Chapter 23
Luke
I’m up and in the office long before anyone else; I’m absolutely exhausted despite the multiple cups of coffee I’ve already had. The nightmares last night were so different, though, at the same time, not completely different. Em was there, like she is most nights, but Emily was also there. It was a constant switch from the girl who was stuck in that prison with me to the woman I’ve slowly gotten to know over the last few weeks. The woman who is so guarded that I didn’t realize she was, in fact, the same person I thought about every damn day.
When I wasn’t fighting the nightmares, including ones of the now grown Emily hanging from the pipe, bloodied and bruised from the beating, I was kicking myself. I don’t know how I didn’t see it until now, but everything fucking makes so much more sense. I pride myself in reading people, hell it’s one of the things that can make or break a protection detail, yet, I had no inclination it was Em with me this entire time.
“Alec wants to know if you’re joining the call.” Emily startles me.
“Shit, I’ll be there in a minute.”
I grab my pen, pad, and tablet before heading into the conference room where Emily is waiting with Alec calling in on the phone in the middle of the table. We’re in the same seats we are each time we’re in here, yet knowing now who the woman sitting next to me really is, makes so much more sense than it did the first day she chose that seat. I mumble my apologies as I quickly flip through the pad before coming to my notes on the Thompson case.
“Where are we?” Alec asks.
“Cole and Max are assigned to Mrs. Thompson and the children,” I explain. “Someone is with them at all times and at this point, they’ve been advised to avoid leaving the house at all costs. We’ll have to figure out schooling for the kids, but given the circumstances, for now the school is agreeable to sending a tutor to the house.”
“As you both know, Mr. Thompson is currently out on bail,” Alec adds. “His passport has been revoked and he’s under house arrest until the trial. Mrs. Thompson and the children were also granted restraining orders as part of his bail.”
“It took some digging but I believe I found some more information about Matthew Davidson’s role in this mess—” Emily announces suddenly.
“You did?” I immediately glance over at her, but her gaze doesn’t reach mine.
“When?” Alec mimics my surprise.
“I spent most of the weekend digitally tracking down some leads.” Emily shrugs, not looking at me. Immediately, I feel guilty knowing that chances are high she threw herself into her work this weekend because of what happened at my house. Though, I can’t say I didn’t do the same thing. I spent hours in my gym and working around my house, desperately trying to forget that Emily and Em are now the same person.
“What did you find out?” Alec asks impatiently.
“Mr. Davidson was originally hired to do some redesign work at the Thompson house, but it turns out that was all a rouse. It took some digging, but I learned that Mr. Thompson hired Davidson to essentially spy on his wife.”
“WHAT?!” I did not see that one coming.
“Yup, the money transferred from the Thompson account every other month is done so by Jack, not by Helen. Then we see the transfers suddenly stop about a month or so ago, which then led to a heated argument between Jack and Mr. Davidson.”
“Why did the payments stop?” Alec asks.
“Turns out Mr. Davidson ended the contract.”
“Why would he do that?” I ask.
“Because he fell for her,” Alec answers.
“That’s my guess,” Emily confirms.
“So, he kidnaps his own kids to get back at his wife for having an affair with the guy he hired to spy on her,” I summarize.
“I don’t have any proof of that, but…”
“Damn.” Alec sighs.
“Just when you think you’ve heard it all.” I shake my head in disbelief.
“I spoke with the district attorney. They plan on offering Mr. Thompson a plea agreement, but even if it goes to court he doesn’t think they’ll need our testimony,” he explains.
“How are the kids?” Emily asks.
“They’re glad to be home,” I answer. “Mrs. Thompson has arranged for a therapist to come to the home several times a week to help them adjust to what happened.”
“Good.”
“Unless we hear from the DA, we can consider this case closed. I have to run, I have another call to jump on.”
“Bye Alec.” Emily disconnects the call.
“I was not expecting what you found,” I say.
“Neither was I.” She laughs. “It took a little while to trace the email address back to Jack, but once I did, I was able to access a ton of emails going back two years. Matthew Davidson sent a lot of information on Helen to her husband, but you can sort of tell when things started to get serious between them because the emails were less frequent and nowhere near as detailed.”
“I’m just glad the kids are home.”
“Me too.”
I gather the couple of items I brought in and am just about to the closed door when Emily calls my name. It’s the first time we’ve been alone since she left my place the other night. Just like when we got back from Texas, I’ve been avoiding being alone with her at all costs. I don’t know what to say to her. I get why she did it, but fuck, it still feels like betrayal to me.
“What?” I ask without turning around.
“You can’t even be in the same room alone with me anymore?” the uncertainty in her voice immediately takes me back there especially now that I know who she really is. Whenever she was worried about something, her voice would go all soft and quiet, just like it is right now.
Fuck.
“Just…give me time.” I sigh and reluctantly turn around to face her. “You’ve known from the moment you stepped foot in this very room who I was. I’m still trying to wrap my head about the fact that you’re…her. I don’t know how I didn’t see it before.”
“I dyed my hair…”
“Yeah, I figured that.”
“If you want me to leave—”
“No,” I answer quickly. I don’t know what I want, but I can’t have her walk out of my life…not again. “Just give me time to sort through my shit.”
“Okay.”
I turn around, opening the door to leave, but I stop before completely leaving the room.
“Emily, you’re a good fit here. You do great work…and we need you,” I tell her without turning around.
“Thanks, Luke.”