Page 66 of Shared By Her Brother's Best Friends

“Yes. Poor mom. I never wanted to hurt her…” he says sadly, losing himself in a memory. “If only she’d given the money to me…”

The wording plucks a chord of discontent. “You asked her for money to pay Kane?”

“Yes. I had to. It was the only way. She kept saying no. It’s why I had to fake my death. I just needed to keep Kane away for a while and buy myself time to raise the funds. But I couldn’t wait any longer, I had to convince her to help. You’d have thought she’d be delighted to see her only son alive and well. But no, she had to ruin everything!” he says, growing agitated.

“Adam… were you…” I can’t form the words as a terrible thought occurs to me.

“If she’d just given me the money… it was mine by rights! But she was selfish and cruel. All it took was just a little nudge… just one push. I had to, don’t you understand? I did it for us. For you and Max, so we can be a family again,” he says pleadingly.

Oh god, he killed his mother.

If he’s capable of killing his own mother, what will he do to Max and me if we don’t do as he says?

“You understand, don’t you, Emma? I did what I had to for the good of our family. With the money, we can live a wonderful life in Mexico. We can start again. You look so beautiful…” he says pleadingly, leaning over to touch my cheek.

I flinch away from his touch as though scalded. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard someone was planning to take Max to Mexico during all this. Suddenly, the jigsaw pieces start to slip together as I realize that Jessica wasn’t working with Kane at all. No. She was working with her oldest and best friend.

“Jessica was helping you to kidnap Max, wasn’t she?” I ask.

Jessica was always more loyal to Adam than to me. She was in love with him, always had been. She’d have done anything for him.

He nods smugly. “Silly cow, she really believed that it was her who was coming to Mexico with me. That I’d pick her and her two brats over you and my own flesh and blood. That I could ever love her back,” he sneers.

His laugh sends shivers down my spine, I recall the cruelty of it, how it would make me feel so small. His lack of care for the woman who loved him, who was a great friend to him feels unbearably callous. My first thought is that he must not know that she is dead, murdered. But then I realize something with horror. If Adam has Max, that means he was there. That he was the one who took Max while the children were sleeping. If that’s true, then he’s likely the one who killed Jessica.

Max and I are in danger. Kane might be a dangerous man, but he was a businessman, motivated by financial gain and power. We might have been able to talk our way out of it. But there’s nothing more unpredictable than a madman who will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

Adam has gone mad and what he wants is us.

Chapter 37

Jax

Thank God for the GPS tracker in the car. I can only assume that Emma had the wherewithal to turn it on, but that doesn’t mean she’s safe, not by a long shot. If she hasn’t called or texted, that means she can’t. I’ve never driven faster. The second we got the ping we raced out to our bikes and rode like the wind.

I’m still terrified we won’t get there in time.

All this time we’ve been looking in the wrong place. Kane may have been following Max and Emma, but only because he knew something they didn’t. Adam is still alive. He wants his family back and will go to any lengths to get her. With Kane’s info, we’re now in no doubt that the person who killed Jessica and took Max must be Adam.

He’s dangerous and unhinged. If Emma rejects him, who knows what he’ll do?

She will reject him, won’t she?

I shake the thought away, pushing the accelerator and watching the speedometer tick over a hundred mph. She doesn’t love him anymore. He treated his family like garbage, and she’s finally realized she deserves better. Emma won’t take him back, especially not after everything he’s done. He’s a killer.

Tires squeal as we roar into the abandoned parking lot under the abandoned shopping mall. Emma’s car is here, but there’s no sign of her.

“We’ll split up and search a floor each. Signal on the walkie if you see them. Bess, you take the first floor, I’ll take the second, Ty you take the third, and Jax take the fourth,” Mason instructs.

“Got it,” we agree before racing off to our respective floors.

I race up the stairs, not wanting there to be any chance of Adam seeing the elevator going up and getting spooked. Gun drawn, I check each vacant store.

“Nothing on my floor so far,” Bess says through the walkie.

“Same here,” Mason adds.

“I’ve got eyes on Emma and Adam, third floor by the fountain,” Ty confirms.

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