‘Ember, you look terrible,’ Casey said. ‘Did you not sleep at all last night?’
‘Not much,’ she said.
She didn’t know how long she’d sat on the steps after he’d left. She hadn’t registered anything at all until she’d felt the pain in her one foot as pins and needles set in from being locked in the same position for too long. Until she realised she was shivering. Until she felt how icy cold and numb her hands were to the touch.
She’d looked across at his apartment laying open, silence emanating from within.
Forcing herself to her feet, she’d stepped inside to scan the empty space, absorbing the hollowness.
In the bedroom, she’d perched on the side of the bed where she’d been with him only hours before, glanced at the now-blank TV screen. The room had looked so stark in the approaching dawn. So cold. So defunct.
She’d curled into a foetal position amongst the ruffled sheets and pulled his pillow down against her chest to hold it, the scent of him still lingering on it.
She didn’t know when she’d fallen asleep. She hadn’t intended to. Nor did she know what had woken her.
She’d returned to her own apartment to take a shower before perching on the edge of her own bed, still wrapped in her towel.
She’d clutched her pendant, just as she’d done that night as a child. As the authorities had come and gone, bagging up her mother and loading her into the back of a non-descript van, she’d clutched the pendant in bed as she’d sobbed.
She’d been kept away from the mumbles of her aunt and the officer, the latter not having stayed long. Her aunt had remained at the kitchen table for a long time after that, the heel of her hand against her forehead, her elbow on the table.
So as not to be a burden, Ember had washed her face and brushed her teeth and put on her nightclothes without being asked to.
The morning after had been worse than the night before. Then had come the worst feeling of all. A feeling she would never forget as she’d found her aunt asleep at the table. The apartment had felt so quiet without her mother and brother. Even at five years old, she’d known things had changed irrevocably. She’d made her aunt a bowl of porridge and a hot drink and left them on the table. She’d grabbed herself a book, taken herself back to bed, and had waited until her aunt had eventually woken.
Memories that had haunted her for over twenty years.
And Nate had freed her from them. For a short while, in his bed, in that bed, she’d finally felt liberated from her past, only to now have discovered he was a bigger part of it than she could have believed possible.
A part that had now left her too. Abandoned her.
Casey grabbed her arm and led her into the toilets before Ember had even had a chance to take her coat off.
‘Harry’s been trying to get hold of you for the past hour,’ Casey said.
Ember had followed every step of her usual routine that morning except for oversleeping and forgetting to charge her phone.
‘And so have I,’ Casey added. ‘The Hordas clan have backed out. They didn’t give much of an explanation apparently other than saying they’d had a better opportunity.’ She lowered her voice. ‘But after what you said to me…’
‘You didn’t tell Harry about that, did you?’
‘Of course I didn’t. But he knows something isn’t right. Ember, what have you got yourself into?’
‘It’s not down to me.’
‘Everyone knows the Hordas clan don’t back down.’
Casey grabbed Ember’s arms and pushed up her sleeves until Ember yanked them free.
‘What are you doing?’
‘Tell me you haven’t made some kind of deal with him,’ Casey said. ‘With Nate. Tell me you haven’t blown your chances in Midtown for us.’
‘No. No, I haven’t,’ Ember insisted, pulling her arms free. ‘I told you: it’s nothing to do with me. Nate turned down my offer. I confronted him about his involvement last night but all he said was that he was getting them to back off because it’s his place of business. He doesn’t work for them as in work for them. He’s done some freelance work for them, that’s all.’
‘Like being hired to kill people?’
‘I don’t know what he does, and I don’t care. It doesn’t matter now. I’m having nothing more to do with him. It looks like we just need to be grateful he chose this place to conduct his business.’
Casey scrutinised her under the bright toilet light.
‘Casey, I haven’t jeopardised anything, I promise. And you have to stay quiet about this. For all our sakes. Promise me.’
Casey nodded.
‘What about Harry?’ Ember asked. ‘What has he said about the change of plan?’
‘He’s given us all the same talk this morning. You’d better go and see him.’
Ember knocked on his door before entering his office.
‘You look awful,’ was the first thing he said.
‘Thanks, Harry.’ She took her seat. ‘You don’t look much better yourself. Casey just told me the news. I can’t believe they’ve backed off.’
‘Neither can I.’ He tossed his pen onto the desk and sank back in his seat.
‘When did you hear?’
‘They came in mid-morning: the bastard that had killed Jasper. He ordered a coffee and sat there in silence for an hour before finally breaking the news to me.’
‘What reason did they give?’
‘They’ve found a more lucrative opportunity.’
‘They’re definitely leaving the place alone?’
Seemingly Nate had been true to his word; had stayed true to his word even after it had ended the way it had between them. Ended on the cusp of her, at last, finding out what had happened in her past. What had happened to her family. Her family who might still be alive.
‘I don’t trust them, Ember. So I’m not celebrating just yet. Not now we’re on their radar.’
‘What are you going to do?’
‘I don’t know. Sell up. Move before they come back.’
‘You can’t give up your life for them.’
‘As opposed to having them take it as soon as they decide to walk back in here? It’s not going to get any better. Sometimes you have to know when to cut your losses and quit.’
‘And then what?’
He shrugged. ‘I don’t know. But at least I’ve been bought some thinking time. I’ve been talking to everyone this morning so you need to know this too. They’ve set a rule: we’re not to tell anyone about the change of plan. They said if any of us talk, they’ll go ahead with the takeover. So everyone needs to keep their mouths shut.’
Ember nodded. But Harry searched her gaze to the point she felt forced to break it before meeting his again.
‘What?’ she asked.
‘You haven’t got yourself into anything you can’t handle, have you, Ember?’
‘Like what?’
‘I know you like I know my own daughters. And you don’t seem surprised or shocked by this news.’
‘I’m just tired. It’s been a tough couple of days.’
‘Which I haven’t forgotten. I also haven’t forgotten about that vampire who has been coming in here regularly for six months before this. He shows up again yesterday and suddenly the threat is off. I hope you haven’t committed yourself to something to save this place.’
It could have so easily gone that way if that was what Nate had chosen, but he’d walked away. And despite the worry that maybe it would change now that she’d confronted him over his past, her gut feeling overruled it, telling her that, if nothing else, despite him denying his guilt, his actions right up to that point had been a contradiction.
‘You know me better than that, Harry.’
Harry studied her for a moment, his eyes laced with suspicion. ‘I’ve also seen the way you two have been glancing at each other for weeks. I’ve seen the way he’s looked at you and how you’ve looked at him. I was worried he was a sire, so I kept a close eye.’ He paused. ‘I also know what a headstrong little madam you can be, especially when it comes to protecting those you care about. If you’ve got yourself into trouble, I want you to know you can come to me. And if it’s over this place, I most definitely want you to come to me. I know you sometimes feel like you’re on your own. I know you’ve felt like that for a long time. But you’re not on your own. I’m here for you and I will always be here for you.’
The urge to tell him overwhelmed her. The desire to tell Harry what Nate had disclosed: that she was maybe far from alone. But Nate had been right: if either of them had wanted to find her, they could have. It was either confirmation that she had indeed lost them, or it was a devastating rejection. And if it was the latter, then that made what Harry had said about being there for her even more significant.
Wiping a couple of stray tears from her eyes, she squeezed around the side of the desk. She leaned over and she hugged him.
At first, Harry didn’t seem quite sure what to do, neither of them accustomed to physical affection between them. But, after the shock subsided, he hugged her back.
‘I’m not in trouble, Harry, I promise. Just as I promise you’ll be rid of me as soon as possible.’
Because in that very moment, she realised what had failed to cross her mind whilst trying to get her head around the fact she still had family out there: her father might have come for her brother because he knew what Aidan was. If she went searching for them, she could walk into a life she’d spent all of hers trying to escape. A life she had promised her aunt she would escape. A life her mother had died to enable them to escape. A life that would keep her imprisoned in Lowtown forever.
‘Good,’ Harry said as he gently eased her away. ‘Until then, get back to work. I want those fingers worked to the bone these next couple of days.’
She reached the door. She turned to face him. ‘Oh, and Harry…’
He looked up at her.
‘I know you often feel like you fall short for your daughters, but they’re lucky to have you. They’re blessed to have you. I want you to know that.’ She paused. ‘Even if you are a grouchy git most of the time.’
She could feel his smile as she exited.
She closed the door behind her. She stood in the corridor for a moment, the rain of relief palpable as it descended.
She had less than two days left. All she had to do now was focus on getting through them.