Page 139 of Always Be an Us

"Okay, I'm coming." I hang up and push the notepad into Jensen's hands, walking away. I ignore his calls at my back because suddenly, none of this shit matters anymore. All that matters is Emma.

She sounded panicked over the phone, and she said she barely got away. What the fuck did that mean?

I break various traffic laws to get to the hotel and let myself into our suite to find her pacing on the carpet, while Cross and Monty observe her from the couch.

"What’s wrong?" I ask. "What happened?"

"I think Xavier has something to do with the break-in."

"What?"

"I overheard him talking to someone on the phone about it." She’s talking so fast she can't take a breath, her fingers moving agitatedly. "I was supposed to meet him for lunch. But then I caught him talking about the break-in and the Rainbow Pearls. And then I had to get away before he saw me but –"

"Wait, slow down." I take her by the shoulders and run my hand down her arms in calming strokes. "You said, Xavier was talking about the break-in?"

She nods aggressively.

"What exactly did he say?"

She purses her lips. "He told whoever he was speaking to on the phone that they botched the break-in and didn't find the pearls. Also, he said something about making the big man leaving town. I don't know it didn't make a lot of sense to me, but I'm almost certain he was talking about my break-in. He may have planned the whole thing."

"Why would he do that?" I mutter more to myself than her, but she answers anyway.

"Look," Emma swallows. "I didn't tell you everything before because I was embarrassed but...remember the stalker I mentioned? Well, that was Xavier."

It's like a shot to the throat, but before I can recover, she continues, "I'm sorry I hid that from you and pretended it was a random stranger, but I just...it's a long, weird story and I didn't think anyone would believe me. But please, let's not focus on that right now. I'll give you all the details later, but I have to figure this shit out right now because I'm losing it. God, I truly thought he changed. But he didn't. Not if he's staging a break-in just to..." She waves her hand around. "I don't know what his plan was, but it can't be good."

"Emma....okay." I take a deep breath, breathing in through the sudden flare of anger. I make a concerted effort to table the stalker discovery for later. Later I will resummon back the rage that I feel, and that bastard will undoubtedly pay for every single tear Emma has shed, for every nightmare.

But right now, she needs me to focus on something else.

"Did Xavier and Nate Huntley meet when Xavier came to visit you years ago?"

If Xavier is behind her break in, then why did Nate Huntley take credit for it? Was it to cast further confusion on the case? Or was he an accomplice? Why would he do something like that to Emma of all people? Is there a personal vendetta?

She shakes her head. "No. Xavier only stayed a few days, and Nate...well, he doesn't come around unless there's trouble."

Shit. So that shattered that link. It might be unrelated, but it probably isn't. I just can't figure out the links between all these layers of weirdness.

I run my hands over my face. "What the fuck is going on?"

"I don't know," Emma breathes. "But this has been the strangest couple of days. Just last night, I figured out that there are two different Vs in Madam Thornley's diary."

"What?"

She shrugs. "Yeah. I mean I'm not as excited about it as I was yesterday, but those letters to Madam Thornley were definitely written by two different people. And I think that one of Vs in the diary might be associated with the thieves who stole the pearl years ago."

"I think so too." The door to Amelia's room opens and she stands in the hallway with her eyes sparkling. "And boy do I have a theory for you."

Chapter Forty-One

Emma

Declan and I blink at Amelia in surprise, but she doesn’t even take a second to register our shock.

She immediately marches to the center of the room, the sound of her steps muffled by the rug. She spins around to face the rest of us, eager to share information, planting her hands on her waist with aplomb.

"Over sixty years ago," she begins. "Madam Thornley arrived at the Pink Hotel with her fiancé Victor. According to what I can piece together, through the journal and your Grandpa’s stories, they were either acquaintances or family friends and the marriage was something both their families pushed for.

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