Page 126 of Hot Knot Summer
My first punch connects with his jaw, snapping his head to the side.
“You piece of shit,” I snarl, hitting him again. “You drugged her.”
“Get off—” he starts, but I cut him off with another punch to his ribs.
“You tried to steal everything she worked for,” I continue, punctuating each word with another hit. “Had your psychotic girlfriend nearly burn her alive.”
“She’s lying!” he gasps, blood running from his split lip. “Whatever that bitch told you?—”
I hit him harder, rage flooding through me at his casual dismissal of both women he’d manipulated.
“Lying about what, exactly?” I demand. Another punch, this time to his stomach. He doubles over, gasping.
“River.” Zak’s voice cuts through my anger. “That’s enough.”
I force myself to pull back, though every instinct screams at me to keep going until Chad stops moving entirely.
“He assaulted me!” Chad wheezes, trying to sit up. “You saw him attack me!”
“Didn’t see a thing,” Zak says calmly, hauling Chad to his feet and cuffing him. “You must have tripped down those loading dock stairs over there. Dangerous things, concrete steps.”
“You can’t?—”
“Chad,” Zak interrupts. “You’re coming into the station with me for questioning.”
I step back, flexing my bruised knuckles with deep satisfaction. It’s not nearly enough payback for what he put Emma through, but seeing him with blood on his face is a pretty good start.
As Zak leads Chad toward his cruiser, where Megan is waiting in the back seat, I can’t help but grin. Martin Cross, the cabin owner, is going to eat him alive in civil court.
I give my thanks to Zak, and he’s off. Catching an Uber back to the watchtower gives me time to process everything. Emma’s been torturing herself with guilt over an accident she didn’t cause while the real architect of this clusterfuck was planning to profit from her misery.
Not anymore.
I take the stairs to the watchtower two at a time as I spot the three of them up there, practically bouncing with anticipation.
“Holy shit, do I have news for you,” I announce as I burst through the door.
Emma glances up from where she’s curled up on the couch between Atlas and Levi, her eyes shadowed with worry.
“What is it?” she asks, and there’s so much desperate hope in her voice it makes my chest tight.
“Baby, you are completely, totally, one hundred percent not to blame for any of this cabin fire shit,” I tell her, crossing the room in quick strides. “Chad set the whole thing up, and we’ve got his ass with the police.”
She launches herself at me before I even finish speaking, and I catch her easily, spinning her around as she wraps her arms and legs around me like I’m her personal lifeline.
“Tell me everything,” she demands against my neck, and I can feel her trembling with relief and residual fear.
“Oh, I’m going to,” I promise, setting her down but keeping my arms around her. “But first, you should know that your ex-boyfriend is probably going to be very, very poor by the time Martin Cross gets done suing him.”
The relief and vindication on her face make every bruised knuckle worth it.
Levi and Atlas are grinning.
I guide her back to the couch where Atlas and Levi are waiting. “Now, let me tell you the story of how we caught the world’s dumbest criminal mastermind...”
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EMMA
