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AU - Artist!Barry/Reporter!Iris | PREVIEW 3

She'd been smart enough to take her heels off before stepping inside the tiled building. Still, with so few people around, Iris was afforded only a few lingering moments before he became aware of her presence halfway down the hall.

His hands stopped scrubbing on the dish he was cleaning. He slowly looked over his shoulder at her, then returned to his chore, as if her presence was of no consequence.

I suppose I deserve that, she thought to herself.

"How did you find me?" He finally asked when his silence didn't prove enough to make her leave.

"I asked around," she said carefully. "Ruth, for one," she said when he looked at her in question.

"And you didn't share that information with the press? I'm astonished."

He was snarling. That wasn't a good sign.

"I didn't know this would happen, Barry."

He scoffed.

"I didn't!"

He halted his chore again, then turned to face her fully.

"Didn't you, Iris? I told you from the moment we met how important privacy was to me. After we got involved, I told you why. I took you into my confidence and told you everything because I actually believed-"

Her bottom lip trembled. Tears welled in her eyes.

"I thought that what we shared would be enough for you, that you wouldn't give it all up for a STORY."

"I didn't think-"

"What? That 'Son of a Murderer Masquerades As Secret Painter' would be the biggest headline? That the number one question reporters would ask when they invaded my privacy and harassed my neighbors would be why all the secrecy? Was I following in my father's footsteps? That when I came to my studio this morning every single painting in there would be stolen to be sold to the highest bidder, INCLUDING the portrait I made of you? My biggest masterpiece?"

He shook his head at her, forcing himself to remain unmoved by the tears streaming down her cheeks.

"This is a small town, Iris. The only way for me to remain anonymous was for my presence here to be unknown, disconnected from the identity I've run from for the last fifteen years. But you... You couldn't help yourself. You were so sure the good in humanity would prevail, even though I told you it wouldn't."

"I said a small town in Europe!" She finally blurted. "There are a lot of small towns in Europe. I don't know how the paps narrowed it down." She sniffled.

"They probably started FOLLOWING you after you published, Iris. Maybe when you were still *researching* your topic."

"That's not fair."

He gave her a look that very clearly said, 'Isn't it?'

"It may have started out that way, but I wasn't-" She reached for his hand, but he pulled it away. "I wasn't playing you, Barry. I...I fell in love with you."

He stepped away from the sink and glared at her in disbelief.

"What you did isn't love. It was betrayal, the grandest under cover job of all. You should be very proud of yourself, Miss West, Investigative Reporter."

"Barry."

He walked passed her.

"Barry!" She huffed, exasperated, when he didn't stop for her. "Where will you go?" She called after him.

He hated that after their two-month affair she already knew him so well.

"Away. Another small town far away from here where this news hasn't reached. When I leave, the reporters will leave too, and the poor people that have been nothing but kind to me will be left alone."

"What about me?" She asked, her voice smaller than she wished it would've been.

He turned around and looked at her sadly.

"You'll move on to your next story. Maybe even win a Pulitzer one day. I just pray to God it has nothing to do with me."

"Barry..."

"Goodbye, Iris." He turned to walk away.

"Barry!"

But he didn't stop. He kept walking until he was out of the building.

Iris didn't run after him.

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