Broken Rules(47)

“You’re right. I’m sorry.” He melts in exasperation, collapsing into the chair in the corner of his room, sliding his hands across his face and through his hair.

“I can’t imagine what it must have been like for you.” I shake my head, tears in my eyes. “To see that photo and think it was real. I don’t know what I would have done if it had been a picture of you and Vivian.”

“You would have broken everything in your room.” He smirks in embarrassment, gesturing around to the lingering assortment of cracked and broken objects littering his floor. “I was so upset I wouldn’t even let the housekeepers in to clean this mess up.”

I start to argue with him, but then I realize he’s probably right. I didn’t used to think I had a temper, but lately I seem to be proving myself wrong on that one.

“I guess love makes everyone a little crazy,” I suggest, running my palm across the back of my neck.

He steps towards me with an intense look in his eyes, whipping my body over to his. “You definitely drive me crazy, Ophelia,” he coos in his deep, sexy voice.

My heart lights up at his sound and the feeling of being in his arms again. It’s a wave of relief when his lips lower to mine, kissing me soft and slow before quickly picking up into a needy pace, the way all of our kisses are. Desperate and insatiable. This is all I have been wanting the past couple of days, and everything I thought I would never have again. I’d convinced myself it was over, but my heart refused to let go. And now that we are together again, I know why. I know why I can never seem to get away from Emmett. This is meant to be, and that is the intense pull we feel towards each other.

“I think we’re soulmates, Emmett,” I suggest softly. “Do you believe in that sort of thing?”

“I never thought about it before,” he replies honestly. “But…I think you’re right. I don’t feel whole unless I’m with you.”

The intense need scares me, but I know there’s no use fighting it. It’s never worked before. It seems as though no matter what we do, we’re going to end up like this. Back in each other’s arms, as we should be.

“Something weird happened today,” I tell him finally. “The fire alarm went off at school. It ended up being some kind of prank, but I could have sworn I saw Bernadette walking away from the crowd.”

“What?” he exclaims. “Are you sure?”

“No, I’m not sure…” I hesitate. “But it definitely did look like her. And just like that she was gone! I tried to catch up to her…but nothing.”

His face wrinkles in confusion as he stares off.

“It’s not your fault,” Emmett continues. “I know what kind of guy Malcolm is. I should have realized it was all a set-up. That’s why we’re not friends anymore. He’s a terrible person.” I see acceptance washing over him. One side was telling him not to buy into that photo the whole time, just as one side kept telling me not to worry about Vivian, but he couldn’t bring himself to let go of his insecurities.

“We used to be best friends, but he was sick. A sociopath,” he continues. “Even when I was forced into going along with the Elites, I couldn’t get over how fucked up and sadistic Malcolm was. He reminded me too much of my father.

“That’s funny.” I wrinkle my nose as I remember the first night I met with Malcolm. “He said the same thing about you.”

“What are you talking about?” he asks.

“When I first met Malcolm,” I go on. “It was right before you, Trey, and Vincent kidnapped me. I met with him and his dad, and on the way, he told me how you two used to be friends, but that you turned into a horrible person when you started hanging out with the Elites.”

“What meeting with Malcolm and his dad?” Emmett’s eyes dart back and forth cluelessly.

“My father sent them. They were the ones who told me who he was and what went down with him in Jameson,” I explain. “They told me all about his gambling debts and how he embezzled money from Jameson Automobiles to pay them. How he got stripped of all his shares and cast out of town. They wanted me to help them collect evidence against you and the rest of the Elites, to prove their software company was being used in the sex trafficking rings, but that they were completely innocent and had nothing to do with it.”

He shoots up in alarm. “When did this happen?”

“I told you…right before I came home and found you and the twins in my room,” I stammer, not understanding why he seems so worried.

“How could you not tell me that!” he snaps.

“I didn’t think it was important!”

“Ophelia, the Hendersons aren’t innocent,” Emmett states coldly. “The entire sex trafficking thing was their idea! Malcolm himself tailored the software to run it!”

“Well, then, why aren’t they going down with everyone else?” I ask.

“They just wanted to pin everything on the rest of the Elites to get their hands on Jameson Automobiles!” he asserts. “They’ve always wanted control over the company. I wasn’t just jealous of Malcolm. I didn’t want you around him because he’s dangerous! I knew he was just trying to use you to get to me. I wanted to protect you from him.”

Now all of my comparisons between Vivian and Malcolm feel ridiculous. That’s why Emmett was so adamant about me staying away from Malcolm, while being unable to understand my jealousy of Vivian. He wasn’t being jealous and possessive. He was afraid for me.

“You know for certain they’re behind everything with the sex trafficking rings?” I ask, needing to know he’s positive.

“Yes!” he fires back without hesitation. “That’s part of why we stopped hanging out. He was already making plans for the whole thing! Vivian kept trying to tell me it was all just a plan to take the rest of our families down in the long run, but we couldn’t convince any of them. They all fell right into his trap. They’ve been setting things up to work out this way from the beginning.”

“So…does that mean…my father?” I try to connect the dots. “Was he involved, too?”

“Think about it. Why would your father send Malcolm and Liam to talk to you like that when I had already agreed to take you in?” he proposes. “I don’t think they ever had anything to do with your father at all. They were just trying to make you trusted them enough to get them the evidence. To help make sure nothing went wrong with their plan.”

“It doesn’t make sense.” I shake my head. “Sure, maybe Malcolm was just trying to use me to throw you off this whole time so he could find some way to get control of the company. But what about Coach Granger? Why did he drag Lily into that?”

“Without Coach Granger around to offer you other solutions, you’d feel like you had no other way out than to help them find evidence,” he concludes.

I nod in agreement. “But they didn’t know I had you.”

“And they didn’t know your father was working with me.”

“I’m so sorry, Emmett,” I cry, feeling stupid. “I’m sorry I never mentioned the meeting with them. So much happened so fast! I should have listened to you when you told me to stay away from Malcolm. I thought you were just jealous.”

“It’s okay,” he sighs, taking me into his arms. “I wish I had told you what kind of person he really was.”

My cheek drifts across the warmth of Emmett’s warm skin as he holds me, and the world feels right again. I’m so relieved he finally believes me and that I understand more about everything that has been happening. Emmett wasn’t giving into Vivian because he still had feelings for her. He knew there was a side to her that I couldn’t see—the side I saw under the stairs at school. And his rage towards Malcolm was all about keeping me safe.

Suddenly, he pulls back and whips out his cell phone.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“I’m calling the police,” he states sternly.

“What?” I cry. “Why now? I thought we couldn’t trust them!”

“Don’t you see? The Hendersons are behind Bernadette’s disappearance. They have to be!” he explains assertively, but I’m not following him.

“How can you be so sure?”

“You don’t have to believe me, but I know Vivian doesn’t have anything to do with this,” he continues. “And her parents are too wrapped up in the investigation to pull something like this off.”

“No, I know that now.” I nod my head in earnest agreement. “I do believe you.”

“Trey and Vincent were sent off to stay with family on the other side of the country,” he expounds. “No one has heard from them. Their parents are in the same boat Vivian’s are. We know Lily was wrapped up in her own problems…nothing that had to do with coming after the company.”

“And if we’re certain my father didn’t do it…then that leaves the Hendersons.” I exhale sharply, wishing we could have seen it before.

“They must be trying to use Bernadette and my mom as some kind of leverage to get control over Jameson Automobiles,” he rants with a certain clarity. “That’s what they’ve wanted all along.”