East called up. “Could we come too?”

  Bridge’s gaze darted to his mates.

  “You shouldn’t have brought her here.”

  Ben laughed. “Have you ever tried to stop Emma from doing something?”

  Bridge’s gaze moved back to mine. “Fair point.”

  I could it hear it then. He was one step away from the ledge.

  “Bridge, we’ve all come to stop you.” Ben nodded. “You know how I hate hard work. And you know while East loves subterfuge and hiding things in plain sight, the body of an Elite member is a difficult thing to hide."

  Nyla nodded. “Your mum would be disappointed, Bridge.”

  Bridge scoffed. “She loves Emma. She’d understand.”

  “Not like this,” I said. “I love you. Stay with me.”

  I slipped my hand into his and squeezed, begging him to look at me, begging him to see me. He turned back to the old man, and I could see it. He wanted to jump off that ledge, wanted to do it. But then he squeezed my hand back, and I knew I had him.

  He sniffed and took a physical step back from Middleton, Sr. “Cut him loose.”

  Ben reached for pliers and cut the zip ties. The old man leaned forward and glowered at Bridge. “You’ll see. My son will have your head.”

  Ben laughed. “Before the end of tonight, you will no longer be Elite. The Five all know your crimes and your son’s. The protection you think you have is gone. If I were you, I would take whatever you can carry and run. Do get a doctor to look at those cuts though. We don’t want them to get infected like your soul.”

  I took Bridge’s hand and didn’t look back as I walked with him down the stairs. My heart hammered for a different reason. I prayed that he stayed with me and wouldn’t flirt with that edge again. Because I knew if he’d killed the old man, he’d be lost to me forever.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Emma

  The sound of the running shower woke me out of a deep sleep. When I patted the bed next to me, Bridge wasn't there, and the bed was cool.

  I cracked my eyelids open, squinting to ward off the harsh light, but I found there wasn’t any. It was still dark out. What was he doing?

  Worried, I padded into the bathroom, the heated floor soothing my bare feet. “Bridge? What are you doing?”

  He didn't hear me. It was only as I approached the shower that I saw him seated on the floor with the shower steam billowing around him, drops soaking him as they splattered on his skin. He was naked with his head tucked down, his hands gripping his hair, and he was crying.

  I was momentarily too stunned to speak, but I knew the only thing that was going to help was me going in there with him. I didn't even bother to take off my T-shirt or the panties I had on. I had to swipe my soaked locks away from my face before joining him against the wall. When I slid down, my shirt bunched around my waist.

  It took him a moment to register I was there, and when he looked up in surprise, his brows lifted in question. “What are you doing in here?”

  I wasn't sure how to answer that, so all I said was, “I'm here for you.” Then I wrapped my arm around his shoulders and pulled him tightly to me. And for once, I was the one supporting him. The one chasing away his nightmares.

  For a moment he sat stiffly. But I could tell the second the tension eased from his body, and he sagged against me. Leaning my forehead on top of his crown, I gently said, “It's okay. I'm here.”

  “How can you love me?”

  That was easy to answer. “You are the most loyal, loving, dedicated person I know. And I've loved you since I was a kid. I might not agree with some of the things you do or say, but that doesn't stop me from loving you, Bridge.”

  The tears fell even more freely then, and I realized just how much he'd been holding in. I understood the level of control it took to hold his emotions at bay his whole damn life.

  “That's it. I'm here. Let it out.”

  Once he finally started talking, it was like a river of words as he lay against me. Despair over losing Drew, worry about Darcy and his mum, fear that Middleton would find a way to get me, and most of all, shame that I'd seen what he was capable of. The way he held on to me tightly as he said shame made my heart break.

  “We all have our breaking points. You're desperate to protect your family. It doesn't matter what you were going to do. It matters that you were able to pull back from the edge. That's what makes you different from your brother.”

  He lifted his gaze to mine. “I would have killed him if you hadn't been there.”

  “And you would have been justified. I didn't stop you because it was the wrong thing to do, though you know, some people frown on that. I stopped you because you wouldn't have been able to live with yourself. You're not cold and heartless. I've seen you. You care deeply. You couldn't have killed him and walked away from it. You would have carried that on your soul, and the guilt would’ve eaten you alive. That's the only reason I stopped you.”

  “What did I do to deserve you?”

  I searched his gaze. I could say something flippant, but instead, I cupped his cheek. “You existed. No need to do anything else. I was always yours.”

  Twenty minutes later when we finally got out of the shower and dried each other off, I led him back to bed with me. As we lay on our sides facing each other, I said, “You miss your friend.”

  “It's like I have this large gaping hole in my chest, and it’s not going away.”

  “Oh, love, it's not going to go away. Don't you feel that same empty space for Toby?”

  “I do. But this feels different. Like I was supposed to have seen something, but I didn't. I failed him. In so many ways, I failed him.”

  “Drew knew he was loved, and he loved you back. Time and again he chose us over his father, over everything. He carried around all his guilt, trying to do the right thing. He wouldn't want you feeling guilt for not doing enough or not knowing the questions to ask. He would want you to fucking catch Middleton. He would want you to live your life. To enjoy it.”

  He swallowed hard and nodded. “You're right. I know you're right. I was just completely unprepared for this feeling. It hurts.” He scrubbed his hand down his face. “But you're right. He would want us to finish this. And we're going to. We are also going to get back to some semblance of normalcy around here. I want us to move home. I want us to actually get an opportunity to live like husband and wife without, you know, a homicidal killer on the loose.”

  “I think normalcy is good. And we’ll take it in steps. Maybe we don't go home just yet, but we do something utterly mundane. Something to honor Drew.”

  He managed a chuckle then. “What about Drew said mundane?”

  “Solid point.” I paused, considering something that might be able to bring us back onto a slightly more even keel. And it occurred to me Darcy’s birthday was coming up. “Did you have a plan for Darcy’s birthday? That might be something we all can focus on. And you know Drew loved a birthday celebration.”

  He cursed under his breath. “No. Shit’s been so crazy I hadn't really thought about it.”

  “Okay, it’s settled. I'll start planning with your mum. It's just the thing we all need to focus on. We’ll try and get our lives back together.”

  He leaned in close, his lips a whisper away from mine. “I love you.”

  The words were both a declaration and a thank you, and I would hold them tight to my heart. Because as much as he needed that balm, I needed it too.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Bridge

  I stroked Emma's hair gently as she rested on my lap. She’d finally convinced me to let Darcy go back to school, with the caveat that she was coming home for the weekend to celebrate her birthday. Emma was already full swing into the planning. She’d invited all of Darcy's friends, and instead of having it at Ben’s, we were going to do it at the hotel. We figured if we were going to do it, we might as well go all out. We all needed something good after losing Drew. Something to look forward to. Anything.

  Tonight, the girls had been outvoted when it came to movie night. Although Nyla and Amelia looked more than happy with The Bourne Identity as our pick for the night.

  East was miffed and kept shaking his head, saying how inaccurate everything was.

  It was odd. No one even made a drink. No one wanted to bring up the hole we had in our hearts.

  Lord Wilcox had been beside himself when we'd gone to see him earlier. The man who had wanted to get rid of Ben now wanted retribution for his son. In my lap, Emma tried to pretend that she wasn’t crying but I could feel a wet patch on my shoulder.

  I had nothing to say to him. No condolences. We had fought hard. And so far, we had failed. Right now, we just needed to lick our wounds for a moment.

  There was a knock at the door, and East frowned, looking at his watch. “Do you know her?”

  Ben narrowed his gaze and took a glance at the tablet on the table before he adjusted Livy off his lap and stood. When he gave me a pressed-lip stare, I adjusted Emma too.

  Emma sat up immediately. “What’s wrong? Who is it?”

  “It’s nothing,” I murmured.

  Emma lifted a brow, and I sighed. I had to get used to sharing. “Middleton’s mother.”

  Everyone went on alert then. But Ben held up a hand. “Okay everyone, it's all right. East, Bridge, and I will take her into the study. She doesn’t want the whole lot of us talking to her. We'll find out why she’s here. Amelia, I’m sure you already have the room bugged.”

  Amelia put a hand to her chest. “My God, I would never.”

  Telly sauntered in from the kitchen. “Yeah, but I would.”

  Ben just rolled his eyes. “Lads.”

  We followed behind. And when we dragged open the door, I knew why we all seemed confused by the image of the security monitors. Ofelia Middleton was beautiful by most standards. And that beauty hadn’t dimmed with age. But tonight, her eyes were sunk in, her cheeks drawn and hollow. Ben gave her a nod. “Lady Middleton.”

  She gave him a weak smile. “Let’s not stand on ceremony. My son has tried to kill you, so I think we can speak plainly.”

  I kept my face passive. East though, his jaw went slack. Ben just gave her a grim, tight-lipped smile and directed her toward the study. Passing the living room, I knew Nyla and Amelia, not to mention Emma and Livy, would be on their feet, trying to get a peek.

  Ben led her in the study, which was spacious and roomy. During the day, it was full of sunlight. “Have a seat.”

  She sat and East immediately offered her a drink. She nodded her head. “I’ll take water, sparkling if you have it.”

  East nodded, poured her a glass, and handed it to her. She took it with shaking hands. “I know you don’t owe me anything. Not your time, not a kind word. But I do appreciate you allowing me inside.”

  “Lady Middleton, we have no quarrel with you.” Ben's voice was soft.

  “Well, you should. I’m part of the reason that he, my son, was like this.”

  “Do you know where he is?” East asked gently. She picked at the hem of her blouse.

  “Did you know, when the neighbor’s dog disappeared, he was about six? Straight away, I knew he’d done something to the dog. I asked about it, and he was so stoic. Told me that he didn’t know what had happened to the puppy, but if it fell down the well on the property, that these things happened. I asked him if he’d seen it happen, and he shook his head and said, ‘No. But that’s something that could happen, right?’ I thought he was making up stories. Instead, he was testing out some manipulation tactics." Her gaze drifted to me. "I feel like I owe you an apology."

  “For what? You’ve done nothing to me.”

  She licked her bottom lip. “I pushed for your father to spend more time with Francis. I thought it would help. I knew in doing that I was taking time away from you.”

  I chuckled low. “You didn’t take him away from me. He wasn’t there for me and certainly wasn’t there for our sister Darcy.”

  She winced. “I just want you to know the affair with him happened before your mother, and I was young and impressionable and it wasn’t entirely consensual. He said that if I didn’t give him what he wanted, he would find a way to ruin my father, my family. And I wasn’t strong enough to fight back. I just gave in.”

  My stomach turned. “That’s coercion. It’s not your fault.”

  “Maybe not, but it was my fault that I foisted that baby on a perfectly nice man because I couldn’t lose my place in society. And I gave him, that boy, access to all the money in the world, which just made him worse. I think your father saw right away what he was, what he could be. We sent him to the hospital, we tried everything, doctors, hospitals, trying to fix him. But there was no fixing him. Honestly, the number of times I thought of sending him to Siberia to some military school, but your father always insisted that he knew what to do with him, that he could fix him. And it was easier, because then I didn’t have the strength, so this is much my fault.”

  She reached for her handbag and pulled out a sheet of paper with a list of names. “This is a list of aliases your father’s given him that he has papers for, that he can run and hide under. He may have more. I don’t know. Last I spoke to him, I told him that he needed to leave your wife alone. We were at dinner, and he mentioned to me that Emma had come to work for him. I knew he had a fascination with her and did my best to discourage it. He’d been interested in her since the death of her brother of course. But I wasn’t too worried, or I would’ve gone to her mother and her father and gotten her the hell away. He seemed uninterested until very recently. I don’t know what changed the tide, but I told him to back off. Obviously, he didn’t listen. I know this isn’t enough and it’s probably too late, but I wanted to make sure that you had this. I know you’re looking for him, and I heard about what happened to your sister. I hope she’s all right.”

  I gave her a small nod. “You didn’t have to do this.”

  She shook her head. “Oh no, on the contrary. I most certainly did.”

  Ben eyed her. “Do you know if there are properties in these names?”

  She nodded. “On the other side of the paper are all the properties I know of. I’ve jotted my lawyer’s information on the bottom. If you call him in the morning, he’ll give you any others I might’ve forgotten.”

  East showed her out. And as Ben and I glanced at each other, I knew he was in one of these places. We had him. Now it was just a process of elimination. As soon as we had her report I was sending everything to DI Strickland.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Bridge

  This was what Darcy needed. A sense of normalcy. An actual fucking birthday.

  I charged the party planners at London Lords to do anything they thought a teenage girl would like. Because what the fuck did I know?

  Emma had not thought that was the appropriate move because she was all over me like white on rice, wondering why the hell I had delegated Emma's birthday to someone else.

  So then she had taken over.

  By noon on the first day of party planning, I think the party planner was ready to quit.

  Emma second- guessed everything. And to be fair, she did know Darcy well.

  But now that we were here, the ballroom decorated to the nines, a boy band set to perform, and the room packed with tween girls, I felt like I could breathe if even just for tonight.

  We were finally getting a break. We needed this break. We needed a moment to be ourselves, a moment to enjoy and relax. A moment to feel safe. And even though danger lurked outside these walls, we could still enjoy something as simple as a birthday.

  As I watched my girls party it up, I had to smile. Liv joined me. "How come you're not out there dancing?"

  "I think it's probably safer if I don't."

  Liv smiled. "Oh, come on. You're just scared."

  "Yeah, actually I am. One hundred percent scared."

  Ben, I saw, was not scared because Telly had dragged him out. Was that the running man? Oh, Jesus. I shook my head. "I'm so sorry, Liv."

  Olivia laughed. "Hey, at least he's on beat. Even if he is purposely dancing like a fool. I'll take it."

  Nyla and East were also on the dance floor. But well, they were mostly making out. And Amelia was showing everyone up with the dance moves. Who knew? She always seemed so reserved.

  I wasn't the only one who noticed that she was fully enjoying herself. The look Alex gave her was pure intensity.

  Part of me felt like I should warn him off or something because, well, Amelia was my team. And he was my team. And that seemed like it was a bad move, but maybe he should get his hands burned for touching the hot stove. Amelia would certainly cut him down if she needed to.

  Olivia patted my arm. "You okay?"

  "Yeah. Just seeing Darcy happy, hell, seeing Emma happy is brilliant."

  "It's been a hell of a year, right?"

  "Yeah. You could say that."

  "If Ben hadn't shoved that drive into my purse, none of this would've happened."

  "Probably not. So, you're telling me we all owe this to him?"

  She shrugged. "Probably."

  Suddenly, her brow furrowed and her hand went to her stomach.

  "You okay?"

  "Yeah, I've just been feeling odd the last couple days. Ben insisted I should not have eaten the vindaloo from that curry spot Pamma Auntie recommended. But it was so good. Granted it was hot. I mean, I’m from Ghana, and even I thought it was hot."

  I laughed. "Sure you're okay?"

  "Yeah. You know, actually, I'm going to go grab a drink. You want something?"

  I shook my head. "Nah, I'm good."

  As she left, Darcy came bounding over and took my hand. "Come on, come dance."