“Not only were you on the shuttle bus that killed your parents and all those other people; you were the sole survivor of the accident.”
The room seemed to tilt, and the dread in my throat slid down to my gut.
“The grief and the guilt, your multitude of serious physical injuries—it almost ruined you.” Jack shook his head. “You never fully recovered.”
“No, that’s not true.” I backed up, hitting the edge of Liam’s desk.
“You were institutionalized for a while, and then you went to live with your brother and sister-in-law. They felt guilty, you see. It put quite a damper on their lives.” He looked down at me with false pity. “Such a waste for everyone involved. I knew I could change it, so I did. I found you, and I took all those terrible memories. You weren’t lucid enough for anyone to notice, and I knew they’d come in handy.
“Then I changed your history. Thanks to that one bottle of pills, Cat and her exotic matter, and a couple of other key elements, I traveled back in time. I ran into you in the hotel lobby, stopped you from getting on the bus. Then I raced up the mountain to make sure it went off the road in just the right place. It needed to be submerged in the lake to slow any rescue efforts. Everyone had to perish.” He said the words so casually, dismissing countless human lives. “I knew I was taking a chance, but I believed if I spared you the trauma of your physical injuries and the memory of the accident—and it was truly horrific—you’d recover from that black dog of depression that claimed you so fully.”
Michael’s breathing sped up. But I couldn’t look at him. My eyes were glued to Jack.
“Then I made sure to guide your path through the next few years. I even created a scholarship to your boarding school for someone with your specific needs when life in Ivy Springs became too difficult. When you’d recovered to my satisfaction, the scholarship went away.” He beamed and clapped his hands together like a child. I could almost smell the madness. “You came back. To think that thanks to Cat, I did all that work, changed all those years, in just one day.”
“No, no, no, no.” Black spots formed in front of my eyes as my lungs threatened to explode with the effort of holding back sobs. “You’re saying … my parents are dead because of you.”
“Not at all. I’m saying you are alive—truly alive—because of me. You aren’t looking at this logically. Fate claimed your parents, not me. You lived because I chose for you to live. I simply intervened in your circumstances. I saved you.” He took a step toward me, reaching out. “This ties us together.”
“I’m not tied to you. My whole life is a lie because of you.”
“But Emerson, love—”
“Stop calling me that.” A moan started in my throat, low but persistent. I clamped my hand over my mouth.
“I was so very close to convincing you to trust me. Then I could have shared our history with you under much different circumstances. But I was traveling too often, using too much of the compound too fast. I ran out before I got what I wanted. I ended up stuck in the bridge.”
Cat finally spoke up, her voice wrecked with anger. “That’s what did it? That’s why you ended up stuck in that hole? Making sure some little girl’s life was … sunshine and kittens, just so you could convince her to do what you wanted?”
“I’d hardly say her life was sunshine and kittens—”
“But taking the risk was needless. You don’t need her. I have information about another alternative,” Cat said pointedly. “I was planning to tell you yesterday, until Kaleb burst through the door and told us you were missing. Until I thought you were dead.”
He stared at Cat for a long moment. I noticed that he no longer stood straight, but slightly hunched over, as if he needed support. “Another alternative?”
She nodded, and the satisfaction on his face chilled me to my soul.
“The question-and-answer session is over.” Cat kept the muzzle of the gun pointed at Michael and me. “You said you brought the computer disk back. Where is it?”
“I’m not sure,” I hedged. “A lot has happened since—”
“Don’t play with me.”
Cat took aim and pulled the trigger.
The glass doors to Liam’s bookcase exploded into shards as Michael turned to shield me. I wrapped my arms around his waist and braced for another shot, wishing my body were big enough to protect him instead of the other way around.
When the gun remained silent, I opened my eyes to assess the damage. I had to choke back a sob. The side of Michael’s neck was covered in tiny lacerations, blood dotting his skin.
“Surely you understand the gravity of the situation,” Cat said over the sound of the last pieces of tinkling glass hitting the floor. “I want the computer disk with the exotic matter formula and I want it now. Where is it?”
“Catherine. Be patient,” Jack said casually, as if he were discussing dinner plans. A beatific smile spread across his face like slow poison. “I’m sure I can convince Emerson to divulge that particular information.”
“How do you plan on doing that?” Cat demanded.
“Making Emerson whole again made life better for all of us. She knows that. Which is why she’ll cooperate now that she has a chance to do so.” Jack spoke to Cat, but his eyes were on me. His answer almost sounded sensual as it slipped off his tongue. “If she doesn’t, I could always give her the pain back.”
I swallowed convulsively as the bile rose in my throat. He was talking about his collateral.