Chapter 24

Emma

I grab the note from my jacket pocket and proceed upstairs. The last thing I want to do is bother Cade with this now; I know it’s been a long day for him and he’s really tired, but I also know that he will be pissed if I wait to tell him about this.

“Hey, beautiful,” he says as I walk into the bedroom. Then he adds, “What’s wrong?” Apparently, I don’t have a poker face. He can read me better than anyone.

Walking over to him, I hand him the note and say, “This was on the front door when we got home tonight.” He grabs the note and quickly reads it.

“Fucking asshole!” he says as he crumples the note in his hand and throws it on the nightstand.

“Cade, let’s not worry about this tonight. It’s really late and it has been an incredibly long day. Let’s get a good night’s sleep and we can deal with this in the morning,” I say. I should have waited. He needs to sleep and I know now that he won’t. He may go through the motions, but he will worry about this all night.

He looks over at me and says, “Yeah, sure.” We proceed to get ready for bed and once we are lying in the dark, me snuggled up against him, he says, “Is there anything else you can tell me about Grayson? I know we’ve been through this over and over again, but is there something that we may have missed?”

“Cade, I’ve told you everything I know. Believe me, I’ve spent the last several days going over everything he or Joe ever said to me and nothing stands out.”

“So you really believe you have met his twin? I know you alluded to that when we first found out, but you never went into any details.”

“I do. There were so many times when I truly believed that I was engaged to two different men. I could talk to him one minute on the phone and he’d be fine and then an hour later he’d come home and be so angry. He was very moody.”

He sighs. “I just can’t shake the feeling that we’re missing something, something big.”

“I know, me too.”

“Tomorrow, I’ll get Dbag on another search. I don’t want you leaving the house.”

“But Cade…”

“Emma, I’m not in the mood for an argument. I’m not gonna budge on this, so don’t even try. I’m gonna have to get Rebel to the hospital tomorrow and it’s gonna be a busy day catching up. I don’t want to have to worry about you.”

I nod and say, “But maybe I can at least go to the hospital with you? I’d really like to see Brianne.”

“We’ll see.”

“Ok, thank you.” I snuggle closer to him and try to clear my head and get some sleep. I’m sure he’s doing the same thing, because he doesn’t say anything more.

Caden

As I lay in bed with Emma snuggled up against me, I replay everything that has happened over the last several months with Grayson in my head.

Was it Mark that wanted the biker life, or did Joe? Damon and Patrick masterminding this whole thing … how could petty jealousy trigger so much hatred and disloyalty? Damon and Patrick are as good as dead if I get my hands on them. I had no problem killing my brother and I have no problem killing them. I’m not sure how the newly acquired aunt and uncle are going to take it, but they know what has to be done. I can’t leave any loose ends. I can’t put my family—my true family—at risk again. Which reminds me, since my wonderful two cousins are in Ireland and I don’t plan on making a trip back there anytime soon, I’ll need to give Declan a call and have him take care of this for me. I’ll rest much easier once those two are dead.

Now for my brother, what do I do with him? Is he the one leaving these notes? Did he and Mark play Emma like they think they did? Is he just as twisted as his twin? Do I reach out to him make some type of contact? Or do I wait until he contacts me again?

These questions continue to plague my mind all night, keeping me from getting any restful sleep.