I flip the pages shut and pace around the island, getting distance from the words on the page. I can’t get any distance from the ache in my heart.

This has to be the hardest thing she’s ever done. With the exception of being apart from Paige, what could be more difficult than loving her brother? He had turned into a monster, but he hadn’t always been that way. Emily knew that. She lived it.

There were no big birthday parties, either. It was just the two of them and her asshole father. Her family’s not much bigger now. She’s got Beau and Jane and Paige, but—Christ. She’s so alone. So brave in the face of all of this.

Emily comes in through the door, her hair windblown, balancing the half-eaten cake on one palm. She stops dead inside the door. Her eyes go down to the pages on the table. They’re not perfect, the way they used to be.

“You shouldn’t have read that.” Tears spring to her eyes.

I could say that everybody’s going to read it eventually, but I don’t bother. I know better than that. I know I violated her privacy. I know I should feel remorse, feel like shit about it, but I don’t.

I don’t.

I want to understand Emily Rochester. I want to explore every dark shadow in her mind. To shine light in them. She steps up to the island and puts down the cake. A shuddering breath lifts her shoulders.

I abandon the beer and go to her.

As I fold my arms around her body, she reaches for me.

“You hate me,” she says, trying to push me away even as she pulls me closer. I hold her tighter. There are no words of apology that would mean anything right now. No promises, either. But she’s not going to stand there alone with tears in her eyes. Not while I’m in the room.

The other thing, my mind tells me. Not hate. Love. But I don’t say it. It would only terrify Emily, a woman who’s learned to fear the men who love her.

Chapter Twenty-Two

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Jane Mendoza

Heat from the fire in Emily’s outdoor fire ring plays across my face. The sun will be setting soon. It’s getting late, but I can tell Paige doesn’t want the party to end.

Who would? We’ve had a late lunch and hours on the zip line. Mateo sat in the grass with Paige and painted rocks. The two of them lined all the painted rocks up in a row and chose favorites, then chose again. Emily got out a frisbee and we all took turns tossing it to one another across the yard.