CHAPTER 66

CHRISTIAN

The pristine white walls of Tim’s office felt just like a prison cell. Outside, the city buzzed with its usual frenetic energy, oblivious to the storm brewing within me. People were going on with their lives, the sun rose and set as usual, people married, had birthdays, went on dates and laughed as usual. The world was moving on, there was no waiting for me to sort out my mess. A week had passed since the accusations exploded, a week of frantic legal consultations, media inquiries deflected with practiced PR speak, and a deafening silence between me and Hazel—I barely left my room when I was home, and I tried to spend as little time as possible there. The couch in my office had become sort of like a temporary bed. The company had taken a hit, stock prices were lowering, different news anchors waited outside the building day after day, and they didn’t leave even when it was nighttime. Grandfather had called yesterday, and I wondered why he had taken so long. I expected all he