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“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. Iama captive to the will. I didn’t care about the merger. I don’t care about the merger. I just want mymom 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. “Idid notkillHunter.”
“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 one hundred fifteen
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.”
“And you denied me the right to know that he was my brother?” Emma demands.
“I would have told you. When the time was right.”
“And you were the almighty who decided when the ‘right’ time was?” Emma demands and then stands up. “The right time was before he wasdead, Chance.”
I catch her hand, but she pulls away, walking to the end of the coffee table. “Did mom do this?” she demands of her brother.
“We never talked about it again. Just once. One day. I tried to find out, though, after Hunter died. I asked her. I hired someone to try and find proof that she was involved because I needed to know. Ultimately, I knew we all needed to know, but nothing was found.”
“And yet, she’s hiding in Europe,” Emma says.
“Not until after dad died,” Chance points out. “That was months later.”
“When did she come to you?” I ask. “When did she tell you Hunter had to be dealt with?”
Chance’s expression tightens. “About six months before Hunter was gone. I don’t want my father’s greed to affect Emma. I’ll cut my mother out if you save her inheritance.”
“Whatever that means,” Emma says, “no.”
“Get me the documents you found,” I say, despite her rejections. “If all of this checks out, then I’ll sign off on the sale of the castle to get Emma her money, but I expect you to be signing it back over to me at the same time, at the same table.”
