Chapter 18
EMMETT
Iraised my fist to knock on Dash’s door, but it swung open before I could touch the wooden face.
He waved me inside. “Hey.”
“Hi.” I stepped inside and toed off my boots so they wouldn’t thud on the floor. It was five in the morning, and though Bryce and Dash were awake, the boys were likely in bed.
“Coffee?”
I nodded and followed him to the kitchen, where Bryce was standing against the counter with a steaming mug in her hands.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
I loved her for skipping the pleasantries and worrying about me above all else. “Yeah.”
She opened a cupboard and pulled out a mug, filling it from the pot and bringing it over. “Liar.”
I put an arm around her shoulders as she slid one behind my back for a sideways hug.
No, I wasn’t all right.
Dash filled a mug of his own and then the three of us went to the living room.
I was too restless to sit so I walked to the fireplace, taking in the photos on the mantel. They’d changed over the years. The pictures of the boys were continually getting swapped out as they grew. But there were a few constants.
Bryce and Dash at their wedding, smashing cake into each other’s faces. Dash and Nick standing beside two motorcycles, the brothers with their arms around each other’s backs. Another of Draven working at the garage. And an older photo of Chrissy, Dash’s mom, smiling so wide it lit up her face.
She’d been like an aunt to me. There had always been a group of mothers around the clubhouse, organizing family functions. Draven might have been the club’s leader, but Chrissy had been the heart.
She, along with my mom, had done their best to keep Dash, me and the other kids out of trouble. She’d made the best chocolate chip cookies, and she’d been one of Mom’s best friends. Dad had loved her like a sister—as I felt about Bryce—and would have done anything to protect her.
Another parent gone too early, murdered by a rival club.
This had to stop. Christ, I was tired of looking over my shoulder. My family couldn’t take another loss. These women and men deserved to live in peace. To see their children grow.
Nova was a threat to that.
Fuck. I dragged a hand through my hair and turned away from the photos, setting my coffee mug aside to pull my hair out of my face and secure it with a tie from my wrist.
I was a goddamn mess. I’d been up all night, driving home from Missoula and spending every hour since in my office.
Nova might have hacked my laptops in the office, but the important one I kept hidden away. I wasn’t stupid enough to leave a machine that could land me in prison out in the open.
I had two locked safes at home, one obvious in the office. And another that I’d built into the bottom of my pool table. The only way to find it was to shimmy beneath the table and pull back a false panel.
Luckily, she hadn’t stumbled upon it yet. Though I was sure that with enough time, she would have discovered all my secrets. Hell, given a year or two, I would have told her.
How could I have been so fucking gullible? How could I have let this happen? She’d slithered into my life like a viper, and I’d let her sink her poisonous fangs into my flesh.
There was no one to blame for this but me. I was the one who’d brought her into my bed. Into my home. Into my heart.
If something happened, it was on me.
Dash and Bryce didn’t say a word as they sat side by side on the couch. They sipped their coffee and waited for me to pull my shit together.
I walked to a chair and sat on its edge, my coffee forgotten. I didn’t need the caffeine. I’d spent all night digging into Nova, and adrenaline, rage and pain were fueling me at the moment.
“Did Leo talk to you?” I asked.
Dash nodded. “Yesterday.”
“I met a woman.”
“That’s what he said.”
“She fucking played me.” God, I hated to admit this. I hated to even say the words. The shame was nearly as brutal as Nova’s betrayal. “It was casual.”
Leo had probably already explained, but it felt important to say it again. To run it through from the beginning, not just for them but for me. Maybe I’d see where I’d gone wrong.
“We met at The Betsy. Hooked up. Was supposed to be unattached sex but . . .”
“But sometimes it gets more complicated.” Bryce shared a look with Dash.
I dropped my elbows to my knees. My eyes felt like they’d been rubbed with sandpaper. My stomach felt like I’d been kicked with a steel-toed boot. My chest felt ripped to pieces from a gaping gunshot wound. “I fucked up.”
“This isn’t on you.” Dash shook his head. “This is on her.”
Her. “Nova. She told me her name was Nova.”
And damn it, that name fit her. When she’d admitted it was her real name, there had been nothing but honesty in her voice. She was a Nova.
Except she wasn’t. She was the best liar I’d ever met because her name was June Johnson.
Her license plates had been fake. But that utility bill I’d swiped from her counter was as real as they came.
The drive home I’d replayed each moment from her place. I wasn’t sure why I’d fucked her. I wasn’t sure why she’d let me. All I knew was that when I stared at her and there’d been nothing but guilt in her eyes, it had broken me. She’d shredded me to ribbons.
She’d fucking gutted me.
So I’d fucked her too.
“Her real name is June Johnson. She’s a lawyer in Missoula.”
“And you think she is affiliated with the Warriors,” Dash said.
“She tampered with my laptops. Probably copied the hard drives and used my password to get past the encryption.” Maybe she’d done it herself or maybe she’d had help. It didn’t matter.
“Are you sure?” Bryce asked.
“I’m sure.” I nodded. Almost every cell in my body wished that I was wrong, but after all I’d found last night, I was sure. “No one else has been in my house. My security system is tight. As tight as the one here.”
I had video monitors inside and out. The only time they were off was when the system was disarmed. For that, you’d have to know the code.
Nova knew the code.
“You went to Missoula. Did she confess? Tell you anything?” Dash asked.
I shook my head. “No, but she didn’t need to.” There’d been no point in confronting Nova about it because the truth had been written on her beautiful face.
The guilt. The apology. She hadn’t been able to hide it while I’d been inside of her.
I’m sorry.
How many times had she said it last night? I’m sorry.
She was fucking sorry.
“How is she connected to the Warriors?” Dash asked.
“I put a location tracker on her phone.” I huffed.
“I thought she might be in danger from the Warriors because she’d been spending so much time with me and I didn’t want to risk it.
After I noticed there was something wrong with my system yesterday, I drove to Missoula and tracked her to a restaurant.
She was on a damn date. With Tucker Talbot’s lawyer. ”
“Oh, fuck,” Dash muttered.
“Pretty much.” I rubbed my jaw, still dealing with the image of her sitting across from Ira Hug.
I hadn’t recognized Ira at first because his back had been to me, but when Nova had spotted me through the window, Ira had turned enough for me to glimpse his face. I’d bolted before he could spot me because he’d know my face. And Dash’s. And Leo’s.
I sure as hell knew his.
Ira was a slimy motherfucker, though he’d have to be to represent the Warriors and Tucker Talbot. He preferred to represent criminals and had a talent for getting the guilty acquitted due to technicalities in the investigations. He was ruthless and cunning, much like his clientele.
Thankfully, the weasel hadn’t been able to set Tucker free.
“You’re sure it was him?” Dash asked.
“I’m sure.” Ira, much like Tucker’s family in South Carolina, was someone I kept a close watch on. Because if there was anyone relaying messages in and out of prison from Tucker, it would be Ira or a member of his team.
“Does she work for him?” Bryce asked.
“No.” I sighed, standing to retrieve my coffee from the fireplace before sitting back down. “She does corporate legal work.” Her photo had been on her firm’s website. “Personal stuff like wills and prenups. She’s not a criminal attorney so she’s not connected to the Warriors through her firm.”
“What about her family?” Dash asked.
“Still looking.” I took a long pull from my coffee, trying to put the pieces I’d collected last night together. “I spent most of my time digging into Nova. I haven’t gotten deep into the family yet. Haven’t had enough time.”
Just skimming the surface of her life had taken me most of the night. First, I’d started with Nova’s credit cards. Maybe part of me had wanted to believe that it wasn’t true, that Nova wasn’t June Johnson. But then I’d seen the social media photos. The Louboutin purchases.
Next, I’d examined her family. A quick search had brought up a mother, a brother, a sister and a brother-in-law. There were probably a hundred friends to research too. Getting a holistic picture might take me close to a week.
Dash blew out a long breath. “There’s got to be more of a connection to the Warriors beyond a relationship with a lawyer. That doesn’t seem to be enough motive for her to come here, start something up with you and invade your life.”
“Agreed.”
“Then you keep digging.”
“I don’t want to,” I whispered. “I don’t want to keep digging.”
Because the more I uncovered, the more I hated her.
The more I hated myself.
“Why?” Dash asked.
I didn’t have to answer. The pity in Bryce’s eyes said she knew exactly why. “You’re in love with her.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I didn’t even know her goddamn last name.”
It had all been a lie.
That was what had driven me from my office this morning. Sure, I could have stayed at home and started looking into the family. I could have shown up at Dash’s place with a hell of a lot more answers than I currently had.
But I’d had to get out. I’d had to be gone from those computers because information wasn’t just useful, it was painful.
I loved Nova.
And Nova didn’t exist.
“This is going to hurt,” Dash said, his voice gentle and low.