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“I didn’t say anything.”
“You’re thinking if I didn’t pay off that debt, and I listened to you and put Emmie in a safe house, none of this would be happening. Maybe you were right.”
“You don’t mean that.” He picked up the canvas and the painting and propped them against the wall. “Whatever is going on between you and Emmie will have to get sorted out later.” He glanced at the pregnancy test. “Right now, we have to get to the club and figure out how we’re going to handle this.”
“We’re going to make them turn around.” I headed down the hallway. “Bring all the security from the house with us.”
“You don’t want Johnny to stay here?”
“No.”
“Jude, no one else is here. Emmie will be alone.”
“She’ll be fine.” I headed upstairs to get dressed. “We’re leaving in ten minutes. Make sure everyone is ready.”
As I came down the hallway, I stopped in front of Emmie’s closed door. I placed my hand against it, talking myself out of knocking. I didn’t have time to deal with this situation now. When I thought about her and that pregnancy test, all I could see was betrayal. Nothing was a hundred percent. I knew that. But why didn’t she just tell me? Why did I have to find out on my own?
Fuck, Emmie. Why you?
* * *
Emmie
The house was quiet when I left. There were no guards monitoring the cameras. My exit was swift and lonely. How fitting. I left the same way I came. My jeans may not have been torn, and my shoes weren’t dirty, but I didn’t take anything else but the backpack I’d left with. Jude still had my papers. His insurance policy to keep me with him. Who would have thought after everything he went to keep me as his fancy prisoner, he would be the reason I walked out.
I didn’t understand. I would have answered his question, but when he accused me of sleeping with other men, something inside me snapped. He said I betrayed him? He betrayed me by thinking so little of me. I tried to put him yelling at me and grabbing me out of my mind. He didn’t deserve an answer.
I’d had enough of people treating me like I didn’t matter. Everyone had a breaking point. I found mine today. I left that house. I wouldn’t look back.
I did have a few regrets. I couldn’t bring myself to say goodbye to Anthony and the horses, so I waited for him to take his break. He liked to go back to the cottage and have his lunch. I ran through the yard and into the woods without looking back when I knew he wouldn’t see me.
I would miss Cassie, Luke, and Grace. They had become the family I never knew I lacked. My heart hurt when I thought about leaving Sasha. Would she look for me tonight?
Jude…that was a void that would take a long time to fill, but how could I stay with a man who didn’t trust me? One who thought I could do what he accused me of. If I didn’t leave, he would have tossed me out on the street. I saw it in his eyes. I didn’t give him the chance.
I fulfilled my end of that savage deal. The one where I wasn’t supposed to fall in love or complicate his life. With me gone, he didn’t have to worry about that. He could forget about me.
I walked through the woods and out to the street where the other houses in the development started. Just like I had on the cool autumn night before my life had changed forever.
As I took my time taking in the gorgeous houses all decorated for the holidays, a black SUV came toward me. I shoved my hands in my hoodie pocket and tried to keep my steps steady, looking down at the pavement beneath me. I sensed the car slowing down to keep pace with me.
My heart beat a little faster because I hadn’t gone anywhere without Johnny or Jude in weeks. I never had to worry when I was with them. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to have been so self-righteous and claim my independence so quickly. I could have called a ride share before I left my phone behind.
Someone in the back passenger seat lowered the window as the frigid December air smacked into my cheeks. When I turned my head, I didn’t expect to see him.
“Hello, Emmie.” Joey Morelli smiled at me. “Can I give you a ride?”
