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Emma shoves the glass away. “I don’t want a drink. Talk.”
“He was blackmailing Hunter,” he says, standing up and walking to the bar, only to return with the whole damn bottle. He refills my glass. “You’re going to need that for the rest of the story.” He refills his own glass next.
I don’t reach for it. I just want him to spit this all out. “Go on,” I urge.
“He told him that he’d make the DNA test public and make it seem like Hunter was doing the opposite of what he was doing. Our father, ironically Hunter’s father, recorded conversations and doctored them to sound like Hunter was cutting you both out completely. In other words, Hunter either merged with us, or he was going to lose everything, including the brothers he was trying to protect.”
Hunter protecting us makes sense. And knowing what I now know, Hunter pulling away from me, unfortunately, does as well. He was swimming in shark infested waters, and he didn’t want to drag me in with him.
“Why did you want the castle?” I ask.
“Because I was a little bitch who should have just gone to you.” He downs a drink. “Here’s the part I’m not proud of.” He leans in toward Emma. “I’m sorry.” He looks at me. “I’m sorry.”
“Get to it,” I say, tension radiating up and down my spine.
“He didn’t disinherit you, Emma. He put your inheritance and mom’s in a trust, but you only receive it if I complete the merger. He put it all on me. See, Hunter pulled back at the last minute. The castle had to be signed over to us to finish the deal and that didn’t happen. I had to make it happen for you and mom to inherit.” He looks at me. “I didn’t want them to lose their inheritance. Hell, I offered Emma part of mine.”
“In other words,” I say, “you were still trying to take us over but doing it without my knowledge. That would never have held up in a court of law.”
“Exactly,” he says. “But dad had it in his mind that once Hunter was gone, you’d want out. If you didn’t, no doubt, he expected me to be as dirty as he was, to make it happen. I was a captive to the will. I am a captive to the will. I didn’t care about the merger. I don’t care about the merger. I just want my mom and my sister’ s inheritance to be funded. You keep your business. I take care of my mom and sister.”
“You should have just gone to Jax,” Emma says. “You should have told him the truth. He would have helped you. Actually, you should have come to me.”
“I wasn’t going to drag you into this dirtiness, and I had no idea what Jax knew or didn’t know.”
“He would have helped us,” Emma insists. “And I don’t care about the money. Give what you offered to me to mom.”
I focus on the bottom line for me, what I’m here in this office to find out. “None of this tells me who killed Hunter, because someone did. Was it your father?”
“If he jumped,” Chance says, “yeah, it was my father because he put him on the ledge, but did he have him murdered? Based on the journals, no. Don’t assume because he was willing to use his death to his benefit that he killed him. He was nothing if not an opportunist. And the journals make it clear. He felt like he needed Hunter to rule the world.”
“More than you?”
“I didn’t kill Hunter,” Chance snaps. “I did not kill Hunter.”
“He didn’t jump,” I say, my tone a snap of a band. “Who killed him?”
“About that.” His eyes meet mine again. “This is where I’m going to trust that you love her enough to protect her.”
In other words, he’s about to drop a bomb. Emma grabs my hands, telling me she’s here for me and perhaps reminding me of why I shouldn’t go after Chance. And that reason is her and her alone.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Jax
Chance doesn’t wait for me to repeat my vow to protect Emma. He doesn’t wait for my reply at all. He’s made the decision to tell all. I see that in his eyes. He’s not changing his mind now. He refills his glass and slides it back to Emma. “Drink that. You’re the one who’s going to need that now.”
“Stop shoving drinks at me,” Emma bites out, grabbing the edge of the couch. “Mom?” she whispers.
Chance doesn’t offer her the denial I know she wants. “I don’t know,” he says grimly.
He doesn’t know? I think. “What the fuck does ‘I don’t know’ mean?” I demand.
“Chance?” Emma asks. “Please tell me she didn’t do this.”
“She came to me and told me I had to deal with Hunter or she would. I told her she would do no such thing.” He looks at me. “I met with Hunter. I liked him.”
