Page 42 of Borden 3

Borden stiffened a nod. “I didn’t want to fight. She wasn’t open to anything I said. I just ended up making it worse. Emma…she never acts like that.”

Darlene sighed slowly, nodding in understanding. “I know all about that, Borden. When she’s like this, you won’t get through to her. Not even love brings her back.”

“Darlene,” his voice hardened as he insisted, “she has never done this to me. And this man? We tried locating him, but he managed to escape my men with a little girl in tow.”

The red flags were soaring, but saying it all out loud sounded so juvenile. Borden sounded like a jealous idiot. So what if they did know each other? What if he was someone from her past that she wanted to bury and forget and now Borden was trying to dredge up something personal from the ashes that she didn’t want to revisit? That was a dog move, and yet…

It was the man’s fucking eyes.

The way he looked at her.

The way his body tightened, like he was holding back, but from what?

Borden just couldn’t look past it.

Darlene stood up and began folding away her blanket. She was buried in thought, that concern still heavy in her. Borden watched her carefully, wondering what she was thinking about.

“It was someone from long ago,” she said now, turning to look at him with her hard eyes. For such an old woman, those eyes were steel. “Emma doesn’t want to be reminded of her childhood, Borden. You already know it was rough. Why do you want to know the details?”

“That’s not the problem, and you know it. If you saw the man look at her the way he did, you would worry. It was predatory. It was raw. There was hatred in him, Darlene. And he didn’t get close to smell her fucking perfume, either. He got close enough to say something to her. Something that left her scared shitless.”

Darlene hesitated, and Borden caught it. The flare in her eyes, like she considered who it might be. Borden edged closer, his heart quickening now because she might know who it was.

“Tall,” he said quietly, “with blond hair and soulless green eyes. His face had a scar running through it. And he smiled at her, Darlene, in this twisted fucking way.”

Darlene was agitated, shaking her head quickly. “I don’t know, Borden. It could be anyone. She had a wide circle of misfits that she snuck out of the house to spend the nights with. Just give her time, alright? Let her come to you.”

At this, she walked off, her frail body moved with a hunch now. Borden turned, watching her carefully. Darlene’s agitation was present in all of her. He caught the tremors in her hands as she gripped the stairwell bannister and climbed up them one step at a time.

These stubborn women…

They were going to be the death of him.

He grabbed his phone and redialled Hector.

“Yeah?” Hector answered.

“Look for him, Hector.”

“Yeah,” Hector acknowledged. “I got you, man.”

“Find him.”

Chapter Seventeen

Emma

Borden was still in the bedroom when I stepped out later. I hadn’t showered. Just left the water on as I tried to consider how much I would tell him. He was leaning back against the wall, arms crossed, his finger brushing along his plump, bottom lip.

His eyes immediately found mine. He didn’t look me over. In fact, not a trickle of surprise escaped him that I was still in my dress.

He knew I’d tried to deter him.

I felt utterly defeated.

“It’s not fair,” I whispered.

“What isn’t?” he asked calmly.

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