I don’t respond, because I have no idea what she’s referring to—the ring or how I feel about Emmie.
Thankfully, she clarifies before I’m forced to make a decision and answer one way or the other.
“The red diamond. Was it real?”
I scoff. “Of course it was. What do you take me for?”
She closes the lid and places it back on the side before stepping right up to me and planting her finger in my chest.
“I hate you right now, but I can also see that you’re hurting, too. It makes me hate you a little less.”
“Um…”
“I want to believe that you never intended to hurt her. I want to believe that under your façade and don’t-give-two-fucks-about-anything mask, you actually care for her. That maybe, you think that being married to her isn’t the worst thing that ever happened to you. Because let me tell you this for nothing.” She jabs me again, hard enough to ensure it hurts. “You could do a lot worse than Emmie Ramsey.”
“You mean Cirillo?”
“W-what?”
“Emmie Cirillo.”
“Well ho-ly shit,” she says, lowering her hand and taking a small step back. “You really have put a ring on it, huh?”
All I can do is shrug as a small smile tugs at the corner of Stella’s lips.
“We’ll get her back, Theo. We will,” she assures me before wrapping her arms around my shoulders and hugging me tight.
I don’t move. I’m frozen to the spot—not just because of her words but also out of fear of pissing Seb off.
Anger is radiating from him in waves. I get it. I do. We don’t lie to each other. Ever. And not only did I keep my marriage from him, but I also kept the fact that he and Emmie are related a secret.
“Have you found anything?” Seb asks, speaking for the first time since we all stepped inside.
I shake my head. “I tracked her to the hotel they went to last night, and after getting the runaround by the Reapers, I followed her to Link’s place, but he was there alone. The trail’s gone cold.”
“What were you tracking? Did they deactivate it?”
“Um…” I say, rubbing the back of my neck, knowing that this is probably going to go down about as well as it did when Emmie discovered what I’d done. “I chipped her.”
“You fucking what?” Stella squeals.
“Look,” I say, holding my hands up in defence. “I know how this looks. But I had no idea what we were dealing with. All this shit with Cora could have meant she was in danger. I wanted to know that we could find her no matter what happened.”
“And tracking her cell wasn’t enough.”
“Clearly fucking not, no. Her cell is here. Her bike is at the compound, and she’s fuck knows where. Her chip is at Link’s. They’d dug it out and she’d fucked off.”
“So now what?” Seb asks.
“She’s with Cruz. They’ll be somewhere connected to him. He’s not clever enough to make them completely disappear.”
“You know that for a fact, do you? Because correct me if I’m wrong, but that idiot just managed to infiltrate our security, crash our party, and steal your wife.”
Hearing him call Emmie my wife does weird things to my insides, but I push it aside.
“They hardly stole her. She set the whole thing up. She walked away from me willingly.”
“You blame her after all this shit?”
“I just wanted her safe.” I just wanted her to myself. “We’ll find her. I fucking promise you,” I tell both of them. “We’ll fucking find her and bring her back where she belongs.”
Seb releases a long breath and falls back on my sofa. “I can’t believe she’s a Papatonis.”
“I can,” Stella announces. “You’re both as obstinate and hard-headed as each other.”
Seb covers his face with his hands before pushing his fingers into his hair and tugging.
“Do whatever it takes. I’m not fucking losing any more family.”
“I’ll get her back where she belongs.” Right by my fucking side. “Whatever it takes.”