Page 69 of Shared By Her Brother's Best Friends

Adam lets out a wounded howl. “Do you love him?” he demands, pointing the gun at her head.

“Yes!” Emma cries out her eyes locking with mine. “I love you, Jax. I love Mason and Ty too. Please tell them if…” she sobs unable to finish her sentence. “Look after my baby.”

“I love you too,” I reply, meaning it with every fiber of my being.

Never have I felt more helpless than this. Watching the woman I love in harm's way and not being able to do a damn thing about it. There isn’t time for me to reach her and I can’t get a clear shot, I could just as easily be the one to kill her if I try. Adam roars with rage as he realizes that Emma loves not just another man but three, the final blow to his already shattered psyche.

The shot rings out its death knell.

Chapter 38

Emma

It takes a moment for me to register that the gunshot wasn’t from Adam’s gun, that I’m still alive and unscathed. Detachedly, I notice Adam’s dead body on the floor behind me, my ears still ringing as I look up to see Ty drop the still-smoking gun to the floor and rush over to me, cupping my face in his hands. His mouth moves but I can’t make out what he’s trying to tell me. I’m in shock, I suppose.

“Emma, are you hurt?” he asks with fear in his eyes.

“No. No, I’m okay,” I respond as the world starts to come back into focus. “You shot him,” I say, as the realization that Adam is finally gone starts to sink in.

“I had to.”

“But you hate guns…” I point out confusedly in my state of shock.

“Emma, I would do anything to protect you and Max,” he says seriously.

“Max!” I gasp, my focus snapping back to where I saw him upstairs before.

“Mommy!” I hear my son cry from behind me.

I whirl around to see Jax carrying him down the stairs further away from us, covering his eyes so he won’t see his father’s body. When they reach the bottom, he wriggles out ofJax’s arms and he comes racing toward me on his little legs, arms open wide. I rush toward him, not wanting him to see Adam either. I scoop him up into my arms, breathing him in and showering him with kisses as I squeeze him tightly, making sure to face him away from the body.

“Mommy loves you so so much. I’m so sorry baby. I should have listened to you about Daddy,” I sob.

“Daddy was being scary,” he cries, clinging to me tightly.

“I know baby, I know he was, but I promise you he’ll never hurt you again. He won’t come back,” I swear, rocking him gently.

“Promise?” he mumbles, nuzzling in closer to me.

“I promise. Ty, Jax, and Mason kept us safe,” I say looking at them gratefully. It’s only then that I realize Mason is missing.

“Where’s Mason?” I mouth at them, not wanting to alarm Max.

At that moment, Mason appears followed by Beth. Both of them are injured. “What happened? Are you okay?” I gasp.

Spotting Max and realizing the danger has passed, Mason replies, “We’ll talk about it soon, let’s get this little one someplace else. Bess has already called this in to the cops. They’ll need brief statements from us now and full ones in the morning, but we don’t need to stay here.”

I nod, allowing the others to take charge of the situation. I have so many questions and I want to thank them all. But my focus now is on getting my son as far away from here as possible.

***

After a hot shower and some food, Max is sleeping the way only a small child can, deeply and peacefully his small mind already working to protect him from the horrors of the day with rest. He’s been fairly quiet about the situation, but I know one day soon he’ll have questions that I’ll need to answer. Not for the first time my thoughts go to Jessica’s children, and I wonder who is taking care of them and how they’re coping with the tragic loss of their mom.

I’m still in shock that Adam has been alive this whole time, that he killed three people, that he’s finally gone for good. I knew Adam wasn’t a good guy, but I had no idea he had such darkness in him. He claimed that he was acting out of love, that he was trying to build a better life for us and our son, but he was lying. It was always about the money and saving his skin. He knew that Kane was going to get the money back from him, one way or another and so he decided to fake his death.

In hindsight, I realize now that he’d been planning it for a while. About a year before his ‘death’ he insisted we take out life insurance for the whole family. He wanted a ridiculously expensive policy for all three of us with crazily expensive monthly payments. For once, I put my foot down and refused, insisting we go for a more modest plan. It was enough to help Max and I survive in the months following his death but nothing else.

I was informed after his supposed death that Adam had taken out an additional, much larger policy with a company of ill repute when I was handling his estate, but unsurprisingly, the insurance company gave several excuses and eventually, barelygave us a penny. I’ve no doubt that had it paid out the full sum he’d intended, Adam would have resurfaced far sooner.

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