He snorts darkly, cutting me off with a bark. “What? And you expect her to do the same for you? To give upherlife?Herdreams? Because that’s what will happen once the trial is publicknowledge. Once the world knows of her association with the murdering Holloway bastards?—”
“Fuck you! My father actedalone. The rest of my family are innocent, and you damn well know that, East.”
He shrugs, almost nonchalantly, if it wasn’t for the barely bridled fury coming off him in waves.
“The industry won’t see it that way. Guilty by association.” He looks me up and down pointedly, a smirk playing on his mouth. “Tarred with the same brush you’ve run from Texas to avoid.”
I sit up straighter, shaking my head to deny his accusation, but he continues swiftly. “Not a single person in the industry will touch her once they discover she’s inlovewith the son of a convicted felon. Mark my words; once it gets out, all chances for the life she’s dreamed of will be gone.Poof! Up in flames.”
My brow knots into a heavy frown as the truth breaks through the bubble that Emmy and I have unwittingly placed ourselves in these last three blissful months, but he continues tearing everything apart with words that strike a chord deep within me.
“If you ask her to choose, you know what her choice will be.”
And he’s right. I do know. Em’s selflessness, ability to see the good in people, and unwavering loyalty are some of the things I love most about her.
She’ll stand by me to the bitter end, throwing away everything she’s worked so hard for. The dream of following in her mother’s footsteps. All gone because I’m too weak to do what’s best for her.
I need to leave.
The crystal-clear facts that I’ve spent three months ignoring settle like a dead weight in the pit of my stomach as the thought of hurting the person I love more than anything makes myheart throb more painfully than any of the physical damage Easton’s assault has.
He pushes himself to stand, staring me down with a burning hatred in his usually warm brown eyes. “You’re an intelligent man, Holloway—a piece of shit human, but intelligent just the same. I know you’ll do what’s right. And by that, I mean disappear and make sure she can’t fucking find you.”
His feet move to leave, but as he reaches the doorway, he stops when I call out, “I’ll leave, East, but you best believe I’m not doing it foryou.”
His shoulders stiffen, and my voice drops. “I’ll leave because I love her enough to lose her. To let her find happiness even when I know I won’t be a part of it. To have a full life that doesn’t include me, even though it breaks my fuckin’ heart.”
I swallow past the ball of emotion lodged in my throat, my words hoarse, raw, and haunting. “Because I will love Emerson with every breath that I take from this day until my last. And no one canevertake that away.”
It takes several minutes before the combination of agony and fury that’s pumping inside of me recedes, and I can take a deep, calming breath.
Ididdisappear. Even though I couldn’t bring myself to leave, Ineededto be close. Even though I’ve been under her nose for five years, I ensured she wouldn’t have been able to find me.
Until now.
I steel myself, remembering I have a job to do here, regardless of my personal involvement, and it’s with that at the forefront of my mind that I return to set unprepared for the sight that greets me when I walk through the stage door.
Suddenly, the reason for Emmy’s anxious glances earlier makes sense as my eyes rake across the scene before me because right there, on a king-size bed lit up beneath studio lights, are Emmy and her asshat boyfriend. There’s not an inch between them as their mouths devour one another.
Breathy moans that I’m intimately familiar with reach my ears, sending a confusing jolt of awareness to my cock.
I’ve seen every production Emmy’s been in. Multiple times. It’s not the first time I’ve watched a scene like this, but seeing it in the flesh is a sucker punch to the gut.
Yet I’m rooted to the spot, unable to take my eyes from them even as nausea rises at the back of my throat when a smug Beckham Reynolds ambles by, making his way off-set.
He smirks right as he escapes into the corridor, shooting his parting shot over his shoulder with blatant triumph in his voice.
“Bet their sex life is off the goddamn charts.”
CHAPTER 12
FORD
“You dowhatever you need to do, Gray, but I need you to make sure that Jack Remington cancels the rest of the reshoots for today.”
It’s 9 a.m. And having dropped Emmy at the studio with Kyle, Zane, and Thom, as well as three more additional Sentinel staff, I’m presently standing in front of the desk of a smirking Grayson Hunter.
Who’s clearly cruisin’ for a fucking bruisin’.
