Page 177 of The Black Trilogy

Apart from beer, life was terrible.

By the time Luke walked into his house, his bad mood had boiled over into full-on fury. He slammed the front door so hard a crack appeared in the plaster around the edge, then looked up to find Tia standing in front of him. The set of her mouth reminded him of their mother. She’d pursed her lips that way every time a teenage Luke had embarrassed her at the country club.

“Why aren’t you in bed?”

“Good evening to you too, darling brother. What’s got your goat?”

He threw his crumpled tuxedo jacket at a nearby chair. It caught on the arm and slid to the floor, not that he cared. “Well, I think it’s safe to say I found Ash. And it’s even safer to say she won’t be coming back.”

“What? You found her? Where? Did you speak to her? Why isn’t she coming back?” Tia spilled out questions Luke didn’t want to hear.

“No, I didn’t speak to her. She spent the whole evening cavorting with her boyfriend, and I didn’t feel it would be appropriate to interrupt.”

“Boyfriend? But you’re her boyfriend?”

“Not anymore. Do you remember a guy called Nick from a couple of weeks ago?”

“About six foot two, dark hair, designer stubble, big muscles?” Tia tilted her head and smiled. “Kind of dreamy?”

“Yes. I mean, no. That’s him, but not the dreamy part.”

Did the man brainwash every woman who crossed his path?

“Nick was so kind to me. The day after I got rescued, he kept asking if I was okay, or whether there was anything he could do to help.”

“Well, it seems he’s Ash’s fiancé. Except she’s not called Ash. Her real name’s Emerson Black.”

“Are you sure?” Tia’s eyes narrowed. “If you didn’t even talk to her, how do you know that?”

“She was at the charity ball, which turned out to be for her flipping charity. She started it up a few years ago. Oh, and another gem—before she started shagging Nick, she was married to some other bloke. That woman she goes through men like most people go through toilet paper—just leaves all her mess on them and moves on.” A hollow laugh escaped his throat. “On the bright side, at least she didn’t get her claws any deeper into me.”

“So what did she do, divorce her husband and take him to the cleaners?”

“No, she didn’t divorce him. Apparently, she killed him instead. Her nickname is the Black Widow.”

“That doesn’t sound like the Ash I knew.”

Luke heard the doubt in Tia’s voice, and it only fuelled his anger.

“Then you didn’t know her very well, did you? She’s got a history of violence. Rob reckons she cut off some bloke’s finger, and your kidnapper said she kicked him in the nuts.”

Just thinking about those incidents sent Luke to the drinks cabinet in the lounge. Tia trailed behind as he slopped whisky into a glass and knocked it back.

Why was she looking at him like that? He wasn’t the problem here, and neither was his drink.

Emerson Black was the problem.

Alcohol was merely the solution.

CHAPTER 15

TIA SQUARED UP to her brother. Honestly, for a grown man he could be exasperating.

“Good. The kidnapper deserved to be kicked where it hurts. And if Ash did chop off someone’s finger, I’m sure there was a good reason for it.”

Luke wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Stop defending her. What she did to me, and to others by the sound of it, was unforgivable.”

“No, I won’t stop defending her. Ash was my friend, and she saved my life. How do you know all that Black Widow stuff, anyway?”

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