Page 32

Ty

T he second Bess told us what had happened, Mason and I rushed to the car to be there for Emma. Upon hearing the news, she enters a sort of blank state of shock, her eyes glazing over as her brain tries to fight the horror of the news. I know that look. I wore it the day Danielle died.

“Don’t give up, Emma, do you hear me?” I say, grabbing her cheek and forcing her to look at me. Her eyes remain blank and unfocused as she retreats into herself further. “Emma, I know it’s hard, baby, but you can’t give up. Max is gone, but you’ve not lost him forever. You have to keep fighting. You understand? Max needs you.”

Finally, I seem to have broken through as her eyes come back into focus and she looks at me.

“Ty…” she murmurs so quietly I almost can’t hear, sounding surprised to see me. “Ty… how did you cope? How did you go on after you lost your baby?” she asks, her voice so desolate it tears me apart.

“Emma, you need to stop thinking like that. Danielle is dead,” I force myself to say, the words still stinging even now. “Max is alive, it doesn’t benefit Kane to hurt him. We just have to find him. And we can’t find him unless you’re strong. Can you do that for me?” I say my voice gentle yet firm as I cup her delicate chin in my hands.

She nods once, looking at me as if I’m the only thing keeping her from drowning. It’s all the push I need.

“Bess, I’ll testify against Kane. Just get the FBI to take him down right now and I’ll do whatever the fuck they want me to. I’ll do jail time if I have to. Just get Max back and take that fucker down,” I say, dropping my hands and turning to look at Bess.

Bess nods pulling out her phone she turns to Mason, “Mace?” she says. Although she doesn’t say the words, we all know she’s asking if he’ll do the same.

He doesn’t speak right away, and I turn to look at him.

“Mason. I don’t care what you do, and I don’t care if it means I’m out of the Iron Serpents for not following orders, but I'm doing this. With or without you,” I say determinedly.

Emma grabs my hand and squeezes it in a silent thanks.

“I’m in too. It’s our last option and I’d do anything to get Max back safely,” he says his expression imploring Emma to believe him.

“I know you will,” Emma says softly to him before turning to look at us each in turn, “All of you.”

“Alright. I’ll go make some calls,” Bess says, heading out of the car.

“Poor Jessica…” Emma says mournfully as she refocuses on the murder of her friend. “All she did was help me and it got her killed. Thank god those monsters didn’t hurt the children.” Her lip wobbles and I can tell she’s hoping the same applies to her own child. “If it wasn’t for me, Jessica would still be alive.”

Jax looks at Mason and me and I know before he speaks what he’s about to say.

“Emma, I’m sorry we didn’t tell you this before. We didn’t want to upset you further. But I can’t let you think that any of this is your fault. Emma, we found evidence that Jessica may have been working with the kidnapper.”

“What? No, that’s not possible. What evidence?” she asks, bewilderedly shaking her head.

We explain everything Bess told us about Jess and our suspicions, and she listens carefully. Her insistence that Jessica is innocent starts to slip but she seems reluctant to let her faith in her friend go.

“Why would Jess do something like that to us? Adam was like family to her. She loves Max.”

“Money,” Mason says simply.

Jax offers a kinder more forgiving reason. “Maybe she was being blackmailed or threatened.”

I stay quiet. Voicing my thoughts won’t help right now. I think she got what was coming to her. Whatever her motivations, I will never forgive any involvement in harming an innocent child and taking him away from his mother.”

“Yes, the kidnappers must have come to the house and threatened her or maybe they broke in and used her computer. All of this evidence against her is circumstantial at best. And if she was helping them, why would they kill her?” Emma asks.

She’s far too kind and forgiving. A great friend that Jessica sure as shit didn’t deserve.

“Actually, there’s something else that I haven’t told any of you yet,” Jax admits. “While we were driving and Emma was still asleep, Bess did some more digging into Jess. It turns out that she’s the one who reported Emma to Child Protective Services.”

“So that’s why the CPS officer acted strangely when we suggested Max stay with Jessica,” Mason says, sounding annoyed he hadn’t figured it out.

Emma’s shoulders slump as she finally accepts the truth of Jessica’s betrayal.

“I can’t believe I trusted her,” she says in disbelief.

“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’s capacity 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.