“I don’t know,” Emrick said, brushing his fingers across my chin lightly and smirking when I yanked myself away from his touch. “And that’s another truth. I will say that if I had known everything your father was responsible for before I took over, I’d have gladly killed him myself. But sometimes, information takes a while to come to light.” He cast a look over my shoulder at Cade. “But the truthalwayscomes out.”
He turned away again, and the guard released me. I stood still, rubbing my arms. “You said you’d tell me what you knew,” I demanded.
Emrick assessed me. “And I did, and what I know is nothing. I didn’t kill Murphy. He was killed by one of the many enemies he made along the way. When I took over, he lost the protection of his business, and without it, he was taken down.” His brow quirked. “I’m surprised his entire family wasn’t killed.”
“He protected us.”
“So it seems.” Emrick seemed unimpressed, as though my father protecting me meant nothing compared to what else he had done.
“Did you take his properties?” I demanded.
Emrick smirked again. “Of course. He signed them over to me, willingly, once he knew the alternative.” When his eyes raked over my body, I shuddered again, imagining what threats he had promised against Dad and his family, againstme.
“But you didn’t kill him?”
Emrick lifted a shoulder. “There was no need.” He sneered again, only serving to darken his expression. “Sometimes the stories that come out of survivors are more intimidating than a head on a stake, you see?”
Frowning, I stared at my feet. I didn’t move. This was too much, and I needed time to think.
And Cade…
Turning, Cade was straightening after being released from the crushing hold of the guards. When he met my eyes, he shrunk away from my gaze. “Nikki, I’m sorry.”
“You knew? You knew this whole time.” My hands twitched, I didn’t know if I wanted to slap him or throw my hands up in frustration. “Is this some sick joke to you? Did you know who I was when we met?”
“No, I swear I didn’t. I only found out later—”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want to hurt you,” Cade said, raising his voice.
Screwing my face up, I shook my head. “I need to go.”
“Let me take you home.”
“Stay the fuck away from me, Cade!”
The guard at the door didn’t try to stop me and unlocked it, allowing me to run past and make my way down, the swirling of the winding staircase matching the chaos in my mind.
CADE
As I shoved my way past the guard, I could hear Emrick laughing at my retreating back. That evil son of a bitch, he knew what I was the second I crossed the threshold, and it was only a matter of guesswork from there to figure out how I was involved with this situation. He took a stab in the dark and hit his target, twisting the knife to cause the most damage without having to lift a finger. The chances were slim I’d revealed my true nature to Nikki, and even less so that I had tortured her father in Hell.
Damn you, Emrick.
He was no angel.
His celestial power radiated from him, and although Nikki wouldn’t have understood it, she responded in the same way she responded to my nature when we first met. But instead of arousal, it was fear prickling at her neck. She’d managed to keep herself mostly composed and in control until Emrick had driven a wedge between us and cut through my heart at the same time.The betrayal and pain in Nikki’s eyes were almost enough to bring me to my knees. I never wanted to hurt her. I only wanted to help so she could move forward with her life.
Now her heart was broken, her world was shattered, and it was my fault.
Catching up with Nikki as she reached the bottom of the stairs, she shoved hard at my chest when I reached out to her. Our first night together, she had been interested in challenging me to a fight for fun, but now she was fighting in earnest, knocking my hands out of the way whenever I reached for her and snarling at me, angry tears prickling her eyes as I grabbed her arm.
“Get the fuck away from me,” Nikki cried and attempted to pry my fingers from her arm. We were making a scene, and people in the club started noticing. However, we’d descended the stairs, and it seemed that whatever went on up there, people knew to look the other way, quickly turning away after glancing at us.
“I know you hate me, but I’m not letting you go home by yourself.”
She continued to fight, and I grunted when she landed a punch against my abs. Nikki hissed through her teeth, shaking her fist out as the hit would have hurt her more than it did me. I didn’t want to fight her, not like this, but she was becoming increasingly agitated, and her attacks grew wilder until I was forced to pick her up and throw her over my shoulder.
