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I inhale and let my breath out. “The unknown will be York, trying to get by me blocking him with another number. Of course, I don’t know why he would think I would answer an unknown call.” I close the space between us and sit down on the wooden table in front of him, right where the pizza box wasbefore he clearly got rid of it. “You asked me what secret York wanted me to keep.”
He pauses with the drink to his lips, but then takes a sip. “Yes,” he says, lowering his glass. “I did. And you told me, you wouldn’t tell. You told me that I could use that information to hurt you.”
His tone doesn’t change. His expression doesn’t change, but I don’t miss the slight hardening of his jaw. He might have been tender and sweet in the bathroom but this is a point of contention for him. “This informationcouldhurt my family, Jax, it could hurtme, but it could also hurt you, because you knew to ask me about it, because I spoke about it in front of you with York present. Now, you’re in his crosshairs. Now, he’s going to come for you and that’s my fault. You need to be ready.”
He downs his drink and sets the glass on the table next to him before leaning forward, his hands settling on my legs. “Don’t you think I need to know what it is he’s coming at me for, Emma?”
It’s a question that brings us to a moment of truth. If I tell him this secret, there are consequences to me and my family. If I don’t tell him, there are consequences to him with York.
Chapter thirty-two
Emma
“York is dangerous,” I say, my hands pressed to the table, a way of grounding myself when I really want to just get up and change the subject. But those consequences I fear, won’t allow me to leave this alone. “But just as he will come at you, Jax, once I tell you this, you could come at my family.”
His jaw hardens, his hand on my knee flexing into my leg. “What if I tell you I won’t use the information?”
“I’ll believe you, Jax, but I also know you have a deep burn for some sort of redemption for your brother, a reason that makes what he did make sense. And even you, a man I believe to be a man of calculation and control are human. One piece of information about your brother and my family could hit an emotional trigger, and all good intentions fly out the window.”
“In other words, you still don’t trust me.”
“I barely know you, Jax and you clearly loved your brother as I love mine. Those two things could easily be at odds.”
“Could be if we let them, but we won’t.”
“Come on, Jax. If my brother did something that led to your brother’s troubles, to his death, then what?”
His brow arches. “I thought you didn’t believe your brother could do such a thing?”
I look skyward, battling about ten emotions, I have to rein in before I look at him again. “I didn’t think my father could either. What happens if Chance was involved, even if he just covered up for my father? Are you going to ruin him, and me with him?”
“If you believe that, Emma, why are you even here right now?” he demands, anger pulsing off of him now.
All I hear in that question is nothing. He just said nothing that I want to hear. I try to stand up. He catches my legs, holding me in place. “Running from me now?”
“Don’t challenge me right now,” I say, jabbing his chest. “That’s not what I need from you. Just answer. Say the words I want to hear, Jax, because like it or not, we’re still fresh, we’re still new. Too new for me not to need to hear the damn words.”
“No, Emma,” he says, his jaw clenched. “I will not ruin you. I will not ruin Knight Hotels either. Because they are a part of you. That’s your blood inheritance, and unlike your father, I believe that’s your right.”
That comment punches me in the gut and I cut my stare. He’s seen too much too soon and I’m suffocating in his judgment of my family, of me. I’m suffocating in his judgment of me. His fingers catch my chin and he turns my gaze to his. “I don’t know why your father put fucking Randall above you, but I will not put my revenge above you.”
“Revenge?” I challenge. “That’s what you want? I thought you wanted answers.”
“Of course, I want answers, but there appears to be more players than I thought, as well. Do you really think York showed up when I did by coincidence?”
“That wasn’t about you, Jax. It’s about the secret he wants me to keep and if it gets out, and he ties it to me, he will lash out at me and my brother.”
He arches a brow. “Does your brother know this secret?”
“I don’t know,” I say. “I don’t think he does. I know. York thought I knew until I screamed that stupid comment about Marion at him. Now, he knows I know. Now, he’s going to think you know because of me, because I stupidly spoke about it in front of you. That means I owe you protection. And yes, I owe you a reason that he’s going to come at you. But don’t make this a mistake. Don’t make me sorry that I told you.”
His hands close around mine. “The only person I’ll make sorry is him. He might be vicious, but he has met his match in me, I promise you.”
It’s hard to feel comfort in a declaration of viciousness from a man I’m about to give a key to my future. Andhe promises.I’ve heard promises that meant nothing. York himself was full of promises, as was my father, but all that aside, there is something about Jax, something that makes me feel as if I’ve known him a lifetime when it’s only been days. “I’m going to tell you. I’m going to trust you.”
“And that is a good decision because I’m going to protect you, Emma.”
I don’t need a man to protect me. I don’t intend to let any man have that much control over my life ever again, but this particular vow, spoken after his prior statement of viciousness, and under these circumstances is one that offers some comfort, as much as I guess can really be possible. “Okay,” I say. “I found proof that Marion was having an affair with my father, which might seem small, but it’s not. It has a snowball effect, in so many ways, too many ways.”
