“She said swimming in the storm was really hard,” Emery’s voice softened, “but the reward at the end was worth it. Lucas was waiting for her on the beach.”
He’d dropped her off at a bus station and stayed behind in Cape Hill until The Trident was found adrift, everyone believing she’d gone overboard. Then he set sail for Aruba, stopping in Atlantic City to pick her up.
“She found the collateral she was looking for in her dad’s safe,” she said, “and it wasn’t on the flash drive—she didn’t seem to know about that. It was in the papers we’d looked through.”
She reached into her purse and pulled out a clear plastic zipper-top bag that contained several folded sheets of paper.
“What’s that?”
She held the bag gingerly, as if it were priceless. “These are pages from a secret Barlow manual on how to manipulate clinical trial data to get favorable results—a practice they’ve been using for years to increase the reported efficacy of their drugs.” Her gaze dropped down to the plastic protected pages. “This is what Jillian took from his safe, and the only thing she carried with her when she left Cape Hill to start a brand-new life. It’s the collateral to stop her father from revealing she’s alive in case he ever finds out.”
Sound faded until it was just us. “And she gave it to you?”
Emery swallowed hard and nodded. “When I came clean and told her who I was.”
I still struggled to wrap my head around the idea she was Jillian’s cousin. It was clear that had been a difficult conversation for her, and once again I was angry at myself that Emery had no choice but to do it without my support. “I should have been there with you. Fuck, I’m sorry.”
She seemed to accept my genuine apology. “I wished you were there. I want us to be partners in this, all the way to the end.”
“I do too.”
“Then that means you have to trust me. When I tell you I love you,” her voice was stern, “I need you to believe me.”
“Emery, I swear I’m done with that bullshit. I know it’s as real for you as it is for me—I just got scared.” I drew in a deep breath. “I once told you that if you didn’t need sex to survive, you hadn’t been with the right person yet.” I needed to put it out there, get it all off my chest. “What I didn’t realize was up until now, I’d never needed anyone else to survive, and it was only because I hadn’t found you yet.”
She blinked back the unexpected tears that leapt into her eyes and shoved the papers enclosed in plastic forward.
“This is what you can use to bargain for the video.”
I stared at the packet, stunned. This was what she meant about proving her love was real. She’d done everything she could to save me.
“Despite his revelations,” I said, “Wayne Lambert is not a good man.”
“No,” she agreed.
“And this is more proof Barlowe is shady as fuck. You could use it to take them both down.”
It was all she’d wanted for so long, but she shook her head. “I’ve spent ten years trying to get my revenge, and I don’t want to lose any more time to it. I’d rather have you.”
I ignored the packet she was holding and put my hands on the sides of her face, pulling her into my greedy kiss. Whatever was decided, we’d do it together.
But our lips had barely met before a shadow fell on us and someone cleared his throat.
“Royce and Marist have invited us to their suite to meet their new son,” my father said.
Emery separated from me, perhaps embarrassed to be caught kissing in front of him, but there was a strange, pleased look in his eye. Maybe he was just riding the high of knowing the Hale family name was going to continue, but I got the feeling it was more than that.
As if he were happy to see I was happy.
I stood from my chair as Emery put the documents back in her purse, and when she was done, I helped her up and laced our fingers together. He hadn’t said specifically if she were invited, but it was implied.
I’d expected the new mother to be the one glowing, but instead it was Royce. After we’d gotten our passes from the receptionist and were led back to Marist’s suite, we found my brother standing beside his wife’s bed with a blanket-wrapped baby in his arms and an enormous smile on his face.
Marist’s family was there too, standing on the opposite side of the bed, and her parents stiffened when we came in. My father’s presence made all the Northcotts uncomfortable, but Royce was oblivious.
“This is Tobias Eduard Hale,” he said, gently angling his arms to proudly show off his sleeping baby to us.