I slowly piece that together. “You’re talking about Dagen, aren’t you? You’re the guy who broke his nose.”
“Guilty as charged.” He takes a step closer to me. “I went to drop off a pen for Leon this afternoon. I ran into Hillstead in the lobby. He ran his fist into my face, and we ended up at the police station.”
I place a small bag of frozen peas against Sean’s eye. “Does this hurt?”
“Damn right it does,” he says, tossing his head back until it’s resting on the back of the couch. “I’m sorry I didn’t respond to your messages. I didn’t notice them until I walked out of the police station. I wanted to have this conversation in person.”
This conversation.
I’ve been hiding my secret for so long that I’ve never considered having a conversation about it with anyone, especially not the man I’ve fallen in love with.
“When I saw the picture in your office yesterday, I realized there was a good chance that you knew Dagen,” I confess. “I had no idea that you were the guy who broke his nose.”
He glances at me with his uninjured eye. “He deserved it.”
I nod. “I’m not surprised.”
I don’t know how to explain how I got so involved with Dagen Hillstead that I was on the cusp of marrying him. It wasn’t a whirlwind romance. He didn’t sweep me off my feet. Our connection built slowly after he stopped at Tin Anchor one night. He came back repeatedly before I agreed to go out with him.
I believed I was in love with him, but what I felt for him can’t compare to what I feel for Sean.
“He deserves worse for what he’s put you through. He told me everything, Champ. I know what the bastard is holding over you.”
Tears well in my eyes. I hang my head to shield them from him. “I’m so ashamed.”
“For what?” The words leave him in a rush. “For trusting a man who claimed to love you? For believing that he wanted what was best for you?”
I look into his face. “For letting my guard down.”
He tosses the peas onto the coffee table before moving closer to me. “You have nothing to be ashamed of. You have worked so damn hard to get out from underneath this burden. I can’t tell you how badly I want to fix this for you.”
“I have to fix it.” I calm him with a hand on his knee. “It’s important to me that I fix it. I have to see this through to the end.”
“I know.” He scoops my hand into his to press a kiss on my palm.
“You said that he told you everything,” I whisper. “But that’s coming from Dagen’s point of view. Can I tell you everything from my point of view?”
He turns so he’s facing me head-on. “Tell me, Calliope. Tell me how you ended up owing Dagen Hillstead more than forty thousand dollars.”
“It’s not that amount anymore. I’ve chipped away at it since we broke up.”
“By working at Tin Anchor?” he asks. “By working two jobs?”
“Yes.” I breathe in a heavy sigh. “And by packing my lunch for work. By shopping at vintage shops and by selling things.”
“Like your camera?”
I glance at the new camera on the foyer table. “Yes. I sold it and gave that money to him.”
Sean reaches for my hand to squeeze. It’s a sign of silent encouragement.
I jump back to the beginning of my tale. “I went to college on a small scholarship but needed to take out student loans to pay for the remainder.”
I know that Sean doesn’t have experience with that or the fact that at times debt can feel like a heavy burden to shoulder.
“When Dagen and I became more serious, he told me that he wanted to clear that debt to take that worry away.” I shake my head. “We never discussed the terms of that. I foolishly assumed it was a gift. Apparently, Dagen viewed it as a loan because when I dumped him…”
“He demanded that money back,” Sean interrupts.
“It was his way of keeping me in his world,” I tell him. “He brought it up as I was packing my things. I knew at that moment that I’d pay back every penny, so I’d never be connected to him again. Dagen and I had reached a point where my dreams were secondary to his. What I wanted in life didn’t matter to him. He didn’t think marketing was the career path for me. He hated that I worked as a bartender. He believed that I should give up my dreams to fulfill his. He made it clear that once we were married, he expected me to work for him as his assistant at his consulting firm.”
“He’s pathetic,” Sean murmurs.
“I looked into taking out a loan to clear what I owed him, but I couldn’t get approved because my employment situation wasn’t stable.” I take a deep breath. “Going to my parents or my oldest brother wasn’t an option. Everyone had warned me that Dagen wasn’t right for me. “