Chapter 29
Jordana reached down and grabbed her father’s hand as they stared at the screen with disbelief.
“Who is it?” Forrest asked.
“My uncle,” Jordana’s voice was barely above a whisper.
“That is my wife’s brother,” Pedro said, anger in his voice. “Doctor Benicio Silva.
“Why would your brother-in-law want to kill you?” Granger asked from the end of the bed.
Jordana shook her head. “I have no idea.”
Her father didn’t answer. When she looked down at him, she saw his brow furrowed in concentration. She’d seen that look before. He was thinking as a general right now. Not as a victim of attempted murder.
“Beni and I hit a rough patch when my wife was murdered. He blamed me for Bruna’s death,” her father said, replaying the part of the video where Uncle Beni’s face was clear.
“Why was your wife murdered, sir?” Granger asked.
“I had the support of the men under my command during the last administration. Our current president was running and he spoke of the corruption under the past administration. I was the one person powerful enough in the previous administration that could have challenged the previous president and expose that evidence. The funny thing was that I had no intention of getting involved. I was going to wait for the election. I wasn’t a politician.
I was a career military man. But they didn’t know that.
Supporters of the previous administration, the same administration that gave government funds to the worst destroyers of the , killed Bruna to send me a message.
I’m sure they meant to kill me, but that night I had offered to take Jordana to science club and let Bruna enjoy a night off.
They found her home alone and killed her. ”
Jordana bit her lip to stop from crying. Forrest, who was standing to her side, moved to stand behind her. He placed one hand on her shoulder and his other hand on her father’s shoulder.
Waverly and Natalie sniffled as they tried to hide their tears. Even the trio of elderly women had tears in their eyes.
“I’m sorry. That must have been incredibly difficult for you.” Granger said sympathetically. He reached out and took his wife’s hand and squeezed it before tugging her to stand closer to his side.
The men all stood a little closer to their women as if they’d do anything to protect them.
Jordana looked over her shoulder and saw fire in Forrest’s eyes.
Yes, that’s exactly what they’d do. The story hit them hard because they were in love with their wives and they could understand the pain of not being able to protect them.
Her father gave a nod of his head. “As you can imagine, murdering my wife had the opposite effect. Instead of backing down, I dismantled as many of the corrupt politicians and fraudulent schemes as I could. President Vara won easily and I was appointed to protect and clean up the . After the election, Beni came back into our lives. He said he was sorry and that it wasn’t personal.
He was simply grieving. Jory was so excited to have a connection to her mother again and I was glad to have my brother-in-law back.
He was always at our house before the murder.
It almost seemed as if I’d lost them both.
Then he was back. He was around even more than before.
I thought it was because he was missing Bruna, and Jordana and I were a connection to her.
But now I know the truth. I fired an assistant, thinking it was he who gave Jordana and Forrest’s location to Rei da Floresta.
It never occurred to me that Beni had been right there the whole time. ”
The full impact of what her father was saying hit Jordana, and it was soul-crushing. It truly did feel as if she’d lost a part of her. “Uncle Beni knew about my kidnapping,” she managed to say out loud.
Her father turned and looked at her. His face was serious yet sympathetic. “Jory, he planned your kidnapping and sent murderers after you and Forrest.”
Jordana was shaking her head. Granger had stopped asking questions. Everyone was silent as if they all understood, except for her. “But why?”
“Because, Beni is Rei da Floresta.”
Jordana was shaking more than just her head as Forrest moved to hug her to him. “I’m sorry, Jory.”
“No. He wouldn’t do this to me,” Jordana cried out. Waverly and Natalie were pushed by their husbands and wrapped her in their arms.
“I’ll defer to law enforcement,” Waverly said softly. “But it makes sense.”
Tears ran down Jordana’s face as anger built within. “He was the tie to my mother. Father would tell me stories about my mother after they met, but Uncle Beni told me about her as a child. He said how I reminded him so much of her—”
Jordana shook off the people trying to soothe her as she went down on her knees next to her father. She reached out and took her hand in his. “I won’t believe it, Dad. Not until I see it with my own eyes.”
“Then, that’s what we’ll do,” her father told her.
Jordana felt Forrest stiffen. “What are you planning, Pedro? Because I’m guessing it’s something that will put a giant target right on you.”
“See, we understand each other so well already. You’ll fit perfectly into our little family.
” Jordana stared down with surprise at her father.
He’d never been mean to previous boyfriends, but he’d never been particularly welcoming either.
Now he was calling Forrest ‘son’ and telling him he fit their family.
Maybe it was just because he was in a life-or-death situation, but Jordana sure hoped it was more than that.
Forrest was the first man she thought was the one.
The first man she loved with her whole heart, body, and soul.
If her father saw that—felt that and supported that—well, that made her about the happiest woman in the world right now.
“This sounds like something I might need to call backup in for,” Granger said before going out into the hall.
A moment later, both agents and all the armed women of Shadows Landing were back in the room.
“What’s your idea, sir?” Granger asked after briefly catching everyone up on the current situation.
Jordana’s father turned to look at her. “I need Jordana to call her uncle. Jory will tell her uncle that she’s scared.
She’ll tell him that Forrest dumped her here and left.
You’re here alone, trying to take care of me.
Tell him I was very sick, but you think I’m through the worst of it and starting to improve.
Don’t let him know I’m on the mend. Then ask him what you should do. ”
Jordana was already shaking her head. “No. I’m not going to tell him how he can kill you.”
“Jory,” her father said, squeezing her hand.
“I’m not going to be killed. I have everyone here to stop that.
I might be sore from the operation, but I haven’t felt this good since the assassination attempt.
I’m strong, querida. Besides I won’t need to be.
My job will be to just lie here. If it makes you feel better, then I’m sure someone will have a gun or a knife I can borrow. ”
“But why do you have to be the target? Make me the target!” Jordana demanded.
“Because, if your uncle is Rei da Floresta, then you never were the target. You were a means to get to me. His ultimate goal is to get me out of the way so he can run his illegal activities without my department trying to shut him down. He did it nicely at first—becoming my friend to learn what my plans were and moving his organization to different parts of the forest to avoid raids. Then he kidnapped you to force me to step down and back away. That’s why you were held so long and, while you weren’t treated well, you weren’t tortured or assaulted.
You had food and shelter. When that didn’t work, he tried to scare me with the first assassination attempt.
It finally became clear to him after that, after we talked that night, that I wasn’t going to back down.
I left him with no choice but to kill me.
If I’m wrong, your uncle will come here and help.
If I’m right, he’ll come here and try to kill me. ”
“We’ll have the room completely under video surveillance,” Agent Mayfield said into the silence.
“There’s actually a hidden passage leading into this room right behind that portrait,” Maggie added. “Hunter or Granger can be there, ready to take a shot if your life is in danger. There’s an eyehole and it’s just canvas, so you can shoot right through it.”
“You forgot the old root cellar below us too,” her father told her, kicking back the rug in the back of the room.
“During the Revolutionary War, my relatives would hide here. This used to be the kitchen. Over the centuries, the house that started as a small cabin has grown. This was converted to a dining room after the Civil War and then my grandfather converted it to a bedroom during prohibition and hid the bootlegged liquor in the root cellar. Five people could easily fit down there.”
“We can put a regular bed in here and have people under it too,” Hunter suggested.
Granger nodded. “Move this couch away from the windows and someone can lie behind it. We can all be watching the live feed and can move before any attempts are made on your life.”
“I also have an idea,” Kenzie said with a smile.
Jordana still didn’t feel comfortable with this, but a sinking realization was starting. “If we don’t do this, then it’ll never be over, will it?”
“I wouldn’t say that,” her father told her.
“But if we want answers now, this is the only way to do so. Let them think they have the upper hand. If Beni is behind this, it would be our best chance at getting him. He thinks he’s untouchable in Brazil, and that arrogance will carry over here.
But here he doesn’t have anyone on his payroll.
However, we won’t do it unless you agree, Jory. ”
Jordana looked back at Forrest who gave her a supportive smile.
He’d support her in whatever she decided.
As would her father. But he was right. Here they had allies.
In Brazil, they didn’t know who was bought and paid for.
She just had to find a way to get her uncle here to discover the truth.
Had he been willing to have her killed to draw her father out?
Was he the one behind the contract on her life after she messed up his extortion plan by escaping?
“I’ll do it. I need a quiet room though so I can focus.”
“I’ll take you to our guest room on the second floor. You can use the landline. Let him trace it straight to you. It’ll only reinforce your story,” Maggie told her as a path formed when people got out of their way.
“Do you want me to go with you?” Forrest asked, his eyes full of concern for her.
“No, thank you. Stay with Dad. I need to focus.”