Page 90 of Borden 3

“Know where he is?”

“He died of complications, but it was completely unrelated to Theo. He got really sick. It was about three years after he got put in hospital. But he still used his legs. He just had a really long time to heal. His parents went broke over the hospital bills. They moved away after he died.”

Hawke was getting off topic. This was all really fucked up, but that wasn’t the mission. “Have you heard of Emma Warne?”

Julia didn’t have to think about that. “The girl whose parents died, yeah. We crossed paths a lot. She was stuck to Theo’s side like glue.”

“Were they together?”

“I never saw them together in that way. But you could tell Theo was hooked on her.”

Hawke leaned forward, intrigued. “Nothing developed that you know of?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised. You know, Theo was really protective about Emma at the time. Even over the Lost Boys. She was all he looked at.”

“Protective or obsessed?”

“Both.”

“Is he still?”

Julia laughed. “Theo’s long gone. After Officer Young died, he fled the city, didn’t even look back twice. That was suspicious, right? I thought that would have fucked with Emma, but she stopped showing up at night. From what I hear, when Theo left, it set her straight. Let me tell you, she went through some mad shit with that boy. I think he was poison to her.” She nodded to herself, a wistful smile on her face. “She had shadows in her eyes back then. She looked at Theo like she wanted to get away from him but couldn’t. Because of that, I’m glad he’s gone. I’m glad she got her shit together. I don’t think it would do anyone any good to bring that shit up to her. She doesn’t talk about it and none of the kids ever asked. They just knew he was wrong for her. And to think…”

“What?”

Julia’s smile faded. “What would have happened if she fled with him?”

???

Hawke took a seat on a park bench, his mind scrambled. He’d spent the day following Emma, but he looked at her differently. She served her customers and she laughed with her waitress friends, but knowing what she came from—what she endured—it put a different spin on things. He looked at her with respect. Life was cruel and she’d been beaten up by it.

She was undeniably beautiful, but Hawke had a feeling Borden’s fixation wasn’t about her looks. After all, he could find any beautiful girl to sink his teeth into.

Emma was layered. She was street smart. She wasn’t Kate fucking Davenoth. She was your everyday girl. She sort of reminded him of what Tyler would become one day.

What good would it be to let Borden know the details about her night life when she was a kid? And the more he learned about Theo, the more he drew parallels to Borden. Would Borden fixate enough to become a toxic presence in Emma’s life?

But she’d slapped him.

Now that was fucking music to Hawke’s ears when Borden had disclosed that information later on. His cheek was blazing red for days. She’d fucking slapped him and Borden only wanted her something fierce.

Both were nutty.

Maybe the perfect sort of nutty for each other.

A perfect fit of crazy and broken.

Borden would get to keep Kate to himself. Why couldn’t Emma do the same about this Theo kid? If she wanted to let him know about the guy, she would.

Until then, Hawke would deliver exactly what he could factually find about Emma fucking Warne.

And if that came to bite him in the ass, so fucking be it.

Theo was gone, anyway.

What did it fucking matter?

Chapter Thirty

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