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CHAPTERFIFTEEN
“Get up,Ems. You’ve sulked long enough.”
But Emma didn’t get up. She burrowed deeper into the mound of blankets on Andi’s guest room twin mattress. Over two weeks had passed since Noah had stabbed her in the heart and left her in emotional hell, and the pain had yet to fade. If anything, it had gotten worse.
Was it possible for emotional stab wounds to become infected?
“I’m serious, Ems. Get up.”
“It’s Sunday. Isn’t a girl entitled to sulk on a Sunday?”
“Not when there are mysteries to solve at Whitlow Tower, specifically on floor fifty.”
Emma flopped onto her back and glowered at Andi. Her best friend had her arms crossed, looking powerful and just a tad lethal in her slate-gray pants, pale blue button-down, her sidearm strapped to her belt.
“Andwhywould I want to set foot on floor fifty and possibly risk running into He-Who-Will-Not-Be-Mentioned?”
Since walking out of the police station, she’d avoided calls and texts from Noah. She’d even blocked his number. Once she mustered the energy to go out and buy a replacement, she’d return the phone he’d given her. She’d also return the clothes, which someone had delivered to Andi’s house, along with Laverne and Shirley.
She wasn’t the only person avoiding him, either. David had come back to the office just to go to floor fifty and personally fire Whitlow Group as clients. The entire firm had rallied behind her, even freaking Brad, which had made a heart-wrenching situation bearable.
“Don’t worry abouthim,” Andi said. “He won’t be there.”
“How do you know that?”
“Mainly because He-Who-Will-Not-Be-Mentioned has beenpersona non gratasince being escorted out by the Houston PD.”
“Good. I’m glad. He lied to me and used me to make himself and the company look better.”
“And if he did that, he’d be the biggest wanker on the planet.”
Emma narrowed her eyes. “What do you meanif?”
“Follow me if you want to find out.” And with that, Andi walked away.
Emma made it about ten seconds before curiosity got the better of her, and she chased after her sister-in-law, cursing her every step of the way. When Emma caught Andi, she was sitting at the kitchen table, a smug expression on her face and a white cup with a familiar green logo in her hand.
“That was total emotional manipulation,” Emma accused.
“Yeah, I know.” Grinning, Andi motioned to the seat across from her, where a second cup sat beside a plated blueberry muffin. “Which is why I stopped at Starbucks after dropping PJ off at Trevor’s.”
“You’re pure evil.”
“Again, I know. Now sit.”
Emma obeyed. “What do you meanif?”
Andi leaned forward, voice low and conspiratorial, even though they were alone. “So okay, something hasn’t set right with me since everything with He-Who-Will-Not-Be-Mentioned went down. For a while, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, and I couldn’t talk it through with you because you weren’t ready to discuss it yet. Then, the other day, it hit me. If the cops’ story is to be believed, He-Who-Will-Not-Be-Mentioned supposedly seduced you in some horrendous attempt to garner popular media coverage, right?”
Emma shrugged. “That’s what Hill thinks.”
“So why then did henotparade you in front of the media every chance he got? Why didn’t he wine and dine you at all the fanciest restaurants in Houston or whatever instead of arranging intimate dinnersawayfrom crowds? I mean, he brought you into his home where he doesn’t bringanyone but family. Hell, Ems, he took you horseback riding in the middle of nowhere. How in the world was that supposed to garner media attention?”
Emma didn’t have an answer for that. “He wanted to take me to Veranda 62 the night of the fire toquote‘show me off’. I find that timing hard to believe unless he’d planned it that way.”
And God, it still stung.
“I know the timing there seems suspect,” Andi continued, “but when he called me to finalize your security detail, he was shaken. Like seriously so. I’ve never heard the man sound like that. If he was acting, then he’s wasting his time ruling a business empire. With skills like that, he should be in movies.”
