“Noah has been found.”
Her spoon clattered onto the island. “Really?”
I nodded. “He will be returned in the morning.” Anatoly had called me right before Emma had walked in. The biker had coughed up the old man, and he was largely unharmed. Actually, he had heard that the old man had given them so much shit that they were happy to hand him back over, and I was inclined to believe the story. The man was tough as nails.
Before I could react, Emma was rounding the island and launching herself at me, hugging me around the waist. “Oh my God. Gertie is going to be so happy that he’s back! I have been so worried. You didn’t let me down.”
I hoped I never did. I held her close, pulling back to brush my lips over hers. “Does that make you happy, Emma?”
She blushed. “Very happy. Oh, Artem, this is so great! You have never seen a couple more made for each other than those two.”
Oh, I had, and she was standing right in front of me. I wanted to put into words what I felt for her, but after the heaviness of the night, I held back. “Come on, finish your ice cream.”
She gave me a quick squeeze before returning to her forgotten spoon, and I watched as she ate a few bites, smiling at the faces she made. This was what my parents had between them. Now I understood the looks between them, the way they used to catch each other’s eye and smile.
Shit, I was in love with Emma.
***
Harvey
I slunk down the hall, past my father’s office, and leaned against the door, hoping to hear anything behind the solid wood. He hadn’t come out tonight when I had told him I had dinner, and if I hadn’t heard him yelling about something an hour ago, I would have thought he was dead.
Maybe it was better if he was dead.
Sighing, I moved away and continued down the hall toward the kitchen, looking for something else to eat. The house seemed empty without the servants around, and in a few days, I was going to have to clean up the kitchen or we weren’t going to have any cups left.
What a shitty way life had gone suddenly.
Finding a bag of chips, I popped them open and chewed one, thinking about my earlier phone call with Emma. I was glad to hear that she was happy, even if it was the bastard that had kidnapped her. I would hate to know that she was suffering right along with the rest of us, wondering what was going to happen to her future. She had sounded like she had her shit together for the first time in a long while, and I really hoped that the Russian was going to treat her right.
I had heard all sorts of things about Krylov, things that would make one cringe in horror. The man was a brute, known for his torture and killing more than anything else.
Maybe Emma had tamed the beast inside him. Either way, she hadn’t begged for me to come get her, and I doubted that she would. If anyone could make a better man out of a killer, it was Emma.
I had nearly taken her up on her offer of coming out to Alaska and getting away from this shit. Dear old Dad was only worried about himself and what his future held, but what he didn’t realize was that he had shat on mine as well. No one was going to trust in the name Kennedy if these rumors proved to be true. No one was going to let me come in and be their politician, their president, nothing. They would dig up Dad’s past, and I would be forced out before I even had a chance to start.
I was fucked, even if he proved to be innocent.
And he wasn’t. The feds didn’t screw up that badly. They had shit on him, or he wouldn’t be so worried about it either. The amount of money they had mentioned was staggering, and I could tell by my mom’s expression that she hadn’t known what her husband had been into.
Which meant he had lied to all of us. I thought I was his closest confidante, the one person that he trusted to tell me what the hell was going on. But when I had picked Dad up from the police station, he hadn’t said one fucking word to me.
Instead, he had picked up his cell phone and spent the remainder of the drive on it, trying to line up his lawyers.
It was like I didn’t even exist. Thank the fuck I hadn’t stuck my neck out for him. He had asked me to do some shady things before, but I had ignored them, instead turning his thinking around and making it at least legal. Not once did I think that he was doing such things behind my back.
“Fuck,” I muttered, digging into the bag once more. At least I had gotten Mom out so that she couldn’t see the way her husband had fucked all of us. There was no reason for her to go down with the sinking ship either. She was too good for that.
No, I was the sole occupant of the sinking ship, with my father at the helm. I could kiss this house goodbye, likely to be seized once they indicted him. Already, I was moving my shit out of the house quietly, putting it in storage and making certain I separated all my business dealings from my father’s. I had even gone to Emma’s apartment and packed up some of her things, knowing that they would be hitting up her place next.
Besides, she hadn’t needed them while she was canoodling with her Russian dude.
The shit was about to hit the fan, and I was right in the middle of it.
If I were a killer like Krylov, I would go ahead and put our family out of their misery. Of course, the only gun I had ever shot was one time when Dad had taken me hunting. I had cried so much after we shot the deer that he had called me weak and never invited me again.
No, I wouldn’t be able to do that. I just had to hold it together, and if the shit did get rough, then I could always find Emma. I just hoped she heeded my warning and stayed where she was. I wanted my sister to be happy, and if the Russian was making her happy, then so be it. After all, it seemed that our father had killed his parents. It was the least we could do for him.
I just hoped that he wasn’t taking it out on my sister. He had already kidnapped her because of the claim, and now that it was seemingly true, he had every right to do what he was doing to our father, but not the innocent ones.
Throwing the bag in the trash, I shoved my hands in my pockets as I headed back to my room to pack up more shit. I was going to have to find another profession, and after what I had witnessed over the last few days, it might not be a bad move after all.
Chapter 10
Emma
I woke in my own bed, the rain pelting the window outside. I had wanted to sleep in Artem’s bed, but he had gotten a call right after my ice-cream gorging, and after giving me a swift kiss, he had disappeared from the mansion.
Vincent had reappeared, and I had felt sorry for the bodyguard. Did the man ever get a decent night’s sleep?
So, I had ended up in my bed, wishing that I was curled up next to my husband and not with the pillow in my arms. It was crazy, but I had gotten used to having him around again. Sure, I had only been home a few days, but we had barely been apart.