Page 19 of Outlaw Ridge: Ryker
“Yeah,” Janette said, like it was obvious. “He was seeing someone for his PTSD. It started after that domestic case blew up on him at Austin PD. He said the scene haunted him, and the therapist helped him keep it together.”
Emma’s expression sharpened, confusion giving way to something colder. “Ethan was in therapy,” she murmured.
Ryker could see it hit her, that she hadn’t known. That Janette had.
Janette’s lips curved ever so slightly. “Dr. Maris Colvin. Downtown Austin. Ethan saw her weekly for months. I even went to one of the sessions with him.”
That landed too. Harder.
Emma blinked, and Ryker saw the flicker of surprise pass across her face before she locked it down.
Janette hesitated, then added quietly, “He did love me, you know.”
The room chilled. Ryker didn’t move, but Emma did, just a shift of her stance, a tilt of her head that said she’d had enough of being blindsided.
“Then why askmeto marry him?” Emma asked flatly.
Janette didn’t flinch. She seemed to have the answer ready. “Because it looked good. You were the perfect fit. Rising star at Austin PD, respected, admired. He thought you were going places in the department.” She paused. “And he wanted to go with you.”
Ryker watched Emma’s face, waiting for the flash of anger or disbelief. But she just nodded, slow and quiet, like she’d finally put words to something she’d sensed but never quite been able to name.
Ethan hadn’t wanted love. He’d wanted to ride on her coattails.
Ryker kept his gaze locked on Janette, even as the last of her words hung in the air like smoke.
“You should call her,” Janette pressed, a little too quickly. “Dr. Colvin. She might know something. Where he’s been. What he’s planning. Ethan never shut up around her.”
Emma didn’t respond, but Ryker could see the muscle twitching in her jaw. Whatever had just cracked open inside her, she wasn’t ready to let it spill.
He leaned forward slightly, voice level. “If Ethan loved you like you say… why’d he leave you behind?”
For a second, just a second,something flaredin Janette’s eyes. A spark of real heat. Anger, raw and immediate, before she forced it down with a sharp breath and an artificial smile.
“Because she gutted him,” Janette said, flicking her gaze toward Emma like she wasn’t already talking about her. “Destroyed him. Publicly. Personally. He couldn’t face anyone or anything after the messy breakup. Or so I guess.”
She straightened her coat as if she hadn’t just exposed an old wound, her movements clipped and too controlled.
Emma didn’t say a word. Just stared at her like she was done playing audience to anyone else’s version of Ethan.
Janette gave a little shrug, like she’d said her piece and wrung it dry. “I’ve told you what I know,” she said. “Now do what you need to do.”
Without another glance, she turned and walked out.
Ryker watched the door shut behind her, the tension thick in the room. Then he turned back to Emma. “You okay?”
Her expression didn’t change.
But the quiet in her eyes said everything.No. Not even close.
Ryker didn’t press her, not yet, but when he turned back to Emma, she was already meeting his gaze.
“I’m okay,” she said quietly, but there was no wobble in it.
Then, with more strength, she added, “I’m not jealous of Janette. Whatever Ethan had with her, whatever he said, it doesn’t matter. My love for him died a long time ago. I’m not mourning him.”
She paused, jaw tight. “I’m just furious at myself for not seeing him for the asshole he really was.”
Ryker smiled, actually smiled, because there it was. The fight in her. The steel. Not the Emma who had been shaken to the bone earlier at the oil field or frozen by the thought of old wounds reopening. This was the one who’d survived everything Ethan had thrown at her and was still standing.
