“If we can’t crack Pale, there’s only one option left,” Ana told me.
“I know.”
Fuck, I knew. And I hated it.
I hated it because I’d have to confront the man I loved. I’d have to look him in the eye and ask him if he’d lied to me. Would he tell the truth or lie again? If he lied, it was over. I only hoped that after eighteen years of knowing him, I could tell the difference.
CHAPTER 36 - EMMY
WORK NEVER STOPPED, and no matter how much I longed to curl up under my duvet and hide from the world, I still had to go to the office for a late meeting. Some government guy wanted me to do a job. I wanted to sit at home in yoga pants and eat ice cream, so I quoted him an outrageous fee and he bloody agreed to it. See? My life was jinxed.
I finally got around to checking my messages and found one from Sky, asking if she could come home yet. She’d sent it at eight p.m. last night. Shit. I fired off a quick apology, deleted a text offering me free casino chips, then ignored everything else. Finally, I headed for the gym at headquarters. Punching something would help.
By the time I got home, Black was already there, complete with takeout from Claude’s, Richmond’s best French restaurant. Usually, that was a cause for celebration, but my appetite had deserted me.
“Dinner?” he asked.
“I’m not hungry right now.”
He closed the distance behind me and dug his thumbs into the knot of tension in my shoulders. Mmm. That felt good. I closed my eyes for a second, enjoying one last moment of bliss.
“How about we take a swim instead?”
In our own home, swimming didn’t tend to involve clothing and usually led to other things. But I couldn’t afford to get sidetracked, not tonight.
“I thought we could watch a movie.”
“A movie? Sure.”
I headed for the movie theatre before I chickened out, but Black caught my hand.
“Don’t you want to change first?”
I looked down at myself. Okay, so a tailored pinstripe dress and stilettos weren’t exactly typical moviegoing attire, but it was now or never. No distractions.
“I’m fine in this.”
“Okay.” His tone said he wasn’t convinced. “Do you want snacks? A drink?”
A bottle of wine would be nice, but I’d promised Ana I’d be good. Her spare bedroom was ready and waiting in case I needed to get away from home tonight. She’d taken Sam to the hospital to get his shin X-rayed because it had swollen up and gone a horrible purple colour—once again proving that this whole fucking nightmare was cursed—but she’d be back later.
“I just said I wasn’t hungry.”
The movie theatre at Riverley Hall was usually a comfy, cosy place, but tonight, a chill washed over me as I stepped through the door. The big screen at the front of the room glowed grey as it waited for me to press play on the clip I’d cued up earlier. A picture painted a thousand words, right? So a video should be good for a million. I couldn’t speak anyway. My throat was too dry.
Nine sofas—three rows of three—sat on three levels, complete with cushions and fluffy blankets. Vintage movie posters decorated the walls, and a drinks cooler hummed in one corner. A table held bags of candy Toby hadn’t yet got around to confiscating, and because Bradley had done the decorating, there was a vase of fresh flowers too.
Black dropped onto the middle sofa and patted the seat beside him.
I sat.
Felt sick to my stomach as I pressed play.
Raw footage from Sam’s jump flickered across the screen. The roll. His release. The ground rushing towards him, a lurch as he adjusted his direction, and finally, the slate tiles of the guest house roof filling the lens. Black’s arm dropped away from my shoulders. I’d never known him to be scared before, not once, but that night, I smelled the fear seeping from his pores.
And then I knew the truth.
“What’s all this about?” he asked mildly, but he couldn’t hide the tension in his voice.
Our guess had been right on the money.
“I don’t think I need to explain.”
His voice softened to the faintest whisper. “I didn’t plan to do it.”
“Oh, right, it just happened, did it? You simply tripped over the briefcase and decided to replace the contents with a bunch of fakes?”
“I came home early because there were things we needed to discuss. And then I realised he was there, and I heard you fucking, and…”
“You thought you’d destroy him and then lie about it?”
“Technically, I never said I didn’t do it.”
Oh, that prick… I shoved him in the shoulder and stood up.
“Don’t treat me like an idiot. You offered to head up the investigation into the theft and then conveniently didn’t find anything.”
Black stood too, and I wished I had a stepladder.
“I spoke to people. Made sure the FBI didn’t prosecute.”
“Oh, gee, so because Alaric stayed out of prison, that makes everything okay, does it?”
“Clearly not.”
“For once in your life, can’t you show some empathy?”
“I…struggle with that.”
“No kidding. You almost got me killed that day. How does that make you feel?”
“I had no idea you were going with him. If I had…”
“You’d have come clean?”
“I’d have stopped it somehow.”
“People died, Black. Alaric lost everything. I lost a man I cared about.” I sucked in a breath and stared my husband straight in the eye. “Who I still care about. And now I’ve lost you too.”
“Emmy, I—”
“Shut up! Your jealousy’s a monster. Sure, you had feelings for me back then, I get it. But instead of growing a pair and telling me, you sabotaged nearly every relationship I got involved in.” I ticked off on my fingers. “Take James, for example. Rather than risking us getting back
