Chapter 149: Help
"And once I heard everything, it finally made sense. Of course you hated her. Because you’d never do what she accused you of."
The words echoed inside his head and his arms tightened around her without thinking. For so long, he’d wondered if she had known the truth all along. If she’d been holding back, waiting for him to come clean. The idea had eaten away at him more than he liked to admit. But now, hearing that she trusted him—that she believed him—it settled something deep inside. Like a weight he hadn’t realized he was carrying had finally lifted.
Melanie felt the change in him. The way he held her a little tighter. She closed her eyes, trying to imagine how heavy all of this must’ve been for him. How long he’d kept it to himself. She took a quiet breath and began, "I don’t think Lady Collins ever really believed you did it. But at the time, she didn’t have proof either. And that made things hard."
She paused, thinking back. "I remember when we first met. It must’ve been shortly after you left home. Me and her were talking one afternoon about tech—about how things were changing and the pros and cons of it. I brought up the
Adam didn’t say anything, but his arms stayed around her. He was listening.
"She was surprised. Like really surprised. I don’t think she knew that part of the patent existed. The way her expression changed—I remember thinking she was putting something together in her head. Something important."
"She didn’t say much about it then. But not long after that conversation, I noticed that started asking more questions. Casual things, like who had access to Lexa’s systems and where backups were kept. At the time, I didn’t think much of it—I thought she was just curious. And then later, she stopped asking things. But now I think she was looking for a way to confirm her doubts without tipping anyone off."
"That is how I found the audio file in her email inbox that I shared with the press today... I didn’t lie in the conference, you know? It really was your grandma’s doing. That’s all I know. thought you should know it too.
Adam nodded against her neck and once again the two of them were engulfed in silence. Melanie closed her eyes, wondering when they had become so close to be able to simply be there for each other without words.
Finally, she sighed and said," There is something else I want to say too... I am sorry that your first love was such a bi*ch!" She thought he smiled at that but there was no way that she could do it. But that was good. He’d said the same words about Spencer so they were even.
Adam stared ahead for a moment. Then finally, he spoke with a sigh, "There’s more actually in common between the two of us. Other than our first loves belonging to the ’canine’ family/. Something I never told anyone. I didn’t think it mattered anymore."
"What do you mean? What more?" Melanie asked with a frown.