Chapter Five
1257 Words
**EMMA**
Riley paced my living room like a caged animal. My mother sat on the couch, crying quietly. I felt numb.
"Say that again," I whispered.
"Robert Cole had Dad killed." Riley's voice shook with rage. "I have proof. Emails, pharmacy records, everything. Dad discovered Robert was sabotaging his own clients' cases for money. Dad was going to report him. So Robert had his heart medication tampered with."
"Nathan's father." The words felt like glass in my mouth.
"Yes."
"Does Nathan know?"
Riley hesitated. "He claims he just found out yesterday. Says he had no idea."
"Do you believe him?"
"I don't know. Maybe. But it doesn't matter. He's still a Cole. His family killed our father."
My mother looked up, her face streaked with tears. "Those letters I told you about. They must have been from Robert."
"Threatening you to keep Dad quiet," Riley confirmed. "I found references to them in Robert's emails. He knew Dad told you something."
I stood up and walked to the window. Outside, my quiet little town looked the same as always. But everything had changed. My father hadn't just died. He'd been murdered. And the man I'd loved for two years was the son of his killer.
"I'm going to be sick," I said.
I barely made it to the bathroom. Riley held my hair back while I threw up everything in my stomach. When I was done, I sat on the bathroom floor, shaking.
"We're going to the police, right?" I asked.
"I already have. They're building a case. Robert Cole will be arrested, probably within the week."
"And Nathan?"
"That's up to you."
I looked at my sister. "What do you mean?"
"He wants to tell you himself. I gave him twenty-four hours. But Emma, I need to know—do you still have feelings for him?"
"I don't know what I feel anymore."
"Because if you do, you need to end it. Now. Before this gets worse. The Coles are going down, and you can't be anywhere near them when it happens."
I thought about Nathan standing in my bookstore yesterday, saying he'd changed. Saying he loved me. Had he known then? Had he been lying to my face while knowing his father murdered mine?
"I need to talk to him."
"Emma—"
"I need to hear it from him. I need to look him in the eyes and know if he's been lying to me."
Riley pulled out her phone. "He's staying at the Riverside bed and breakfast. Two towns over."
"How do you know that?"
"I'm an investigator. It's literally my job."
*********************
**NATHAN**
I'd been staring at the documents for six hours when someone pounded on my door. I knew who it was before I opened it.
Emma stood there, her eyes red from crying, her hands clenched into fists.
"Is it true?" she asked.
"Emma—"
"Is it true? Did your father kill mine?"
I stepped back and let her in. She saw the papers spread across the bed, the laptop open with email exchanges, the evidence of my father's crimes laid bare.
"Oh my God." Her voice broke. "It's true."
"I didn't know. I swear to you, I just found out yesterday."
"Yesterday." She laughed, sharp and bitter. "You showed up at my bookstore yesterday. You stood there and told me you loved me, that you'd changed, that you wanted me back. And you knew."
"I didn't know then. I found out after I left. Kyle sent me documents and I called David and—"
"Kyle? Your colleague Kyle?"
"He's the one who sent me proof. I think he's been investigating my father too."
Emma's face went pale. "Kyle Patterson?"
"Yes. Why?"
"He came into my bookstore last week. Started asking questions about my father, about the mechanic shop, about clients Dad used to have. I thought he was just making conversation."
My stomach dropped. "What did you tell him?"
"Nothing. I barely knew anything about Dad's work. But Nathan, if Kyle has this information, why would he send it to you? Why not just go to the police?"
I hadn't thought about that. "I don't know."
"Unless he's involved somehow. Unless he's the one who sent those threatening texts."
I pulled out my phone and showed her the messages. Emma read them, her face growing harder with each word.
"Someone wants you to stay quiet," she said.
"And they're using you to make sure I do."
"Why?"
"Because if this comes out, the entire firm goes down. Every lawyer there, every case, everything. Whoever's threatening me has something to lose."
Emma sat down heavily on the bed, surrounded by evidence of her father's murder. "Your father killed my dad because he was going to expose corruption. And now someone's trying to cover it up by threatening you."
"I'm not staying quiet. I'm going to the police with everything."
"Even if it means losing your career? Your family? Everything?"
"Yes."
She looked at me then, really looked at me, and I saw something in her eyes I couldn't read.
"Why?" she whispered. "Why would you do that?"
"Because it's the right thing to do. Because your father deserved better. Because you deserve the truth."
"I don't believe you."
The words hit me like a slap. "Emma—"
"You're Nathan Cole. You've spent your entire life doing whatever your father told you to do. You kept me a secret because you were scared of disappointing him. You missed my father's funeral because he told you to. And now you expect me to believe you're suddenly going to stand up to him? To throw away everything for me?"
"I'm not the same person I was six months ago."
"People don't change that much."
"I did. Losing you changed me."
"Or maybe you just realized you lost control and you want it back." Emma stood up. "Maybe this is all just another manipulation. Tell me the truth, make yourself look like the hero, win me back, and then quietly make this all go away."
"That's not what this is."
"How do I know? How do I trust anything you say when your family murdered my father?"
"I'm not my father."
"But you're a Cole. And Coles destroy everything they touch."
She was quoting Riley. I could hear her sister's words in her mouth.
"Emma, please. I know I don't deserve your trust. I know I don't deserve another chance. But I'm going to do the right thing whether you believe in me or not."
She walked to the door, then stopped. "Riley gave you twenty-four hours to tell me the truth. You have six hours left."
"I just did tell you."
"No. You told me because Riley forced your hand. That's not the same thing." She turned to face me, tears streaming down her face. "If you'd really changed, Nathan, you would have come to me the second you found out. You would have called me immediately. But you didn't. You sat on this information for a whole day, trying to figure out how to spin it, how to make yourself look good."
"That's not—"
"Goodbye, Nathan. Stay away from me. Stay away from my family. And when the police arrest your father, don't you dare try to contact me."
"Emma, wait—"
The door slammed.
I stood there alone, surrounded by evidence that my father was a murderer, and realized I'd just lost Emma for the second time.
This time, I didn't think she was coming back.
- Writer
