Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Obi-Wan hadn’t left Zita’s side since he’d found her in that fucking rusting beast of an aircraft carrier a week ago. It was hard to believe Silas had locked her in a room knowing the ship would be towed out to sea and sunk.
As far as the prosecutor was concerned, Carmen St. James was as guilty as Silas. She was the one who’d set everything in motion. And for what? Sex? It was ridiculous. Hard to believe.
But that definitely seemed to be her motive. Tex had retrieved a full transcript of the texts she and Silas had sent back and forth like idiots. Yes, they’d both deleted the texts, but everyone knew nothing was ever gone forever on electronic devices.
The entire plot had been spelled out in their communications. How Carmen promised Silas money, jobs, and sex with some of the most beautiful women in Hollywood. And in return, all he had to do was get rid of Zita.
Thankfully for Obi-Wan and Zita—because expensive lawyers could’ve easily argued that “get rid of” didn’t translate to “murder”—she’d been more specific when Silas asked for clarification…saying she wanted the woman she saw as her “competition” dead.
If there was anything redeeming about Silas, it was that he hadn’t actually killed Zita before stashing her in the empty ship.
He also hadn’t sexually assaulted her. He’d punched her twice, kicked her, and it was clear without Zita having to say a word that he’d put his hands around her neck as well…
but she was alive. And thanks to Fred and his handler, she’d been found in a relatively short period of time.
If Obi-Wan and the rest of the searchers had to go through that ship room by room, the outcome might’ve been very different.
Silas squealed like a pig when he learned Zita had been found, throwing Carmen under the bus. He’d apparently decided if he was going down, so was she. The coconspirators were currently locked up and awaiting a court date.
It was a huge scandal, and Carmen St. James was most likely done with her acting career.
Not to mention, the studio was shelling out a fuckton of money so Grubbner could reshoot all the scenes Carmen had been in, having already replaced the actress.
It was possible cancel culture would make sure the movie tanked, no matter the effort Grubbner was going through to salvage it. Time would tell.
But as far as Carmen’s career went, no director would dare cast her now, considering how reviled she was at the moment. Not that it was even an option, as she’d be spending some time behind bars. Probably not enough for Obi-Wan’s peace of mind though.
Zita would have some stressful times coming up. She’d need to testify for sure, but Obi-Wan was confident she’d be able to handle it as well as she’d handled everything else that had been thrown at her.
She’d been missing for two days. Any longer and things could’ve been a bit dicier as far as her health went.
As it was, she was dehydrated to a dangerous level and had lost almost ten pounds in that short time.
She was also struggling mentally. Which wasn’t a surprise to Obi-Wan and his friends.
They knew the effects that solitude and darkness could have on the human body.
It was a well-known torture technique, and it made Obi-Wan sick to his stomach that his Zita had experienced it.
Her family had flown in as soon as they were able. They hadn’t arrived at the scrapyard in time to join the search, but they’d met them at the hospital, and had spent every possible minute with her that they could. They were extremely shaken up by what had happened.
Unbeknownst to Zita, Obi-Wan had talked to her parents and brother while she was napping at the hospital.
It was a little weird at first, since none of them knew each other, but Obi-Wan hadn’t held anything back.
He’d told them that he loved Zita more than he could put into words, and that he’d do everything in his power to keep her safe from here on out.
It wasn’t the way he’d wanted to meet her family, but he reassured them that he was in this for the long haul, no matter how recently he and Zita had met.
After the initial awkwardness wore off, Obi-Wan found that he enjoyed talking to her folks and her brother.
They were down to earth and obviously loved Zita very much.
When she woke, her family visited for a while longer, before Zita finally convinced them she was okay. After making her promise to come to Indiana to visit them sooner rather than later, the threesome headed back to their hotel, flying home the next day.
Now, Obi-Wan and Zita were currently holed up together at his place. Colonel Burgess had put him on convalescence leave, and Obi-Wan felt no guilt in using every day of the time he’d been given.
After Zita was discharged from the hospital the next day, he’d brought her straight to his apartment. Someone—he had no idea who, but was grateful—had brought Zita’s suitcases to his place, so she had her own things to change into.
And to Obi-Wan’s surprise, Pyro had insisted on coming to the apartment with them as well, sleeping in the guest room.
In the morning, he was still there, having made them breakfast, and hadn’t seemed the least bit inclined to leave.
Until getting a call from Casper, reminding him that Obi-Wan was on leave, not him.
Which made both Zita and Obi-Wan chuckle.
But he came back after work to spend the night again. And after the next workday. And the day after that.
Now, just a week after her ordeal, the sun was shining and Zita seemed better every day, proving her strength and resilience. She was still struggling with what had happened, which was to be expected, but she’d slept through the evening without a nightmare, which was a relief.
Obi-Wan, on the other hand, wasn’t sleeping all that great.
The first night home, he’d just held Zita and listened to her breathe.
One hand on her chest, feeling her heartbeat under his palm.
He didn’t think he’d ever forget the sick feeling he’d had when he didn’t know if she was alive or dead.
His fear would fade, as would hers. With time and love, they’d both continue to heal from the traumatic experience. But forget? Never.
After she’d showered that morning—her third shower in twenty-four hours, but Obi-Wan wasn’t about to comment on that.
She’d been taking at least two a day since her rescue…
and he understood the need to be clean after such an intense experience—he asked if she minded Pyro staying with them.
She’d admitted that after being alone on that massive ship for two days, having other people in the apartment was a comfort.
He hadn’t considered that…but clearly Pyro had.
So Obi-Wan took her words to heart, asking if the rest of his team could visit.
They were all worried about her and wanted to see for themselves that she was all right.
She’d agreed without hesitation, and he’d sent out word that they could come see her whenever they wanted.
Which turned out to be that very evening. It wasn’t long after the end of the team’s workday before his apartment was bursting at the seams, and as each person arrived, Zita seemed to relax even more. It was a tight fit, but no one seemed to mind that Obi-Wan didn’t have enough seats for everyone.
Obi-Wan and Zita were in their usual spot in one of his oversized chairs, where they’d spent most of the last week. The entire Night Stalker team was happy to be stuffed into his apartment, along with Mandy and Laryn. The colonel had even stopped by at one point.
Surprisingly, Jennifer Williams and her dog, Fred, were there too, at Zita’s insistence.
She said she wanted to thank them properly.
So they’d dropped by shortly after the team arrived, and were still there.
Fred was lying in the middle of the floor on his back, snoring loudly, which made everyone chuckle.
And Jennifer? She was sitting at the table near the kitchen, with Edge.
Obi-Wan couldn’t see or hear what they were talking about, but they were definitely getting along pretty well.
Which was interesting. The two were about the same height, around five foot six, but that seemed to be where the similarities ended.
He guessed Edge was at least ten years older than Jen.
She seemed laid-back, while Edge was…not.
It was part of the reason for his nickname.
He always seemed to be on edge. At work, while flying, and in general.
But surprisingly, his friend seemed pretty relaxed at the moment. Hell, he’d even seen the man smile and laugh a couple of times.
Also, when he’d first met Jennifer, there was something different about the woman that Obi-Wan hadn’t been able to put his finger on, too busy worrying at the time.
Now, seeing her today, when he wasn’t fully focused on finding Zita and could see the woman in better lighting, he realized what it was.
She had no eyebrows. Or eyelashes.
It wasn’t a turn-off; it was just different. And there were plenty of reasons why she might be missing hair. He wasn’t going to speculate about it…he just hoped it wasn’t cancer. The disease was awful, and he wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
In the end, her lack of hair didn’t matter to Obi-Wan.
Not one whit. She could shave off every hair on her body and he wouldn’t give a damn.
As far as he was concerned, the woman was part of his circle of friends now.
How could she be otherwise, when she and her dog had found the woman he loved more than he could put into words?
And Obi-Wan had to admit that he liked seeing Edge looking so comfortable around someone. The man was usually standoffish, and he had a habit of scaring away people who didn’t know him personally by frowning and looking pissed off at the world.