13. Thad
Thad
What the fuck was going on?
Who the hell was David Duncan, and was the knife Z was talking about figurative or literal?
And what did Emerson’s little sister Autumn have to do with anything?
“Declan, I’ll be in touch. Tex is still running down a lead. Be ready to move.”
“Copy that.” Declan disconnected and tossed his phone on the table. Then he turned to Emerson. “Ready?”
“Sure.”
She sounded anything but sure and she looked like she was spitting mad.
“Yeah, I’m not ready,” I announced. “Who’s David Duncan?”
“Everything’s in her file.” Declan pointed to a stack of papers not far from where his phone had landed.
Before I could pick them up, Max placed his hand on top of them and shook his head.
What the hell?
“Maybe we should put the brakes on this for a minute and let Emerson and Thad have a private conversation,” Max suggested.
“This needs to get done,” Declan retorted.
“Man, not even you can be that heartless. Just give them a minute. Thad doesn’t deserve to learn this from a file and you know it.”
“Learn what?” I growled, losing my patience.
Kyle was staring at his feet. Brooks nodded to his wife and she quietly made her way out of the room.
Why did I feel like everyone in the room knew something I didn’t? Because everyone damn well did. Something important.
Max didn’t answer me. Instead he looked at Emerson.
“I didn’t share, darlin’. I was going to but then we had orders to grab you again.
I figured it was your place, not mine. I’m gonna extend you this courtesy one time.
You don’t take it, I’ll tell him. But either way he needs to know, and I mean, all of it. ”
Darlin ’? What the fuck?
Emerson paled and hadn’t taken her eyes off of Max. At that point I wasn’t sure what was pissing me off more. The fact Max had softened toward her, or that Emerson was looking at him pleadingly.
“Emerson?” I barked.
Her gaze swung my way and for a fleeting moment all I could see was extreme pain. Then she closed down and the hurt I’d seen was replaced with anger.
“I don’t see what the past has to do with anything.”
“Then you’re blind,” Declan told her. “I assumed he knew. If he doesn’t, Max is right, he needs to. And that’s coming from you.”
“I’m in the fuckin’ room so stop talking about me like I’m not. What about Autumn?” Emerson flinched before her eyes drifted closed. “Where’s Autumn, Emerson?”
I’d never met Emerson’s younger sister—Autumn was attending UNLV at the time—but I’d spoken to her over the phone and had seen pictures of the girl.
She and Emerson were only fourteen months apart in age and looked almost identical.
They’d worn their hair styled the same way, long and straight and not needing to do a damn thing to it for it to look great.
The two women had been close. The only two children born to Mr. and Mrs. Pierce, they’d grown up doing everything together.
“Where the hell is Autumn?” I repeated.
The way Emerson kept her silence gave me a chill. Did something happen to her sister, or did Autumn turn her back on Emerson’s new life?
“I don’t know,” she whispered.
“What do you mean, you don’t know? When was the last time you talked to her?”
“A long time ago.”
I looked at Max for answers. Something. Anything. His features were blank. That in itself said a lot. He wasn’t frowning at her with his normal skepticism. I didn’t like it, not one fucking bit.
I was done playing twenty questions. I wanted the truth, all of it, and I wanted Emerson to tell me without me having to draw every answer out of her.
I walked the few feet separating us, tagged her hand, and yanked. She had no choice but to move with me at the fast pace I’d set or I would’ve dragged her. We made our way down the hall and into the back bedroom. When we cleared the threshold, I slammed the door behind us, giving us privacy.
Then I turned to her.
I should’ve waited. Calmed myself down before I launched into my tirade but I didn’t.
“I want to know what the hell is going on and I want to know now. Why does my boss have information on your sister? Did she kick your ass to the curb when she found out what kind of men you were dating? And who is David Duncan? Another sad sap you played and fucked over? Tell me, Emerson, so we can put this shit to bed and move on. I have a job to do. One that does not include an ex-girlfriend and her fucked-up choices.”
If I would’ve taken a two-by-four and hit her with it, it would’ve caused less pain than my words had. Her pulse pounded on the side of her neck and her breaths came in short pants like she couldn’t draw in enough oxygen.
What in the actual hell was going on?
“Autumn’s gone.”
Two words that looked like they cost her.
“What does that mean?”
“It means… She. Is. Gone. Just gone.”
“Explain that.”
She didn’t explain. She stared at me.
New tactic. “Why’d you leave me?”
Nothing. Silence.
“I deserve to know why you played me. I wasn’t some rich fuck you could get money from like Garcia. I couldn’t buy you the lifestyle you obviously want. I had nothing to offer you, why’d you pick me?”
“You gave me everything,” she whispered.
“Then why’d you leave me?”
“I had to.”
“That makes no sense. You had to leave the man who loved you, who was going to ask you to marry him, who would’ve broken his neck to make sure you were happy for the rest of your life? You had to leave that man?”
“Yes.”
“Goddamn it, Emerson. Why?” I shouted.
“Because Autumn was taken!” she screamed, her body vibrating with so much hurt it nearly brought me to my knees. “My sister was taken, Thaddeus. You were gone and my sister was gone and I had no choice but to leave and help my parents.”
“You left me. Left. You didn’t call me. You didn’t leave a note. You fucking left. Did it ever occur to you, I’d want to know? I’d want to help find her? I’d want to be there for you and your parents?”
“Yes,” she admitted.
“Then why didn’t you let me help you?”
“I had to protect you.”
“Come again? Protect me? From who? I could’ve helped. I was a goddamned Navy SEAL, Emerson. I didn’t need you to protect me from anyone.”
“That’s why, Thaddeus. That’s why I had to protect you. I knew you’d help. I knew you’d give up everything to help me. I couldn’t let you do that.” She stopped shouting at me, then when she spoke again she did it whispering. “I knew that and I couldn’t let you give up your dreams for me.”
Gutted.
Completely and totally gutted.