Page 51 of Killing Emma

He nods. “Fair assumption.”

“Yeah, so let’s get started. I don’t want to spend all night cleaning this shit up, and when she comes out here, I don’t want her getting bloody. She’s still… She’s still coping with this.”

“I can imagine,” he scoffs, pulling out his latex gloves. As he snaps them in place, the bathroom door opens, and out steps Emma.

“You have to be fucking kidding me,” Jude groans as he shoots me a glare. “You said—”

“I said, I didn’t kill her,” I cut him off. “See, she’s not dead.”

She gives me a bewildered look as she meets Jude’s eyes. I hold my breath, waiting for recognition. I have no idea if they’ve ever met, but thankfully, she shows no signs of knowing Jude. That’s good and buys me time. When word about Manny gets to Ivan, his eyes will be everywhere. Not to mention, there’s still the threat on Emma, and depending on how fast the word moves, I don’t know if we’ll make it to the cutoff date without the hit being passed on to the next.

“Does she know?” Jude turns to me.

“Know what?” Emma asks.

“She knows that her husband is probably behind this,” I say, careful not to mention anything about Lydia or Henry. They have to stay out of it. The fewer who know the better, and Jude can keep them at bay now that he knows.

Jude nods. “I found the connection as soon as you left tonight. He was the source with the information, and it didn’t take long to see he promised five percent of her inheritance to Fury IT.”

“Who’s Fury IT?” Emma asks, her voice strained.

“A fake company well-known on the dark web,” Jude explains. “It’s just one of many, but they funnel the hits. He’s trying to collect your inheritance before your divorce is finalized.”

I eye Emma, expecting her to have another one of those self-blame answers, but instead, she just shakes her head. “He’s always been a really talented liar.”

“He’s living with his secretary in a cute, cookie-cutter neighborhood now,” Jude tells me. “If you want to do something about it.”

Rage rears its head in my chest, and I want to take off right then to take care of him. I knew he’d die at some point, but now that it’s certain, we can just wipe him off the face of the earth—and one problem is solved.

“I don’t want him to die,” Emma’s voice comes out strong.

“Why?” I snap at her, once again pissed that she still cares about the stupid fucker.

“I’d rather him live with the debt he’s cost himself. I think that’s more torturous than death,” she says flatly, meeting my gaze. “Then he’ll have to see my face and know he failed.”

“Damn,” Jude chuckles. “That’s brutal—I like it.”

I don’t.

“How many days until the divorce is finalized?” Jude turns to me, waiting for the answer.

“Thirtyish,” I tell him, my stomach knotting up as I look to Emma. I don’t want Jared to live. He doesn’t deserve it, and while I see the point she’s trying to make, I’m not sure if I believe that’s all it is for her.

And for the first time in my life, I’m actually scared of someone.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Emma

He doesn’t like my answer.

I saw the urgency in his face when Jude, his friend, mentioned taking care of Jared—and I knew Luca would be on a plane to take care of it the moment he could… But I don’t want that. And maybe as fucked up as it is, above the fact of people dying, I just really don’t want him to leave me alone again.

Bile rises up the back of my throat as I think about the moment Manny, Luca’s partner, touched me. I bury it, shifting my gaze to the Vans on my feet, the black skinny jeans I have on, and the white T-shirt unstained because he won’t let me clean up the blood. I don’t know why he won’t. Just like I don’t know how he knew what size of clothing to buy for me. However, I don’t question it.

I’m tired of questioning everything.

I’m tired in general, right now actually. We’re going on twelve hours of clean up, and I don’t know what happened to the body. I don’t want to know. But I know the sun has gone and come back, just like Manny’s body being loaded in the back of Jude’s car—only he didn’t come back.

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