“Unfortunately, you would have to kill Emma.”
All three of them stared at me. “What?”
“I just caught her having a clandestine meeting with my father this afternoon.”
Drew chuffed a laugh. “You’re not serious.”
Ben’s response was more measured. “Why? That doesn’t make any sense.”
And East… Well, he just had a string of curses to offer. The fucks and the bleeps and the twats and the cunts. It was a very long sailor’s passage.
“I saw her myself. The good news is, she didn’t look happy about it. The bad news is, she was meeting with him. So yeah, now I have to punish my own wife.”
All three of them exchanged glances as if even talking about punishing Emma wasn’t on the approved list of things to do.
“Stop looking at each other like that. That’s a full-on betrayal.”
East tried to reason with me first. “Mate, I get it, but maybe you should talk to her and find out what’s going on before you jump to conclusions.”
“Oh yeah, like I talked to Mina? Remember her? Planted by my father?”
“No. I hear you, but Ems is different. She’s one of us. Toby died.”
The anger I normally kept a tight leash on lashed beyond my reach as I exploded. “You think I don’t fucking know that? You think I didn’t love Toby like he was my brother? You think it’s easy to see my fucking wife in cahoots with my father?” I was screaming so loud I was vibrating.
Drew’s brows furrowed. “Mate, this is Ems. She wouldn’t do that to us. Besides, so she met with him. What’s the big deal?”
Ben just lifted his brows and his eyes widened as he stared at Drew. “Mate, how are you so fucking oblivious? He’s in love with her.”
Drew blinked in surprise and stared at me. “I know. What’s the problem? This is Emma. We know her, so there has to be a good reason for this. She loves the git.”
Hearing him say the words sliced through me. It clearly wasn’t true. “No, mate. She doesn’t love me. I love her. Or at least I did until I found out she’s a plant for my old man.”
He shook his head. “You’re wrong about this. But let’s fix the problem then we can work on your fucked-up relationship. What are we going to do?”
East shook his head. “We can’t hurt her. It’s not what we do. And it’s fucking Emma.”
“Oh, you can stop worrying. She’s my wife, and because I love her, my one directive is to keep her safe. But since she keeps putting herself in harm’s way and apparently doesn’t love me back, I am released from any guilt I felt about trying to control her. So now, it’s plan B.”
Ben and East exchanged a look before East asked, “What the fuck is plan B?”
“Plan B is no more Mr. Nice Guy. She’s lucky I love her. She’s also unfortunate because I won’t be fucked with, so I’m going to make her pay.”
Ben’s voice was harsh. “You can’t hurt her, Bridge.”
“Oh, I’m not going to hurt her. I’m just going to show her what happens to people who lie to me and betray me. I won’t harm her. She’s just going to find her circumstances extremely unpleasant.”