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“I inherited it. I own the castle. You are no longer welcome here.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, hating this, hating to split Jax from his brother. They’re speaking again, but this time, their voices are so low that I can’t hear them. It worries me. It bothers me. I’m unsettled and cold inside, so very cold. I think I might be in shock. I think I’m running on adrenaline and headed for a crash I can’t have in the middle of the public castle. I push away from the wall and take off running. I turn down a hallway, following the stone path lined with artwork, certain I’m traveling the path I’d traveled earlier. Adrenaline pushes me forward, and it’s not long before I realize that the path has not ended in the place I’d expected. I’m now in a courtyard in the middle of the castle.
I’m lost in a castle that apparently wants to be the death of me.
Jax
I keep Brody against the wall, giving Emma time to put distance between herself and him. “I don’t know what the fuck has gotten into you, Brody, but wake the fuck up. She could have died.”
“Like Hunter fucking died?”
“She’s not her father,” I bite out.
“You were all about making them all pay,” he reminds me. “Now you’re fucking her and you’re not?”
Fuck, I need him to shut his damn mouth. “She’s an outsider, Brody. She didn’t even fucking inherit. She’s going to help us find out what the damn obsession her family has with this castle is.”
“You’re being played, Jax. Don’t be a fucking fool. They want the castle, and where did you take her? To the fucking castle. We had a plan.”
“To find out what they want. And Emma can help, but not if you make her the enemy she’s not. I’m telling you, man. You make her the enemy, you makemethe enemy. I don’t want that.” I release him and step back. “Leave, Brody. Leave now. Out the back door.”
His eyes burn through me. “Hunter’s message was clear. He wrote it down: ‘The Knights cannot get the castle.’” Brody pushes off the wall and steps in front of me. “You’re fucking her, and she’s going to fuck us. Mark my words. I’m not letting your pussy high ruin us.” He steps around me, and I rotate to watch him leave the room. And holy fuck, at least he listens and cutstoward the rear exit, away from Emma who I hope like hell is in the main foyer waiting. I’m already walking, trying to get to her before she can get a car here and leave.
I reach the door, and Savage, who I’d left at the airport to follow us here in a private car, only to have him disappear, steps in front of me. “I got in this place through the side door by the parking area. You need men, Jax, because this place is a bad guy’s wet dream.”
“Right now, I need you to go back the way you came in and make sure my brother leaves. Silver Porsche. He just held Emma over the ledge of the landing and damn near killed her. Go now.”
He curses, and I cut left while he cuts right, the lost time for that conversation lengthening my strides. When the main foyer is in sight, and Emma is not, I step inside the office to find Jill behind her desk. “Where’s Emma?”
Her brows furrow. “Isn’t she with you?”
Emma can’t get out of the front door without a code; Jill would have had to give it to her, which means she’s still in the castle, just not here, where Brody could still be as well.
Chapter forty-three
Emma
The wind blows over the high stone wall into the open courtyard that’s right here in the middle of the castle. I hug myself against the chill that I’m not sure is from the wind, but rather, the fear that I’d felt on that landing. The fear that I can’t quite shake. Saltwater settles on my lips, teasing my tongue, reminding me of how close the ocean is to our location. In turn, I wonder how close I came to falling down on the rocks that I suspect line the oceanfront. That’s how out of my normal head I am right now. Salty air has me picturing myself broken and dead on an oceanfront. Resisting the urge to go back the way I came for fear of running into Brody, I scan another hallway and decide it might actually be the path I should have taken in the first place.
“I just can’t get rid of you, can I?”
At the sound of Brody’s voice, I freeze, adrenaline surging through me, my options punching at my mind. I could run down the hallway in front of me, trying to escape another near-death experience, but I don’t even know where it leads me. I could end up cornered. And what does running do for me? Brody is Jax’sbrother. I can’t leave Brody behind unless I leave Jax behind. And this family has a connection to my family that clearly has them screaming accusations of murder, while Brody seems to be willing to commit one himself. My father’s words scream in my head, demanding I listen. I have secrets, but his journal says that they’re nothing compared to his own secrets. What about my brother? I’m not running. I’m facing this, starting with Brody’s threats.
I rotate and bring him into view, and he’s close, way too close for comfort, not more than a foot, but I don’t back away. I stare at him, tormented by his uncanny resemblance to Jax, a reminder that this man is his brother. And brothers matter, they do, but that only stokes my fury. At Brody for being an asshole and a potential killer. At my father for putting me in this position, for making me a target.
“I already told you I didn’t know who my father really was until he died,” I bite out, my voice vibrating with anger and that steady stream of adrenaline. “He’s dead, and he barely tolerated me when he was alive. Killing me would ruin your life and get you what? Revenge on a dead man?”
His lips thin. “I don’t believe for a minute you’re innocent.”
That does it. I’ve had enough of this man. Fear fades fully now, and I step toward him. I push that space limit I’d wanted to set only moments before, glaring up at him. “You know what I think?” I demand and don’t wait for an answer. “If killing me was your answer to Hunter’s death, then you’re the one who is like my father, not me.”
“Don’t even say his name,” he replies. “Because if I hear it on your lips, one more time—”
“Hey, asshole!” A male voice shouts out from behind Brody.
I don’t have to see the man who owns it to know who it is. It’s Savage, the big brute of a security person who Jax hired and who flew in with us and then left us at the airport to pick upa contractor who’s now working for him. Savage, who is a force of nature. Brody whirls around to face him. Savage steps just enough to the side to bring me into view, telling me he’s aware of my position, but his focus is on Brody.
“Why don’t you try and push me off a fucking landing,” Savage taunts. “I betcha you’re the one who falls.” He glances at me. “Go now, Emma, before this gets bloody.”
