David let out a relieved breath. “Okay then. Do you want me to stay with you while you read that?”
Half of him did. He already knew he wasn’t going to like what it said. But he also knew he had to face it. “No. Get a few hours of sleep and I’ll watch where Emma goes, then we can swap.” He tried to smile. “I won’t do anything until the morning.”
“I’ll see you in the morning, then,” David agreed as he opened the door and moved to step through it. He looked more tired than Zach had ever seen him.
“Hey, David,” Zach called before he could disappear. David paused, looking back over his shoulder. “I love you too,” Zach admitted.
David dipped his chin in thanks, but Zach could see the gleam in his eyes, the way he clenched his jaw to hold in his emotion. God. Emma was right, they were more alike than Zach had ever realized. They should have had this conversation long ago. Not when the world felt like it was burning down.
David let himself out of the office and closed the door quietly as Zach righted his chair and lowered himself into it.
He took out Emma’s letter and slowly unfolded it. It was short, almost blunt, and exactly as heartbreaking as he’d feared.
Dear Zach,
I don’t have much time, so I’ll get straight to the point. I know that being protective is how you show you care. I know you want to keep me safe. I knowyou, Zach. I understand why you said what you did, and I forgive you.
The time we had together meant everything to me. I spent so many years wondering what happened to my best friend, and now I know. He became a strong, intelligent man. A good man, capable of extraordinary things. You changed my life, Zach. Thank you.
I hope that one day you’ll find the right person, the one who makes you want to stay despite the fear. When you find her, be brave and let her hold you. Don’t ever forget that you are loved.
You. Are. Loved.
Goodbye Zach,
Emma.
Zach lowered his head to the desk and forced himself to keep breathing. She didn’t think she was coming back. And she didn’t know that she was everything to him.
ChapterTwenty-Six
Emma movedthrough Gordon’s Belgravia townhouse with its plush rooms, marble floors, and gleaming chandeliers like they were all part of a dream. The kind of dream where everything seemed beautiful, but you knew something terrible was about to happen.
His house was worth millions. Probably tens of millions. And yet she had had to scrimp and save and beg for a mortgage. She’d worked eighteen-hour days six, sometimes seven, days a week, for years. Meanwhile, her father had been living here with the richest and most famous people in the world.
Resentment thrummed bitterly, but she forced herself to stay calm. Showing Gordon just how much she hated him wouldn’t help.
The whole house was warded. Flickering Shadows clung to doors and windows, tracing strange squirming sigils that she couldn’t read, but that seemed to pulse with a kind of malevolent awareness.
She pretended she couldn’t see them, walking past without flinching, without even looking at them, and feigning bewilderment when Gordon narrowed his eyes toward her and muttered, “Don’t touch that.”
“Touch what?”
“The wards.”
Emma frowned. “What wards?”
“You really can’t see them?”
“See what?”
Gordon rolled his eyes. “Just don’t touch anything.”
“Why not?”
Gordon sighed with pained irritation. “The wards are blood Shadows. I think we both know what happened the last time your blood Shadow touched your skin.”
Emma stumbled and almost put her hand out to stabilize herself on the wall but caught herself in time. God. Some of that blood was hers.
