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I tap my phone, and it lights up the table.
“And what, a phone call wouldn’t suffice? A text even? That may have actually come off more unnerving than this desperate act of strength when you have none. Coming here like this only shows me that you are grasping at straws and are probably not that good at your job.”
She puts her hands on the white tablecloth, and I glare at them like her touch is dirty.
“It’s too much of a coincidence that she was with your brother and is now with you.”
“You really think I need to kill my brother to take his girlfriend? Let’s be clear, Jen…you fucking my brother was already enough to make someone with morals and self-respect like Emily leave him. Unlike you, she has standards.”
I tighten my hand on Emily’s leg.
“Are you aiming for career suicide, Hiller? If that’s what you’re after, then please, by all means tell me. I’ll happily call the chief right now. If not, then I suggest you leave and stop following us around. I’ll ensure you won’t even get a job as a mall cop by the time I’m through.”
In reality, she won’t be breathing if she keeps this shit up, but I leave that part out.
Her nostrils flare, and she gives Emily a look that truly makes no sense. It’s as if she’s jealous, but she clearly has no affection for me, and Rob is gone. That leaves her spiraling out of control and pushing all the emotional blame onto Emily. Dangerous. A snake that thinks it has a righteous cause.
“You think you’re so much better than everyone else. Rob told me how you looked down on him and treated him like a nobody. That’s why he drank so much, because he couldn’t compare to his older brother, the golden child.”
A genuine laugh escapes from me, and it only makes Jen angrier.
“You really shouldn’t speak on family dynamics you know nothing about. My brother has always played the victim when it suited him. That doesn’t make his ramblings accurate. It makes you a sucker, a mark, a nobody, and if he’d lived, you would’ve either been cast aside, cheated on, or beaten to a pulp. That is who my brother was. Now get out,” I snarl, just as the manager walks over.
“Is this woman bothering you?”
One look at my enraged face and he lifts his hand for security.
“I’ll go, but this isn’t over,” Jen says, stomping away and brushing past the large man in black who must be security.
“My deepest apologies for the intrusion. She won’t bother you again.”
I’m not worried about her coming back. She’s done what she came to do…disrupt our evening and make herself feel important.
Taking a steadying breath, I turn my head to Emily, who looks upset.
“Don’t let her bother you. She’s trying to get under our skin.”
“It feels like more than that. Like it’s personal,” Emily whispers. “I don’t trust her.”
“Neither do I.”
As her hand tightens on my arm, I know with certainty that if Jen comes for Emily, I’ll rip her still-beating heart out of her chest.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
EMILY
Jen, Jen, Jen. You stupid cunt. I had Alden right on the edge of crossing a line he can’t come back from, and she ruined it. My hand tightens on my clutch as we head back across town.
“You okay?”
I turn to Alden, making sure my eyes give nothing away.
“Just thinking about that detective. I knew she was Rob’s partner, and those last few weeks before he died, I suspected the affair, but there is something off about her. She was desperate when she looked at us tonight. I can’t shake it off.”
“Are you scared?”
He lets go of the gear shift and grips my hand.
