than just my family. To expose them, I hurt far too many people.”

“And you don’t trust me not to hurt them?”

“No. You’re on a one-woman mission to bring my father down, no matter the cost. Look at what you’ve already paid.”

“What exactly have I paid?” I demanded. “A relationship with you?”

He turned to me and took my hand. “What we had was great, Carly. We could be great, if you’d only just let things be.”

I snatched my hand away from him. “Like you’ve done since you came home from prison?”

“Carly.”

I turned into his driveway and started down the lane to his house. “So here’s what I’m hearing from you. I need to shut up and sit down and stop making waves.” He started to speak, but I snapped, “No. I’m not done.”

He crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat.

“You say you like me because I’m different than every other woman in this town, but you want to stifle the very thing that you like about me. Do you see how screwed up that is?” His house appeared in front of us, and I pulled into the drive and put my car in park.

“Oh,” he said. “Am I allowed to speak now?”

I fought hard to keep from rolling my eyes.

“I like you for more than that, Carly, which is why I need you to stop this insane mission to take my father down. Don’t you see how good we are together?”

“I’m attracted to you,” I said. “And a year ago, I could have turned a blind eye and assured myself that I was but one woman and there was nothing I could do. I would have enjoyed my peaceful, idyllic life with a man who claimed to love me, all under the shadow of a tyrant, and pretended everything was okay. But I am not that woman anymore, Wyatt. That was Caroline Blakely, who chose to live her life with blinders on. I’m Charlene Moore now, and the blinders are off. And they’re never going back on.”

His jaw clenched. “Have you ever been happy, Carly? Really happy? I know I haven’t, but I got a glimpse of it when I was with you. I liked it. What’s wrong with bein’ happy?”

“You know I’ve never been truly happy, because I’ve told you my deepest, darkest secrets. And maybe I would have known that about you if you’d shared yourself too. Your secrets are warning signs flashing in neon lights telling my psyche that I can’t trust you. I need security in my relationships.”

“You know I can’t do that,” he said, getting defensive. “There’s just too much.”

“I know,” I said, my voice cracking with emotion. “Which is why you and I will never, ever work.”

“Carly.”

“I would love you, of that I’m fairly sure, if I could pretend that Rome wasn’t burning around us, but I could never feel secure. I’d never feel safe with you.”

“You think I’d hurt you?” he asked in horror.

“Physical pain isn’t the worst kind, and you know it. I couldn’t live my life always wondering what else you were hiding from me.”