“You haven’t even told us yet,” I point out.
“So,” she begins, taking a slow tour of the office, gliding her fingernails across book spines and ornaments. “I have an old friend back in New York, bit of a whizz with computers, and I asked him to look into Barnaby Fisher. Turns out, Barnaby was on all these hacker chatrooms boasting about his girlfriend, Ella Gibson.” Ella makes a gagging sound, and Monty continues. “Saying how she was the police chief’s daughter, they were going to get married, etcetera. Then, some guy gets in touch with Barnaby and says he has some information that Ella’s dad might want, but that he couldn’t send it digitally because it was too sensitive. So, he sent it via post. Hence, the mysterious hard drive.”
Great. So Ella’s life is in danger because of her creepy fucking neighbor.
I wish I could bring him back and kill him again.
“You came all the way here to tell us that?” Hunter asks, arching a dark brow.
Monty folds her arms and pops her hip. “Well, yes, but also to help. I’m one of the good guys now, right, Bambi?” She looks at Ella, then cuts her gaze to our interlocked hands. Her expression becomes positively gleeful. “Looks like we both nailed the Flynn brothers. Go us.”
Ella’s mouth drops open as she looks at me. “You slept with her?”
I blink and gesture in Hunter’s direction. “So did Hunter!”
“Yes, he did.” Monty winks at Hunter, who looks like he’s ready to throw Monty over his shoulder and out onto the driveway.
“Hold on,” Guy says, taking a threatening step forward. “Ella, are you with this guy?” Ella shrinks back, and Guy’s jaw looks almost painfully tight. He looks at Hunter. “Did you know about this?”
Hunter looks similarly annoyed. “Not until they got here last night.”
“Dad—”
“No, Ella, no. I won’t have this happen again,” Guy says. “He is dangerous and nowhere near good enough for you!”
Ella hops to her feet. “It isn’t your choice!”
“You will listen to me, young lady, and you will listen good.” He points at her, and Ella puts her hands on her hips, both Gibsons toe to toe. “I forbid this relationship to happen. I won’t have you lose your career, your home, your friends, your reputation for him. I fucking refuse. He can offer you nothing. He’s put you in danger, repeatedly, for months. Are you going to put yourself through that forever? Your kids through that?” I see the moment Ella’s heart breaks, and I stand.
Hunter does, too. “He’s right, Gable.” I look at him, and he gives me an apologetic shake of his head. “There’s a reason I never got married, never had kids. Our life isn’t safe enough. And Ella is in the spotlight. You couldn’t even live together without fear of you being discovered.”
He’s right, I know that, and maybe I got caught up in my promises last night, but there has to be a way this will work.
“We’ll figure somethingout,” I say.
“How?” Hunter challenges. “After everything that’s happened, Ella will always have media focus on her. And even if she didn’t, people are always looking to make a name for themselves. Killing you would do just that.”
Ella takes my hand. “Then we’ll live apart for a while until this dies down?—”
“How long for? A year? Five years? Ten?” Guy asks. “Things like this don’t justdie down. You can’t reemerge after a break and marry a criminal, Ella.”
A criminal. A life I chose is now ruining a life I never knew I wanted.
“She deserves a better life than that,” Hunter says.
“What about Gable’s life?” Ella hits back. “He’s not supposed to be happy because you fucked him up when he was eighteen?”
Hunter’s stare chills. “Excuse me?”
Ella releases my hand. “You came across two boys who had no one, who needed direction and love and kindness, and you turned them into killers. You say I deserve a better life? So did they. Look what you fucking did to them.”
I’m speechless, my eyes darting between Ella and Hunter, the two people I love most arguing over me.
“Are you blaming me for my son’s death?” Hunter challenges.
“No,” Ella says. “I’m blaming you for his life.”
Hunter’s phone ringing pierces the silence that follows Ella’s statement. Even Monty’s usual air of smugness is gone, her brows pinched together in concern as she watches this all unfold.
