Chapter 26 #3
“You don’t have to.”
“Help me make sense of it,” I whisper.
His thumb passes over my knuckles. “You were in pain. Gregory was in pain. I was in a position to help, and I knew the result could be exceptional. I didn’t act against you, Kate. I acted for the family we had already built.”
“The family that put you out? Were you angry? Is that why you did it?”
His thumb stops.
“You were pregnant and overwhelmed. Gregory couldn’t bear to see me touch you once you were carrying his child, and you couldn’t bear to disappoint him. I understood it.”
“We tried to end it without being cruel,” I say. “Greg still thought of you as a close friend.”
Emmett looks down at our hands. “That’s all water under the bridge. We’ve talked about it. We’re fine.”
“Then why are you doing this to him?”
“Because he came here determined to destroy the only chance we have left to repair any of it.” He looks up. “Greg’s angry, but when he gives me a chance to explain, he’ll understand that I didn’t take a daughter from him. I gave all of us one.”
“You think the three of us can sit down after this and play happy family?”
“You make that sound more absurd than it is.”
I stare at him. “Where’s Bianca?”
He studies me, deciding what to share. “I’m aware of her location, but I’m not hunting her.”
“Well, someone is! Leave her alone or I’ll tell people what you did.” My voice sounds stronger than I feel.
“The treatment records are complete. They show that you requested intervention after years of infertility and that you consented to the protocol.”
“I consented to fertility treatment.”
“There’s extensive evidence of our relationship.”
“What evidence are you talking about?”
He waits until I remember. He recorded the three of us many times.
“You kept them.”
His grip softens rather than releases mine. “You chose me plenty of times, Omega.”
My fingers go cold. “I didn’t choose it that time.” I pull my hand away and stand. Emmett lets me get two steps before following.
“Kate, please. I don’t want to fight with you.”
I turn on him. “My body doesn’t belong to you and neither does hers.”
He reaches for me, then thinks better of it.
Emmett looks at me for a long moment. My eyes burn. I let the tears come because they’re real. I fucking trusted him.
Then his face softens.
“I’ll tell my attorney that I’m not going to press charges.
I can pull my people back and make it clear Bianca is not to be detained.
” He reaches up and wipes beneath my eye with his thumb.
“But I need you to talk to Winston. He’s involving himself in matters that don’t concern him.
If Bianca returns voluntarily, I can protect her and then we can negotiate a new contract.
You can be with her as often as you want. ”
I lean into his thumb when he brushes it across my lips. Emmett closes his eyes for half a second.
“There she is,” he whispers.
He slides his fingers into my hair, and my body remembers the faint scrape of his thumb near my ear, the angle of his shoulder, the pause he has always given me to close the final inch myself.
I kiss him.
Emmett groans into my mouth. It’s obvious how badly he wants this. Then his hand tightens in my hair and his mouth opens against mine.
I let him in and the years fall away. His thumb finds the place behind my ear that used to make me shiver. My hand settles against his chest.
The worst part is that my mouth remembers his.
His next breath catches between us.
Emmett turns his head and coughs once into his shoulder. When he looks at me again, the softness is gone from his face. He swallows, presses two fingers to his throat, and tries to draw in a deeper breath.
“Kate.”
I reach for him. “What is it?”
I loosen his collar and pull the fabric away from his neck as if that will help. His skin is hot beneath my fingers. His eyes have begun to water, and when another cough folds him forward, I put my arm around his waist automatically.
“Slowly,” I tell him. “Try to breathe slowly.”
He grips my shoulder, hard enough to hurt. “Mar—” The word breaks into a thin, rough wheeze.
“Marcy,” I offer.
The woman who brought me to his office.
Emmett nods, then loses his balance. One knee strikes the rug, and his glasses slide down his nose. I fix them before I can stop myself.
“Please help me.” The plea comes out in a gasp, loud enough that I look at the office door, half expecting someone to burst through it.
If I opened it and yelled for her, Marcy would come running and press the injector into his skin.
Nothing would change.
I’m close enough for his fingers to wrap around my wrist, and the fear in his face nearly gets me to my feet. I want to help him. I want the man I loved to still be inside this body where I can save him again.
“You aren’t the man I thought you were.”
His grip tightens, but he wobbles and falls onto his side.
Tears blur everything now. “And if I help you, you’ll hurt her again.”
His eyes close as the ragged wheeze in his throat goes quiet.
I move toward the door to find Marcy. Behind me, there’s nothing but silence.