Never Say Never, Part Four (Second Chance Contemporary Romance, Book 4) (2 page)

“Then they had sex. I couldn’t tape the rest of it. I just left with the camera.”
 

“You have that tape?”
 

“I’ve got one better,”
Amanda straightened with pride and strode to her friend.
 

“Do tell.”
 

“I’ve got the original and at least three copies, just in case.”
She grinned and Emily couldn’t help smiling back. An overwhelming sense of joy bowled her over.
 

“Amanda, this is –”

Her old friend, her newest fiend, rushed into her arms. They embraced and Amanda burst into tears, while Joseph made moves to get back to the couch.
 

“I’m so sorry,”
the woman sobbed.
 

“Don’t be silly, you’ve just given me the key to getting my children back.”
Emily was firm on that point. She’d have her kids and her life on track no matter what. Brian Ross would pay.
 

“I should’ve been a better friend to you.”
 

“Amanda, we both did what we had to do. It’s okay.”
 

They detached from each other and she gave a shrug. “I guess you’re right. I’d better get home, he’ll wonder where I am and until I can leave him, I’m going to keep the peace.”
 

Emily nodded, because there were no words to express her anger or gratitude. Amanda strolled out the door with a promise to return with the evidence, but she hardly registered the news.
 

Her mind flashed back through the years and to that night. The drinking, the pain of discovery that Brian had cheated on her. Then the police, the jail, the court cases, losing custody, getting hooked on drugs, stripping, Chase, losing Chase.
 

Everything which had happened could be traced back to that single event. That single lie.
 

“Are you all right?”
Joseph was beside her again. He reached out.
 

“Don’t touch me.”
 

It was time to bring Brian Ross to his knees.

CHAPTER THREE

The tape would damn him, but she needed to do this. It was the only way to absolve some of this anger and get a form of closure on the situation.
 

“You realize I can have you arrested for this.”
Brian Ross stood in the doorway of his mansion, one hand resting against the wooden frame. He cut an imposing figure, but she hadn’t been afraid of him in years.
 

“I know,”
she snapped back, then pushed past him into the entrance hall.
 

“Get out of –”

“I know about that night, Brian. I wasn’t the one who killed Chase’s parents, was I?”
She had to pose questions to get the truth out. Joseph had a buddy in the local police department, and had gotten the wire was a loaner, and the cop in the van outside for an hour.
 

That was all the time she had.
 

“What are you talking about?”
 

“I know that it was you who killed them. I know you framed me.”
 

Brian let the door slam shut, but she didn’t allow fear to take her over. He wouldn’t harm her, because he’d have to answer for it. No, he’d try find some way to trick her into another mistake. That wouldn’t happen.
 

“And so what?”
Brian’s tone was iced death and triumph. “So what if you know, Emily?”
 

“It’s true then. You framed me. You saw me sent away to jail and deprived our kids of a mother.”
Emily shot her anger at him, but it bounced off in a rain of laughter.
 

“Our children deserved a better mother than you. I deserved a better wife than you. You never had what it takes, and I’m only sad I didn’t find a way to get rid of you sooner.”
He said the words with a cool smile of triumph. He’d always known exactly where to hit her hardest, but the insults rolled off her in waves.
 

This was Brian Ross. This was a murderer. She’d deserved better than him, she’d deserved a better life than she’d had.
 

The worst of it was, it’d been her choice to stay with him.
 

“Maybe you’re right,”
she answered and Brian’s eyebrows jumped up then flickered back into place. “Maybe I needed to learn a few things before I could be who I needed to be for our children.”
 

“I would say I’m glad you agree with me, but I don’t give a damn about you, Emily.”
 

She was a dog with a bone, now. She had him on the back foot –
there was this expression of concern behind the icy exterior. He had no idea what she’d do next, and she’d keep it that way.
 

“Wanna know what I learned, Brian?”
 

“Not particularly,”
he answered, folding his arms beneath the Armani suit. It bulged ever so slightly around the muscles of his arms.
 

Emily moved forward a few paces, levelling him a gaze she’d practiced in the mirror. Steady, prepared for whatever would come.
 

“I learned that I won’t back down from a challenge,”
she said, flashing a bright smile.
 

Brian opened his mouth, but she didn’t let him get a word in.

“I learned that I am strong,”
she said, stepping closer, but he stood his ground. At least he didn’t close in on her. She couldn’t allow him to take control in anyway, not until she’d said her piece and broken him down enough. That confession would come from him.
 

“And,”
Emily said, forcing herself into his space and pointing a finger directly at his nose, “I learned that I am not afraid of you.”
She articulated each word with a low growl and a jab of her forefinger in mid-air.
 

Brian went beet red with anger, he shook from it. He was close, so close to reaching breaking point. If she could just…
 

“You’re a pathetic politician, Brian.”
 

“Get out of my house before I call the police,”
he barked, but she didn’t move off. She really wasn’t afraid of him anymore, because she saw him for what he was. Years she’d spent blaming herself, hating herself for harming two people she’d never known.
 

She’d spent an eternity in guilt!
 

She’d believed she’d deserved the jail time, she’d barely fought it, while Brian Ross, the true killer, smiled pretty. He didn’t care he’d killed Chase’s parents, or Amanda’s unborn child.

Brian Ross only cared for himself.
 

“Call the police,”
she said, strolling to the phone and snatching it off the entrance hall table. Emily handed it to him with an easy smile. “Do me a favor and call them, so that you can confess to the murders you had me jailed for.”
 

“That will never happen.”
 

“I don’t see you denying it.”
 

“I don’t have to deny it.”
Brian threw back his head and howled with laughter. “You still don’t get it, you stupid bitch, you still don’t get it.”

“Clarify it for me then.”
Emily didn’t fold her arms, she didn’t want to disturb the microphone strapped to her torso, but swung them at her sides –
it gave off a vibe of anxiety which he’d totally buy. Brian loved believing he was in control.
 

He was close now, so close. Another prod and he’d be right over the edge.
 

“I’m invincible.”
Brian puffed out his chest. “So yes, I killed Chase’s parents. Yes, I blamed it on you. Yes, I don’t care I did it and I don’t care about you.”
He spread his arms wide and lifted them slightly. “And you know what the best part is?”
 

That she’d gotten it on tape. “What?”
 

“That it doesn’t matter what you know. There is nothing you can do about it, because no one will ever believe you and no one will ever doubt me. I’m a congressman and you’re a stripper.”
 

“Not anymore,”
Emily answered, then turned and strolled to the door. “I’ll be seeing you soon. Real soon.”

CHAPTER FOUR

She gripped her smartphone to her chest and sucked in air through her nose. She’d copied the video confession onto her external hard drive, stored into in the cloud and written it to several DVDs.
 

The one on her phone was for him.
 

Emily had to do this, even if he didn’t want to see her again. The romance was probably gone, but he had to know that it wasn’t her! She hadn’t destroyed his life, or changed it forever, or…

No. She had to calm down.
 

Emily massaged her chest and sighed a couple times.
 

She knocked on the rich wood door of Chase’s apartment and tapped her left foot.
 

The locks drew back and he opened up. He was flawless as usual in a V-necked sweater and slacks, but his jaw clenched immediately.
 

“What do you want?”
 

“We need to talk, Chase, there are a couple things you don’t know.”
 

“I don’t have time for this.”
He inched the door closed and she slammed her palm onto it, the frustration building in her gut. He had to listen to sense this time and she wouldn’t take no for an answer.
 

“You don’t have time for the truth?”
 

“No,”
he said, shaking his head, that brown do –
the one she’d fallen for –
flopping along with the motion, “I don’t have time for you. Besides, when were you ever acquainted with the truth, Emily Ross?”
 

“Don’t call me that!”
She hissed it, then took a deep breath to calm herself. There was a base level of anger which had appeared the minute she’d discovered Brian’s true betrayal. It thrummed along with her heartbeat, waxing or waning according to the surroundings.
 

“Go away, Emily.”
 

“Please, don’t make me beg for a minute of your time. I think you owe me at least a minute to –”

“I owe you?”
Chase scoffed, knuckles turning white from the intensity of his grip on the doorjamb and the wooden door itself. “I owe you?!”

Emily pressed her lips together and stretched her neck upwards. He was much taller than her. “Yes.”
 

“I owe you nothing!”
He yelled it and a woman at the far end of the hall jumped, fumbling with her keys. Sunday mornings weren’t made for arguments, especially on the top floor of this building.
 

“Chase, this will change your perspective completely,”
she said, then thumbed the screen of her phone –
newly bought –
and raised it so he could watch the confession, but he turned away and walked back into the apartment.
 

Emily paused the video. This wouldn’t be easy, but it would be worth it. It better damn well be.
 

She had the evidence she needed to bring Brian down and publicly dishonor him, but Chase had to know the truth first. His emotions, his needs, were more important than the burning lust for revenge in the pit of her soul.
 

She was alive for that revenge, she craved Brian’s total destruction. Bastard had nearly destroyed her. Stripping, coke, fucking Big Nick and his issues, Isis, all of it!
 

“Are you coming inside?”
Chase called out and her heart leapt into her throat. The need for him was back, an old friend she’d missed for what seemed years.
 

“Yes,”
she replied, and strode in, squaring her shoulders. “But are you going to listen to what I have to say?”
 

Chase sat back on that couch and her mouth went dry. The memories of them on that couch, of Janet’s interruption, of Chastity’s, melded into a blur of pain.
 

He’d been right before. They were meant to be.
 

“I don’t know.”
He sighed, showing a small sign of weakness –
unlike him, maybe he was under pressure at work or something.
 

“A lot of stuff has happened between us, Chase, I know you don’t want to see me, but I have to talk to you about this for you, more than for me.”
That wasn’t entirely true. A small part of her wanted to believe that he’d want her back.