“No,” he said. “This isn’t your responsibility.”
“It’s just as much my responsibility as it is yours,” I argued.
“I don’t care. I don’t want you involved. These people are dangerous.”
“Don’t worry,” I insisted. “I have a plan.”
He looked even more startled by that. “What’s your plan?”
I shook my head.
“Just let me take care of it,” I said.
“Emzee,” he said, looking worried. As the oldest Zoric sibling, he’d always shouldered the heaviest burdens, gone out of his way to protect us all—whether it be from our father’s verbal abuse or covering for me and Luka to get us out of trouble. Stefan had always come through for us when we needed him most. But now it was time for me to be the hero.
“I need you to trust me,” I said. “There’s no danger involved, I can promise you that.”
I could tell that he wanted to keep arguing, but I wasn’t going to back down.
He must have seen the resolve on my face, or maybe it was his exhaustion getting to him. Either way, Stefan finally let out a breath and nodded.
“Okay,” he said. “I’ll let you give it a try.”
Emzee
Chapter 5
Iknew Ford wouldn’t skip a day of work just because we were fighting, and by the time Munchkin and I Ubered home, my husband was long gone. Perfect.
It was time to put on my battle armor.
Since last night, I’d been avoiding his calls and texts. He wanted to talk, to explain, but I didn’t need his explanations. Nothing could excuse the fact that he’d been lying to me for so long. That the high school hell I’d suffered through at the academy was all because ofhim. God, it was humiliating. He’d strung me along for seven years, letting me moon over him and put him on a pedestal as my hero and savior, as if keeping his dirty secret wasn’t bad enough already.
Flipping through the dresses in my closet—well, technically my side of Ford’s closet—all I kept thinking was that I’d been a fool to trust him. How could I have been so stupid? Ford had been taking advantage of me since day one, up until we were legally married.
And now I was pregnant.
I didn’t think things could get any worse.
Holding up a black dress, I looked in the mirror and sighed. Too funereal. I needed something powerful and aggressive, something that would pump up my confidence. An outfit that would remind Mr. and Mrs. Malone, senior, that I was a force to be reckoned with. And also that they had more to gain by paying me off than by letting Ford steamroll over them.
This whole situation was a fucking mess. One thing was certain, though. After this was all over, I didn’t want to speak to him. I didn’t want to see him. I didn’t want anything to do with him or the rest of his family, not ever again.
Unfortunately, before I could wash my hands of the Malones for good, I had to meet with the dreaded in-laws. As long as I kept the news of my pregnancy to myself, I still had leverage. And despite the poor terms we’d left on before the fundraiser (when Ford had burst into their library to “save” me from their threats), I knew they’d welcome me coming back around to their side of things.
Especially considering the fact that the deal I’d made with them included me staying married to Ford for a year. They’d be more than overjoyed to hear that I was interested in exiting the marriage earlier. Way, way earlier.
There was no possibility that they’d question my motives, either. I’d be playing directly into every assumption the elder Malones had ever had about me. To them, I was nothing but nouveau riche trash. And with the Zoric patriarch in jail and our family business in financial jeopardy, why wouldn’t I be anything but thrilled to trade in my marriage to Ford for a mountain of cold hard cash? Not that I’d be getting any of it. The Bratva were the only ones who’d be profiting off of this deal.
Ah.Thiswas the one. I pulled out a dress I’d never actually worn out in public and held it up to me, nodding as I checked myself out in the full-length mirror. It was a simple sheath dress, but it hugged my body like a glove. The color was a bright lipstick red. Harlot red, I knew Mother Malone would think to herself.
Well, let her. Let her see that I didn’t give a damn what she thought of me. This was war.
I slipped the dress off the hanger and threw it over my shoulder, then headed back to the bathroom to finish my makeup.
* * *
My in-laws were alreadyin the library when I was shown into the house by Vivi, the Malones’ longtime housekeeper. Of course it had to be the library.
