Page 195 of His Reckoning

“She grabbed her purse and walked out.”

“And you let her?”

The question hits harder than it should.

I push past it. “She wrote a book.”

Dean is quiet for a second. “I’m sorry, what?”

“She wrote a book,” I repeat, my voice tightening. “And the main character—” I stop. I don’t even know how to say it without it sounding like exactly what it is.

Dean fills the silence. “Let me guess.”

I don’t answer.

He exhales. “It’s you.”

I clench my jaw. “It’s not exact. But it’s close.”

I don’t respond, which is answer enough.

Dean lets out a slow breath. “Okay.”

The calm in his voice immediately irritates me.

“Okay?” I repeat. “That’s your reaction?”

“What do you want me to say?” he asks.

“That she betrayed me.”

“Did she?”

I straighten slightly. “She took everything I told her and turned it into something to sell.”

“Is that what she did?” Dean asks.

“Yes.”

He exhales. “All right. I can see why that might piss you off.”

“Might?” I repeat.

“Yeah,” he says. “Depends how close it is.”

“Close enough.”

“Did she write your actual life?” he asks.

“No.”

“Same people?”

“No.”

“Then what’s the issue?”

The question hits a nerve because I don’t have a clean answer that doesn’t expose everything.