Best Kept Secret (Rochester Trilogy 3)

I back off a few steps. “If you take one step toward Jane, I’ll kill you.”

Joe’s eyes glitter. This is what he wanted me to say. “Fine with me.”

A fight to the death with Joe won’t just mean that I die. He could kill Jane and Paige, too. Paige—

I twist around to make sure she’s okay and find her hiding behind Jane, her eyes like saucers. She looks so young. Too young to be in the middle of a scene like this.

“I’m putting you both under arrest,” Joe says. “For arson.”

“You can’t do that,” says Jane.

“Did you not hear? I have a warrant, Ms. Mendoza. For your arrest. That means I can handcuff you right now and take you into custody. In fact, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.”

This is why I sent her away. To save her. And I failed. I failed. I let her come back, and I didn’t protect her, and now this asshole is standing in here threatening the both of us. The three of us. All the meetings have come to nothing. It’s nothing if he puts his hands on her. And he’s going to.

It’s going to be all fucking wrong. He came in here brandishing a warrant, but he didn’t read us our rights. He’s way off script. There’s no telling how this ends. The gun on his belt heightens everything.

“I’m going to need you to come this way.” Joe puts a hand to the cuffs on his belt. He’s slipping into his usual cop bullshit. “Right now, Ms. Mendoza.”

Jane’s not having this. “I’m not going with you. I won’t leave Paige alone. And I—I want a lawyer.”

Joe laughs. “You can contact your representation after you’ve been processed. Step to this side of the room.”

“No.”

He moves toward her, his mouth set in a line. “You’ll also be charged for resisting arrest and obstruction of justice. Why not throw in assaulting an officer?”

This isn’t happening. My blood sears my veins, setting every single one of them on fire, and I put myself between them again. She begged me not to, but I’m not letting him put his hands on her. Not Joe. Not anyone. Not ever again. “Don’t touch her. You want to talk about this, we’ll go outside and talk. There’s not going to be any arrest until we have a conversation.”

“Step aside.”

Paige starts to cry. A thin wail goes up into the middle of the room, and I’m done. I’m done with this fucked-up situation. He’s not doing this to Paige. She’s been through enough already. “I want him to leave,” she sobs. “I want him to leave.”

I’m going to kill him. Crime or not. Charges or not. This ends now. Jane’s hands tighten on my arm. Joe’s about to move around me. He’s already reaching, like he’s going to touch her arm, but he’s not going to do that. No one is ever going to touch her again. It’s the moment before a match meets kindling. Everything roars into flame.

I’m a single breath from murdering a police officer when the front door of the inn opens again.

Everyone in the room freezes, like we’ve all been caught in the act.

Emily steps into the room. She takes in the scene. Me, about to kill her brother. Joe, about to put his hands on Jane. “Enough,” she says, her voice clear. “It’s not them you want. It’s me.”

I don’t see Paige move, but I feel it. She’s moving too fast for me to catch her with one hand. She darts out from behind Jane, from behind me, her chest heaving.

“Paige,” Emily says.

“Mommy,” Paige screams, and she sprints across the room to her.

My heart breaks in two at the sight of her running toward Emily. Emily kneels down on the floor to catch Paige in her arms, and Paige barrels into her at full speed. It almost knocks them both to the ground, but Emily catches the child against her body. I see her face as her arms go around her daughter for the first time in months. It’s sheer relief.

“It’s okay,” she murmurs. “It’s okay. I’m here.”

“You died,” Paige wails. “You died. You weren’t coming back. Beau said you were never coming back.”

“I did come back. I did.” Emily scans the room. The rest of us are still frozen in this hellish moment. I see realization come to her eyes. She pulls Paige into a tighter squeeze. “Joe,” she says, her tone even. “Did you come here alone?”

He grins. “I had unfinished business.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

Jane Mendoza

Emily’s question explodes the tension in the room.

Did you come here alone?

I had unfinished business.

“Get the hell out, Causey.” Beau is yelling, at his full height, trying to back Joe to the door. “You know this isn’t right. You know you’re going down for this.”

It’s wrong to have all this shouting and tension in the inn. This is a place where people come for peace, not to threaten each other. Marjorie’s carefully chosen furniture makes the argument building between the two men more horrifying. The space looks fragile around them. All those spindly table legs could break in an instant if things escalated.