Chapter 41: Fractured Trust

SARAH'S POV

The air in the break room was thick. My heart pounded in my ears, each beat a brutal reminder of what I'd discovered. Gabrielle squirmed beside me, her loud breathing a constant reminder of her presence. I tried to calm myself, to clear everything off my thoughts, but my mind kept repeating Spencer's name—his past, his connection to Alex.

Spencer took another step closer, his face a mask but his eyes blazing with something I didn't even care to know.

"Sarah, come on," he whispered as he placed a hand on my shoulder. 'Please."

I slapped his hands away, taking a step back as I forced myself to breathe. "Talk? You want to talk?" My voice was barely above a whisper, but it was weighty enough to make him uncomfortable where he stood. "After everything that you know Alex put me through, after everything that you know of, I'm just... learning from the freaking news that you were working for him?"

He didn't say anything, but his eyes fell to the ground. He swallowed hair, running a hand through his hair as he attempted to walk towards me. "I should've told you. I wanted to tell you."

I stepped back again. "But you didn't."

The words hung between us, hanging like a hangman's noose. Spencer's jaw tightened, his hands clenched into a fist. "Because... because I knew how you'd react, Sarah."

I snorted as I shook my head. "Oh, so this is my fault now?"

"That's not what I’m saying," he said, frustration creeping into his voice. "I left Alex firm years ago. What he did to you, to your company—I had nothing to do with that. I was already gone when it happened."

I wanted to believe him. But the timing of this revelation, the fact that he had kept it from me, made it impossible. Too impossible.

I folded my arms, wrapping myself tightly around the storm of emotions that was threatening to consume me. "And here we are, anyway," I muttered, looking up at him. "He just happens to be the one to reinstate your license. Isn't that a bit too convenient?"

Spencer grimaced, his lips pressing into a thin line.

"You don't owe him, do you?" I pressed, my eyes narrowing, my burrows furrowing. "He didn't do it as a favor?"

His hesitation was momentary—so momentary that if I hadn't been watching him so closely, I might not even have seen. But I did.

And my world collapsed.

"Do you owe Alex, Spencer?" I asked again, my voice trembling. "Do you owe him?"

He drew a sharp breath, his gaze on me faltering for the first time. "I know that he didn't do this as a kind gesture," he said, his voice low. "I don't know what he wants from me, Sarah."

My heart tightened. "What?"

He took a deep breath in. "Sarah, I swear to you, I did not call him," he said, his voice filled with desperation. "I did not ask for him to do this. If he is trying to play some game, I have no involvement in it. And trust me, I do not want to owe him anything."

I shook my head. "But you do. And you should have told me about your association with Alex. You could have told me right from the start."

He stepped closer, his hands reaching at his sides and I could see that he wanted so much to take hold of my hand, but he knew better. "I wanted to tell you, Sarah," he whispered. "Right from the beginning, I wanted to do so. But I was scared. We were falling in love and I didn't know how you'd react to the news. I... I didn't want anything to come between us."

A dry laugh escaped my lips as I slowly shook my head. It slowly faded away as I looked up to meet his gaze. "It already is, Spencer."

Spencer's face twisted, pain flashing in his eyes. "Sarah—"

"You don't get it," I cut in, my voice filled with emotion. "Alex Carter has been attempting for years to destroy me. He and Freya are now fighting so hard to destroy my business, to salvage my reputation. And to learn that the one individual I believed I could trust had dealings with him?"

Spencer's fists tightened. "It is not like that."

"So what is it like?" I said, my eyes wet with hanging tears. "Because right now, it's feeling an awful lot like betrayal."

His jaw tightened. "I would never betray you."

I locked his eyes, looking for something—anything—that would make this hurt less. But ai saw nothing. He was just another person that I'd let in, only to find I never knew them at all.

Silence hung between us, thick and heavy. Gabrielle, who had been standing tensely by the counter, cleared her throat subtly.

"I have to—uh—count inventory," she mumbled before running out of the room, leaving Spencer and me alone in the heavy silence.

Spencer took a step forward, slowly. "Sarah, don't push me away over this. I never hurt you."

I took in a ragged breath, my hands shaking. "I don't know what to do with you, Spencer. I don't know how I can trust you right now."

His face fell. "Then let me show you."

My eyes blinked wildly as everything blurred around me. "Maybe... maybe we need some space."

Spencer tensed. "What?"

"I just—" I let out a shaky breath. "I need time. Time to think. Time to process everything."

His jaw clenched, but after what felt like eternity, he nodded stiffly. "If that's what you want."

I turned away from the room, my own voice a bare whisper of sound. "Gabrielle, close up the shop."

She slid back into the room, her face a mask. "You sure?"

I nodded.

Silently, I grabbed my coat and walked out, breathing shallowly, my chest tight with unshed tears. I told myself I wasn't going to cry.

But the moment I climbed into the cab u had called, I let everything out.