Chapter 206

David Armstrong was fuming just thinking about how all this mess started with Vanessa Brooks. If he could, he'd drag her here right now just to show her how badly Leander Steele had been wrecked by all of it. "You don't get it," Leander mumbled, eyes glazed over, a storm churning inside him. He'd been carrying a secret-a truth he couldn't bear to let Vanessa know. He was terrified that if she ever found out, she'd hate him for it. That secret weighed on him like a ton of bricks. He was scared that once she knew, she'd laugh at him, maybe even despise him. For years, he'd thrown himself into work, climbing all the way to the top just to escape the nightmares that haunted him. From that height, looking back on his past felt a bit less painful. But deep down, he knew the real problem between them wasn't someone like Mia White getting in the middle. No, the real issue was that huge gap they'd never managed to bridge-neither of them trusted each other enough to really open up. On the outsid