Page 110 of Obsession

“Sam hasn’t told you everything. He’d already left your brother at the Hideaway when I called him for help.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just what I said—I know he told you he left Ryan to come help me, but Sam had left the Hideaway half an hour before I called him that night.”

The words hit Emma like a shotgun blast.

“Jenny!” Sam strode toward them. “This is not your concern.”

“It will be when she dumps you. I don’t want to see you hurt again.”

Emma turned to Sam. “You said you left to help her with a flat tire...” His face had turned as pale as the white wall behind him. “That’s not true?”

“I did go help her, but...” His shoulders dropped, and he wouldn’t meet her eyes. He sucked in a breath and expelled it. “Ryan and I had an argument in the parking lot. He swung and hit me in the jaw. I shoved him, he fell down, and then I walked away and got in my car. I was almost home when Jenny called. Then after Ryan went missing, you somehow got the idea I leftbecauseJenny called, and I let you believe it. Not that we talked much after that.”

The bottom fell out of her stomach, and she stumbled to a chair. All this time he’d let her believe a lie. “Why didn’t you tell me before now?”

“I’ve tried,” he said.

“Well, you didn’t try hard enough.” She backed away from him. “I’m leaving.”

“You can’t,” he said. “You don’t have transportation.”

“I’ll call an Uber.” She turned and almost bumped into Sam’s mom.

Rachel grabbed Emma to steady herself. “I heard what Jenny said. Don’t leave.”

She tried to break free. “I can’t stay.”

The hospital phone rang, and they all froze. Jenny snatched the receiver up and listened. “This is the Ryker family.”

As she listened again, the air seemed to go out of her and she sank into the chair beside the phone. “Thank you,” she said and looked up, her eyes shiny. “They were able to stent the blockage. The doctor will be out to talk to us shortly.”

Emma was glad for them, but she had to get out of there. “I have to go.”

“Please don’t leave,” Sam said. “You ran away ten years ago. Don’t do it again.”

She took a step back. Running was what she did best.

His chin jutted and he rested his hand on his gun. “I’ll put you in protective custody if I have to.”

“You wouldn’t!”

Determination radiated off Sam like heat. “Someone tried to kill Mr. Selby and his daughter just this afternoon because of Mary Jo and Ryan’s case. Any judge in Natchez will give me a protective order.” His eyes pleaded with her to stay. “Your apartment is much more comfortable than the jail, and if you’ll wait, I’ll take you home in a few minutes.”

There was no doubt in her mind that if she tried to leave, Sam would do what he threatened. The fight went out of her and she huffed a breath. “I’ll stay, but I’m not talking to you.”

Crossing her arms over her chest, Emma marched to another section of the waiting room and plopped into a vinyl chair. Once again, she felt like she’d been sucker punched, and nothing Sam said would change what he’d done. She grabbed a magazine and thumbed through it, not really seeing the pictures or articles.

“You ready?” Sam asked.

She hadn’t seen him approach and just about jumped out of her skin. “Yes,” she said stiffly.

Neither of them spoke on the elevator ride to the first floor. When the doors opened, she started out and Sam told her to hold the door open and wait. Once he’d checked out the lobby, he motioned her off. “Walk close to me,” he said.

Either the words or the seriousness in his voice penetrated her wall of anger, and suddenly the distance to his SUV in the darkened parking lot seemed like a hundred miles. She swallowed hard and didn’t pull away when he used his hand to guide her. Within minutes they pulled into the parking area behind Emma’s apartment.

“I think this is the safest way in and out,” he said.

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