Chapter 15

Jack

She’s fucking late. Maybe she’s not coming.

I was pacing the office, my temper getting hotter by the minute. Where the fuck was Emma? She’d been following me earlier, but now she disappeared? It didn’t make any sense.

And why the fuck had she been following me in the first place? It seemed so out of character, but how else could she have ended up behind that poster in the mall? Either she was following me, or she’d been following Jansen.

The thought of her tailing Jansen wrenches my anger up to the next level. If she’d thought to do that, even after she’d almost been caught in his hotel room, I didn’t know what I’d do with her. Her safety was paramount, but it seemed like she just didn’t understand that.

The pacing continued, my thoughts ping-ponging back and forth at the same time. I hadn’t stopped thinking about Emma since the moment I’d first seen her again, but now my stomach was all tied up in knots. Whatever had driven Emma to show up to the theater today was an impulse that had to be dealt with, which means further driving a wedge in our relationship.

It has to be done, I told myself. There should be no relationship between you beyond a simple one between fellow employees.

I wished my stupid brain could understand that. Maybe it would release this tightness in my chest that had been there since last night.

Suddenly, I heard the office door open. I spun around, both relieved and infuriated to see Emma standing there. She was wet, but her eyes were shining with an inner light.

I couldn’t let myself be distracted by her beauty. Not now. I strode over to her, stopping inches from her and staring down at her smaller frame. “Just what the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

She blinked up at me and for a moment I regretted coming across so harshly. Emma was a delicate thing, one who avoided confrontation. Or so I thought.

“I’m doing the fucking job,” she said, her tone knocking me back a pace. “One that you clearly have no interest in doing.”
“What are you talking about?”

Emma’s eyes were like twin suns, and her face screwed up with anger. “First of all, I don’t have to justify myself to you. Second—”

“Justify yourself?” I spat, interrupting her. “You were following me!”

“I was not!” Splotches of color appeared on her cheeks.

“Either you were following me, or you were following Jansen. How else could you have ended up behind that poster?”

“I wasn’t following anyone. I was shopping at the damn mall. I saw you go into the movie theater, but I was going to leave when I saw one of the guys from the picture in the alleyway, the one you found in Jansen’s desk. That’s when I decided to go into the theater. I wasn’t following you. I was following him.”

My eyes widened. Could I believe her, that she’d just happened to be there already? My conscience fired back, Of course you can.

Emma wasn’t a liar. She was the sweetest woman I’d ever met. It was Christmas, after all, and thousands of other people had been shopping at the mall today. Was it really a stretch that she could have been too? I’m an asshole.

Still, she hadn’t gone about the business of shopping. She’d courted trouble, trying to follow the guy from the photograph.

I took a couple breaths, convincing myself to hear her out. “So what happened?”

She peered up at me, as if she couldn’t quite trust me, and the words came out slowly. “I saw the guy go into the theater after you and Jansen. When he got inside, he hung out in the arcade, and I ducked behind the poster. Not long after, you and Jansen came back out and had your little spat in front of the bathroom.”

I winced mentally, wondering if she’d heard the businessman’s statement about me holding his dick.

“After you both went in, the familiar faced guy followed.”

So that had been the man who’d entered the stall beside Jansen. Ideas started to tumble around my brain. Jansen hadn’t wanted to see the cartoon after all. It was just a pretense to get him to the mall. And into that bathroom with the guy from the photo.

I’d been a fucking idiot, too distracted by this thing with Emma to realize what was going on. But she hadn’t been. All the while, I’d been thinking she was stalking me, when in fact she was doing my job better than I was.

“Which guy are we talking about?” I asked, wanting to make sure she was on the right track and there was no possibility of mistaken identity.

Emma pulled out her phone and called up the alley photo. She pointed to a dark-haired man with a scar across his jaw. It was the same guy who’d come into the bathroom. Emma had been right all along.

“When he left the mall after the bathroom incident, I followed him.”

My heart plummeted out of my chest and down to my feet. “You what?”

“I watched to see what car he got in, and then I followed him.”

I didn’t even know where to begin. She’d gone from snooping around to the next level, putting herself in real danger.

“That’s why I didn’t text back and why I couldn’t meet you right away. I had to see where he went. And you’ll be surprised to learn that he ended up in a familiar place.”

Emma pointed to the photo of the men standing in the alley. “This alley is next to a place called ‘Benedetti’s Deli.’ It’s the brick building they’re standing in front of.”

She scrolled through her phone, holding up a picture of the car the man had driven, then one of the front of the building he’d headed into. “I thought about going inside to see if I could find any more clues, but I thought there was a slight chance I might be recognized, so I came here instead.”

My heart was beating hard in my chest. Emma had put herself in danger, and that was unacceptable. Still, she’d helped connect some dots in the Jansen situation. If he was using Shadow Security as some kind of cover, we needed to find that out to protect the business and her family.

I was impressed by how much she’d accomplished, how much she’d put herself out there. She had talents that would serve her well in an investigation. Still, that didn’t mean I liked the idea of her putting herself in danger.

“You made the right choice, not going into that deli. It’s likely a front for something.” I wasn’t sure what, but it seemed more and more likely that Jansen was tangled up in something dirty, something involving the city councilmen and a group of men who likely didn’t appreciate someone following them.

I could see the corner of her mouth twitch, the makings of a smile on her lips. She’d done well, but I didn’t know if I could tell her so. I didn’t want her to get more deeply entangled in this mess with Jansen.

“You got lucky,” I said, figuring a stern tact was the only one to take. “You could have been found out.”

Her eyes narrowed. “But I didn’t.”

“But you could have.” I put my arms on her shoulders. “I can’t see you hurt, Emma. You put yourself in danger, and I can’t allow that.”

“Because you don’t want Dad and Matt mad at you. You don’t want to lose your new job.” I could hear the bitterness in her tone.

“No,” I said softly, getting closer. “Because I couldn’t live with myself if you got hurt. Because it would tear me up inside.”

Her beautiful golden eyes widened, and I felt her go soft in my arms. It was the perfect invitation, and I couldn’t resist.

I lowered my head until it was inches from her lips. I was about to close the distance, to seize her lips, to hell with the consequences, when I heard a sound that turned my blood to ice.

The office door opened. My gaze shot up to find three masked men entering the office. Without thinking, I thrust Emma behind me, shielding her with my body.

They lunged forward, the guy in the lead pulling out a gun. My body running on instinct, I kicked it out of his hand. With no moment to spare, I dove for the second guy, who was reaching inside his jacket, presumably for a weapon. I tackled him and we hit the ground.

“Emma, run!” I yelled, landing an elbow in the intruder’s guts.

I prayed to God that she heeded me. Three armed men against one wasn’t going to be an easy win, but maybe I could buy her enough time to get out.