And the breathiness in her voice. That was new.

Pushing the thought away, I grabbed her file and shoved it in my bottom drawer, hoping the issue would go away before I had to solve it more aggressively. The last thing I needed was extra drama in my life.

Speaking of which . . .

Picking up the receiver, I dialed Emma’s number and waited as it rang. Once, twice, three times . . . There was a click, and a second later, a flat robotic voice came over the line.

“The person you’re calling has reached the maximum number of messages in their voice mail. Please call back later.”

“Fuck.” I grunted, then slammed down the phone and glanced at the clock. I had to tell the charter company to start prepping the private plane soon, and I couldn’t do that until I knew whether I’d be traveling alone. Growing more irritated by the second, I racked my brain until, finally, an idea popped into my head.

If Emma hadn’t texted me back three days ago to tell me she was fine and just busy, I would have sent out a search party by now. But desperate times, and all that shit.

Pressing the buzzer on the corner of my desk, I said, “Alyssa, would you come in here, please?”

Within seconds, my door clicked open and Alyssa appeared wearing a navy-blue sweater dress and her dark hair in a bun much like Sonja’s.

“What’s going on?” she asked, her eyes wary. “Don’t tell me another no-show?”

“No, thank God,” I said. “I need you to do me a favor.”

She shrugged. “Of course.”

“It’s a weird one,” I warned.

She rolled her eyes. “Of course it is. But if you’re asking, it’s got to be important, so shoot. What do you need me to do?”

I took a deep breath. “I need you to call Emma for me.”

“For?” She raised her eyebrows.

The fact that I had to admit that Emma had been blowing me off only made me angrier, but I pushed aside my embarrassment. Frankly, I was starting to get worried about her. “She hasn’t been answering my calls, and she’s supposed to come with me tonight to an event in Florida. I need to get the plane prepped. And I need to make sure she’s okay,” I added gruffly.

I hadn’t allowed myself to consider that something had happened to her. Not really, but the longer it took to hear back—and now, with her voice-mail box full—I couldn’t deny a low-level sense of unrest that was growing by the minute.

“Right.” Alyssa nodded, and though she didn’t add anything else, I could tell she had an opinion she was holding back, which was fine with me. I wasn’t in any mood to hear it.

Fishing her phone from her pocket, she entered her pass code and then passed it to me. “You know her number, I’m guessing?”

I nodded, then dialed before handing it back to her.

“What are you doing?” she asked, her hands up in defense.

“I’m not going to talk to her from your phone. That’s creepy.”

Alyssa scoffed at me. “That’s the creepy part?”

I glared at her until she sighed and took the phone from me.

“Fine. Anything for you, boss.”

“That’s why you’re the best assistant in the city.”

“That’s also why I need a raise.”

She pressed the green dial button and held the phone to her ear, grimacing at me. Distantly, I could hear the phone ring, and then—

“Emma? Hi, it’s Alyssa from Forbidden Desires.”

The relief that shot through me was quickly followed by anger, and I leaned forward on my desk, my muscles bunched with tension.

After a pause, Alyssa said, “I’m well. How are you?”

When the next pause dragged out, my pulse started to hammer. “Tell me what she’s saying.”

Alyssa glared at me and waved me off before continuing. “Good, good. Look, I know you’re really busy with the library, but we were just calling to see if you could make it to the charity golf event in Florida. We need to prime the plane and—”

A heavier silence ensued before Alyssa turned wide eyes on me. “Oh? You can’t make it? That’s a shame. Well—”

Waving a hand to get her attention, I ground out, “We’re not taking no for an answer.”

Alyssa shrugged at me helplessly and held her hand over the receiver. “What do you want me to do? Hold a gun to her head?”

“Yes,” I barked.

She rolled her eyes again, then said into the phone, “Look, if you don’t mind my asking, we’ve had some trouble getting in touch with you this week. Is everything okay?”

Blood thundering in my ears, I finally snapped and snatched the phone from Alyssa’s unresisting grip. “Where have you been, pet? What’s going on?”

“Gavin . . .” Emma’s voice broke through, but I could tell by her tone, I wasn’t going to like what she had to say. “Cooper. He told me about . . . Ashley.”

My office tilted sideways, and I had to thrust out a steadying hand to my desk to keep from falling over.

She knows.

And Cooper was the one to betray me.

Fuck.

This wasn’t a conversation we could have over the phone, and certainly not with Alyssa standing across from me with her hand on her hip.

“I’ll be at your place in half an hour.” I ended the call without waiting for Emma’s reply, then handed the phone back to Alyssa.

My assistant looked at me with wide eyes. “Well, that was smooth.”

“Go back to work. You have a job to do.”

And so did I.

Chapter Two

Emma

What a freaking day.

Trudging home six blocks with a bundle of books under my arm, I blew a wisp of hair from my face. I’d spent the morning waiting in line at a bookstore to meet one of my favorite authors only to have her be rude and indignant, sending me away with a flick of her wrist and an overpriced paperback with my name spelled wrong.

It had been a waste of time, but I’d gone because I needed the distraction. Gavin had been blowing up my phone for the past week, and I’d vowed not to answer.

So far, I’d been strong. I’d leaned on Cooper and thrown myself into the remodeling work my home needed. It wasn’t enough, but it was all I had at the moment. Yet I had a feeling this couldn’t go on much longer.

As I walked, I reflected on how this past summer in Boston seemed to go on forever, but now the cool fall air was a welcome reprieve. And the cold temperatures outside matched the icy chill inside my heart.

I sighed, hefting the books higher. One moment things with Gavin were perfect—I’d broken down his walls, or so I thought. And then the next, I was learning from his younger brother, Cooper, that Gavin’s ex had died tragically. A little research of my own had turned up the suspicious circumstances of her death.

I needed answers. Part of me wished I didn’t, wished I could just move on and forget Gavin Kingsley ever existed. But that wasn’t possible. After everything we’d shared the last tumultuous weeks, I couldn’t just walk away.

Instead, I’d run to Cooper and demanded an explanation. At first, he tried to play coy—said it was Gavin’s story to tell—but I wouldn’t let him off that easy. No way. I pressed Cooper until he caved, and since I was fairly certain he had a soft spot in his heart for me, it wasn’t all that difficult to get him to spill Gavin’s dirty little secret.

God, I’d been so stupid.

My resemblance to his ex was eerie. My long, dark hair fell over my shoulders just like hers, and our eyes were the same piercing shade of blue. We were the same height, same size, and had the same full lips and feisty smile. It seemed like there was only one difference between us—

I was alive.

She’d died in Gavin’s apartment. The article I’d read said Gavin had been the one to find her—in the bathtub. The details had been sparse, and a lot of things didn’t add up. Initially, foul play had been suspected.

When Cooper had insisted that Gavin would never have harmed her, I hated myself for it, but my mind stewed with doubts. I knew what Cooper didn’t—that Gavin had a penchant for rough sex.

Maybe things had gotten out of hand between him and Ashley. I wasn’t sure, but that fact had nagged at me, so even though I wanted to move on and forget my affair with the enigmatic multimillionaire Gavin Kingsley ever happened, it just wasn’t possible.