Page 59 of Shared By Her Brother's Best Friends

“It’s not your fault, you had no reason to suspect her,” Mason soothes.

“But why would Kane kill her if she was helping?” she asks, her brow furrowed as she tries to work out what it means for her son.

“Maybe she got cold feet?” Jax kindly offers.

“Or demanded more money,” I add, coldly.

“Did Lucy and Ben hear anything? See anything? They were right next door. Was Max with them?” Emma asks, desperate for information.

“Bess said that the kids were asleep the whole time. Max was in the room with them and when they woke up, he was gone. The cops suspect that they may have been given sedatives. They’re on their way to the hospital to run checks,” Mason explains.

“Who found Jess? It wasn’t the children, was it? Those poor kids…” she says, and I am again amazed by Emma’scapacity to care for others even when her own world is falling apart.

“Luckily not. Lucy tried to go inside but the door was locked and there was no answer. The police arrived just as Lucy was going to see if they were in the reception,” I reply, offering some small comfort.

If she knows the kids saw nothing, she’ll hopefully believe Max didn’t witness the murder either.

“How did she die?” she asks, her voice small.

Me and Mason share a look, not sure if we should relay the information to her. Presumably, Bess didn’t tell her and Jax as much. I know that Emma will picture the method and place Max as the victim in her head. But I also don’t want to lie to her. Not ever.

“Are you sure you want to know?” Mason asks.

“Yes,” she says, nodding determinedly and bracing herself.

“She was quite badly beaten and strangled. The cops won’t be able to determine the exact cause of death until the autopsy. There were also signs that she’d recently had rough sex…”

“Or been raped…” Emma finishes.

I nod glumly. Emma puts her hands over her mouth and her eyes widen at the horror of her friend’s last moments. Tears pool in her eyes and I pull her close, whispering words of comfort in her ear.

The front passenger door opens and Bess returns. “Alright, let’s go. Jax, I’ll direct you,” she says buckling her seatbelt.

"Go where? Where’s Kane?" Mason asks.

I know from the fervent look in his eye he’s likely planning to ride ahead and beat us there to face Kane himself.

“To the station to give your official statements.”

“No way. The deal was that they bring Kane in immediately. We don’t have time to waste giving statements, we’ll give them after we have the fucker,” Mason insists.

“The FBI is headed to Kane’s last known location now to arrest him as agreed,” Bess calmly states.

“Then that’s where we need to go,” Mason replies exasperatedly.

“There is no way in hell that the feds are going to let four civilians screw up a huge operation by being there, two of which are key witnesses might I add, Mason. This is the only way. When we get to the precinct, they’ve agreed to give me a comms unit so I can stay up to date with the case’s progress, so we’ll know everything that’s going on, but we can’t go there.”

Before Mason can respond, Emma places a gentle hand on his. “Mason, she’s right. We have to do this their way. We have to trust them now and they need your statement to make sure he never gets out of jail.”

Her words soften him, and he nods. “Alright. We’ll be right behind you,” he says gently kissing her on the lips before leaving the car and going to his bike.

“Stay strong,” I say lightly kissing her lips and going to my own bike.

None of us like leaving the rescue mission in the hands of strangers. But right now they’re our best option and the only thing that matters is taking down Kane as quickly as possible to safely return Max to his mom.

Chapter 33

Emma

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