Chapter Nineteen
Octavio
" I have something for you," I murmur to Faith, picking her up off the couch and putting her in my lap. We slept most of the day, only waking up when Roman called half an hour ago. He said Finn had news and they'd be here soon. There are a few things I need to say to Faith before then, though.
"What is it?" Faith curls up in my lap, laying her head against my shoulder.
I pick up the folder on the end table and place it in her lap. She flips the file open and then leans back to glance up at me, frowning.
"Read it."
Her eyes track back and forth across the page for several moments before she looks at me again. "A prenuptial agreement? I don't understand."
"When I said I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, I meant it. You're going to marry me one day."
Her lips part, but no sound comes out.
"I need you to sign this sooner rather than later, though."
"Why?" Hurt flashes in her honey eyes. She struggles to get off my lap. "I don't want your money, Octavio. How could you even think that?"
"Faith, conejita , calm down." I grasp onto her hips to keep her on my lap. "This isn't to protect my assets. It's to protect yours."
She stops wriggling and turns a shocked gaze up at me. "I don't have any assets."
"You might," I tell her as gently as possible. "I think I found out who your father is…and why Tarasova wants you back so badly. If I'm right, your father was worth millions before he died, Faith. And you're his only child."
"I don't understand," she mumbles.
"I believe your father was Theodore 'Teddy' Jackson. He played professional football in the nineties. After he retired, he opened a company that created better protective gear. The company was incredibly successful. He passed away unexpectedly a few years after opening the company, leaving behind a little girl. I think you were that little girl."
"Teddy. My daddy bear," she whispers, tears springing to her eyes. "I remember calling him that. I always thought maybe I just invented the nickname for him when I started to forget him."
"He was your teddy bear, your daddy."
She nods, tears dripping down her cheeks. "God. Do you really think he's my dad?" Hope and fear war in her honey eyes. She desperately wants to believe that she was loved but is so afraid to let herself.
"I do," I murmur, drying her tears with the pads of my thumbs. "Finn and Roman have been helping me try to confirm my suspicions. They'll be here soon, but I want you to read this before they get here."
"Why?"
"Because if I'm right, you're his only heir. His sister died a few years ago. His mom—your grandma—is sick, angel. There is no other family." I hate giving her hope and taking it away all at once, but it's unavoidable.
Sadness sweeps through her gaze. "I still don't understand why you want me to sign this."
"Because you've been used for long enough," I explain, holding her close. "If you agree to marry me, I don't want there to be a single doubt in your mind as to why I want to be with you. I don't give a shit about the money, Faith. All I want is you." I tap the agreement in her hands. "This says that anything you bring into the marriage will remain yours, no matter what."
It's freedom, the best way I can give it to her. No matter what, she'll always have options. She'll always have a choice. And she's always know that I don't want her money. I just want her.
"You really want to marry me?" she whispers like she hasn't heard anything I've said to her today.
"More than I want my next breath," I growl, completely serious. I need my ring on her finger. I want everyone to know that she's mine and that she's under my protection. Hell, I want her to know that I choose her. That I will always choose her. "I belong to you, Faith."
"I belong to you too." She smiles at me, her eyes watery. "But I don't want to sign this, Octavio. I don't need to sign it. I know you aren't like Tarasova. I know you aren't trying to use me. I trust you."
"That means more to me than you'll ever know." I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. "Your trust means everything to me. But I still want you to sign this. It'll help protect you if anything ever happens to me."
"You mean if we divorce," she says, her voice small.
"Fuck no," I growl, the mere thought pissing me off. She's mine and I'm not ever giving her up. "Once my ring is on your finger, it's forever, Faith. You're never getting rid of me. Not ever."
"Then I don't need to sign this," she says, a little huff in her voice like I'm annoying her.
"You do need to sign this," I disagree, fighting a smile. She's so damn stubborn. That shouldn't be as endearing to me as it is. "I'm a cop, conejita . I've put a lot of bad men behind bars. If I'm right about your father and any of them find out, they might try to get their hands on your money by suing me. This will help ensure that doesn't happen." It also ensures that everything I have goes to her if anything happens to me. On the off chance I'm wrong about her father, I want to know she'll never have to worry again about her future. I don't have much, but everything I do have is hers for the taking.
I know she doesn't want to sign it, but I need her to do it anyway. I need her to put herself and her needs first and protect herself, even when it feels like she's protecting herself from me. And she needs that too. She's never had the chance to do it. She's never had that choice. She needs to know that, when it comes down to it, she's strong enough to fight for herself and her future, even when doing it feels selfish to her.
"Fine. I'll read it, but I don't like it."
I can't fight my smile this time. Dios , I love her and her grumpy little attitude.
She settles on my lap and reads through the agreement. It doesn't take her long at all. "This doesn't seem very fair to you," she mutters when she's done, eyeing me suspiciously. "It says if I divorce you, I can take half of your stuff and keep everything that's mine."
"Little bunny, if you divorce me, you might as well take everything because losing you will fucking kill me," I tell her, dead serious. I've been trying for weeks to figure out what I'll do if she leaves me, but the answer is simple. There's no way in hell I'll survive if she decides to leave me. It will rip my heart out of my chest. But if it's what she wants…I'll let her go. I'll give her anything she wants because she comes first to me. She has since the moment I met her. That won't ever change.
"I'll never want to divorce you," she says like it's a warning.
"Good, because I'll never want you to divorce me. I'm yours forever."
She leans forward and gives me a sweet little kiss. "I'll sign your stupid agreement if it makes you happy, Octavio. But you should know that I don't want to sign it. And I don't care about money. I just want you. I love you."
"I love you too, Faith. So goddamn much it should scare me."
"Does it?"
"Not even a little bit," I whisper against her lips.
She smiles against mine and then deepens the kiss. We stay just like that until the doorbell rings. Faith jumps, her hand going to her heart.
"It's okay," I soothe her, picking her up and then climbing to my feet. I set her in my spot before striding to the door to look out. Roman, Finn, Mila, and some guy I don't know are on the front porch. I disarm the security system and unlock the door, letting them in.
Mila goes straight to Faith, plopping down beside her and then wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "I've been worried about you," she says, laying her head against Faith's.
"I'm okay," Faith promises, though she's eyeing the guy with Finn and Roman oddly. He's older, with graying hair and kind blue eyes that are more than a little sad. He's dressed in an expensive suit.
"Octavio, Faith, this is Jordan Hamby," Finn says. "He was a friend of your father's."
"You mean–?" Faith whispers.
Roman nods, his expression soft. "Your father was Theodore Jackson, little one. Octavio was right."
Faith's face pales. Her hands tremble in her lap. She glances from Roman to me and then to Hamby.
"Faith," he says, taking a step in her direction.
I hold out an arm, halting him in his tracks. He rears back like he's only just noticed me standing there. I think maybe he has just noticed me. His eyes have been on Faith since he stepped through the front door. He's watching her like he's seen a ghost.
"She doesn't like to be crowded," I mutter to him.
He nods, his gaze drifting from me to her again.
She's staring at him, her face scrunched up. "Uncle Jordy?" she whispers.
A smile overtakes his face. "You remember me?"
"I…" Faith frowns, pressing the heel of her hand to her forehead like her head hurts. "I think so." She licks her lips, staring at him. "You used to bring me books." Her frown deepens, distress in her gaze. "You came to see me after my dad died."
I immediately cross to her and pull her into my arms, lending her my strength. Finn and Roman step closer to her too. Roman reaches for Mila's hand.
"I… My mom said you died," Faith whispers, her voice rough.
Anger floats through Hamby's expression. "I always wondered what Carmen told you about me," he mutters, scowling. "I visited you as often as she would let me until she refused to let me see you anymore." His expression crumbles. "Had I known what she was doing to you, I never would have let her keep you. She wanted the damn money."
"She knew about the money?"
Hamby nods. "I think she took you in believing that it would go to her as your caretaker. But Theo wasn't stupid, and he didn't trust her. He appointed me to oversee your trust should anything happen to him. Carmen quickly realized she would never get her hands on your father's money. She stopped letting me see you. I tried to track you down over the years, but she moved from place to place, making it extremely difficult to keep up with you. When you both disappeared after your sixteenth birthday, I hired a PI. He tracked her down in Canada, but he couldn't find you anywhere." His expression is grim, full of pain. "I feared she'd killed you. I never suspected…" He shakes his head. "I would have moved heaven and hell to get you back had I known, Faith."
Faith watches him for a moment and then turns her face up to me, her gaze stricken. "She didn't steal that money from Nikolai, did she?" she asks, her voice the barest of whispers.
"I don't think so, conejita ," I whisper, wishing like hell that I didn't have to break her heart like this. But she needs to know the truth. She deserves to know that she was never to blame for what was done to her. She's blamed herself for so long for the way Tarasova hurt people to punish her. That burden isn't hers to carry. It belongs to her bitch of a mother. "I think he paid her for you."
As far as I've been able to tell, she was never anything more than dollar signs to her mother. But her mother couldn't kill her, either, or she'd never get her hands on that money. So…she sold her to Tarasova instead. She made a small fortune and no longer had a kid to worry about. Tarasova intended to keep her around long enough to marry her to gain control of her fortune and then get rid of her. I'll never fucking tell Faith, but I have a suspicion he didn't intend to kill her. There's a reason they never raped her. And I'm guessing it's because they intended to sell her to the highest bidder as soon as she was no longer useful to Tarasova. She never needs to know that, though. Some shit, I'll take to my grave. That's one of those things.
"He knew where she was," she mumbles, looking at me for confirmation.
"I believe so."
She swallows hard, staring at me. And then a shiver rolls through her. She nods, laying her head against my chest. "Okay," she whispers. She only lets me hold her for a minute before she pulls back to look at Hamby again. "I thought I dreamed my dad. All this time, I thought maybe I just wanted to believe he existed."
"He existed," Hamby says. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his wallet, flipping it open. "Here." He holds a picture out toward her. "You have his eyes."
Faith takes the picture with shaking hands, turning it so I can see it too. My breath stalls in my throat as I stare down at her as a little kid. She's on her dad's lap, laughing at something off camera. Her little face is bright with joy, her honey eyes shining. Theo's arms are almost as big around as she is, but he's gentle with her, like she's the center of his world. Happiness radiates in his expression as he stares down at her, affection in his gaze.
"I do remember him," she whispers. A tear lands on the picture.
Mila sniffles beside her, dashing away tears.
"You were the best thing that ever happened to him," Hamby says, his voice rough with emotion. "Theo was wrapped around your little finger from the minute you were born. He adored you, Faith. We all did. I'm so damn sorry for what Carmen put you through."
"Me too," Faith whispers.
"How are you feeling?" I ask Faith, stroking my hands through her hair. She's been quiet since Hamby left, processing everything. I can't even imagine how she feels right now, finding out she's a millionaire and that her mother sold her to Tarasova all in one fell swoop. I fed her and brought her back to bed not long after everyone left. We've been here since.
"I'm not sure," she admits, laying her head on my chest. "I'm sad and happy and relieved. And angry." She pauses for a moment. "My mom really sold me to them."
"She's a bitch," I mutter, holding her a little tighter.
"All this time, I thought I did something to make her hate me, but I didn't. Mila was right." She sighs sadly. "She couldn't love me because she isn't capable of love."
"Some people are heartless, little bunny. I'm sorry your mother is one of those people. You deserve love and affection." I will never understand how her mother could do what she did. But she won't get away with it. It may be too late to charge her for the physical and mental abuse she subjected Faith to, but there is no such statute of limitations for selling a child into human slavery. As soon as the indictment is drawn up, she'll be arrested and extradited back here to stand trial.
"I have to tell you something else."
She looks up at me.
"There's going to be a hearing at work. About you."
"Me?" She blinks her sooty lashes. "Why?"
"Because I claimed you as mine." I expel a breath. "My major thinks I violated policy by being with you. He's not happy about it, so there's going to be a hearing."
"You're in trouble because of me," she whispers.
"No, Faith." I clutch her to me, my voice firm. "I'm in trouble for breaking the rules to be with you. Finn and Roman will testify that you weren't in protective custody. I may be suspended without pay for a little longer than usual, but I don't give a shit. I knew it was possible before I claimed you, but I made the choice anyway. I'd make the same one all over again. I love you. You're mine. If anyone doesn't like that, they can go to hell."
"But you love your job."
"I love you more. Te necesito ."
She's quiet for a long time, processing the situation. "That's why you tried to fight the way you felt, isn't it? Because of your job."
"Hell no. I didn't want you to think I was anything like Sanders." I sigh quietly. "And I was trying like hell to give you time to adjust. You asked for freedom. I wanted you to have that."
"I know you aren't like him, Octavio. And I realized something."
"What?"
"It's not just freedom that I wanted," she whispers. "I wanted…love. I wanted a home. You gave me those, Octavio. For the first time, I feel like I belong somewhere. You love me. That's freedom." The certainty in her voice wrecks me in the best way possible.
I hold her tighter, burying my face in her hair for a moment. "I do," I whisper when I can speak through the emotion coursing through me. "So damn much, angel."
"My dad loved me too," she whispers, awe in her voice.
"I think he loved you more than anything," I agree.
"Do you think…do you think Jordan will want to spend time with me? I mean after we deal with all the paperwork and stuff?"
She won't inherit everything until she's twenty-five, but her dad made sure she would be taken care of until that time. She has access to a monthly stipend that will more than cover her expenses. Hamby invested everything she would have received prior to today, more than doubling it. She'll never want for anything.
"I know he does," I reassure her, smiling. "He made me promise to keep in touch with him even after you sign all the paperwork for the trust. I think not knowing what happened to you for so long broke his heart."
"I can't believe my mom told me that he died." She sighs again. "I can't believe I forgot him."
"You were just a kid," I murmur, hating the thread of guilt in her voice. "Don't beat yourself up for not remembering what happened when you were little. He wouldn't want that and neither would your dad. Besides, you didn't forget him. You remembered him when you saw him today."
"I'm glad he came to see me," she says and then she hesitates. "Do you think Nikolai knows about him? I don't want him to target him too."
"I don't think you need to worry about them any longer." I sit up, pulling her up with me. Once she's straddling my lap so I can see her face, I tuck her hair behind her ears. "You should know that Rick Sanders is the one who told the Sedov where you were."
Her eyes widen.
"He's going to prison for it," I murmur, rubbing my hands up and down her arms. "And Milonov is dead."
"Did you–?"
I shake my head. "Tarasova did."
The news came in a couple hours ago. His body was recovered in a burning vehicle a few miles from Tarasova's territory. He'd been shot several times and beaten rather badly. I feel no sympathy for him.
"Nikolai?" Faith's eyes widen.
"He didn't send them after you last night. He didn't even know what happened until we told him. Sedov and Milonov decided to come after you when Sanders told them where you were. I guess they figured if Nikolai wasn't going to make a move, they would. Once you and your trust fund were under their control, they could have forced him out. With the promise of your dad's money in their hands, they might have been able to pull it off."
"I thought Nikolai decided to give me to Ivan," she admits, her voice small. "He said I belonged to him and that I never should have left him."
"The hell you did," I growl.
Her gaze snaps to mine.
"He was obsessed with you. But you were never his, and he never should have touched you. I decided weeks ago that he was going to die for what he did to you. I don't regret killing him."
"I'm glad he's dead. I hate him." Her face scrunches up again. "I hate all of them for what they did, but I hate him most. He was a monster."
"He'll never hurt anyone else."
"What about Nikolai?" Fear drifts through her gaze.
"I think Tarasova is smart enough to know when he's beaten. He knows if he comes for you again, he's going to have to come through me and Kincaid. Not even your money is worth him risking everything, especially now that he knows exactly how precarious his position is right now." I take a breath, worried about telling her the next part. "He knows about your notebook."
Her face pales.
"I know you worried that you didn't have anything of value to give me, but you were wrong. With your notebook and everything I already knew about them, we have a very strong case against him. I wanted him to know who was responsible for bringing him down, conejita . I wanted him to know that the woman he tormented was the one who ruined him."
"He'll come for me."
"He won't," I assure her. "Kincaid expects the hit to be called off at any moment. Finn and Roman are already working on building the case against every single person named in your notebook. Indictments will start rolling in soon. Tarasova has bigger problems now, Faith. His entire world just blew up. Believe me, he's never going to come for you again."
She searches my gaze like she's looking for any hint of doubt, but there isn't any. Tarasova may be a prick, but he's a smart prick. He'll try to negotiate with Kincaid to save his ass, and his first concession will be Faith's safety.
"What about finding out what happened to your sister?" she asks, her eyes wide and worried. "You can't just give up on finding out, Octavio. You've been searching for answers your whole life."
"I need you safe more than I need closure. Anything he could tell me about her won't bring her back or change anything. I made peace long ago with the fact that I would never know what happened to her. All I've wanted since was to bring them down. You helped me make that possible." I smile at her. "Everything I need to die happy is right here in my arms."
"You make me happy too." She melts against me with a nod, her honey eyes full of trust as I drag her back down in the bed beneath me to show her with my body exactly how happy she makes me.
"I love you, Octavio," she whispers.
" Te amo, mi conejita . Te amo ."
"She looks good," Kincaid says, stepping up beside me as I watch Faith and January whispering back and forth on the couch. They've become good friends over the last few days. January sneaks over here when Kincaid isn't looking. He usually follows along a few minutes later. I'm pretty sure he knows before she ever steps foot out of the house, but he plays along, letting her think she won. He'd do anything for her.
"She is good," I murmur, smiling when Faith turns toward me, her eyes bright. Hamby was over here yesterday, helping her sign the paperwork to gain access to the allowance her trust provides. He offered to make me the executor once he read through the prenuptial agreement I had drawn up and realized that I was serious about not wanting her money, but I declined. I might not know him well, but it's obvious he cares about her. Even though he feared she was dead, he kept her trust fund safe and never gave up hope that she would reappear someday.
He promised to come see Faith again this weekend. He also brought her a bunch of pictures from her childhood. She sat in my lap after he left, crying as she went through them. I think having them means more to her than any amount of money ever will. For the first time in her life, she's coming to realize that she's always been wanted, always been loved. Maybe not by her bitch of a mother, but by her dad, Jordan Hamby, and the grandmother who no longer even remembers she has a granddaughter.
I promised Hamby that I'd take her to see her grandmother soon. She doesn't have a lot of time left, and I want Faith to be able to say goodbye to her before she passes. She needs to be able to say goodbye, I think.
She's working through everything, putting together the pieces of her past. But she's good. She's happy. There's a confident gleam in her honey eyes now, like she finally knows where she belongs…like she finally knows she deserves so much more than she's ever been given.
"Tarasova rescinded the reward he was offering for Faith's capture," Kincaid says, keeping his voice pitched low so Faith and January don't overhear. "He wants to negotiate."
I grasp onto the kitchen table to keep from falling over as relief hits me, weakening my knees. This is what we've been waiting on, what we wanted. She's finally free. Finally safe. Thank God.
"I know you want him behind bars, but you have an opportunity here," Kincaid continues, his expression unreadable. He nods in Faith's direction. "You know she isn't the only slave they were holding. There are others like her out there."
"You want me to free them."
Kincaid shrugs. "What you do is up to you. But putting him behind bars isn't going to stop the Bratva, not really. You know gangs and cartels run prisons. He'll be as comfortable on the inside as he has been on the outside. And sooner or later, someone else will sweep in to take his place. Any control we have over them will be gone."
I grind my teeth together, clenching my fists. He's right, damn him. As much as I want Tarasova in prison or a shallow grave for what he put Faith through…Kincaid is right. Toppling Tarasova won't save innocent women like my sister or Faith.
"I want to negotiate," Faith says from across the room.
I jerk my head up to find her and January both watching us. It's clear they've heard every word we said, despite us trying to keep it from them. Faith stares at me, her hands clasped in her lap and her honey eyes full of some emotion I can't name.
"What do you want from him, conejita ?" I ask instead of refusing to entertain the idea. I'm not the one they abused for five years. She is. If anyone should have a say in what happens now, it should be her.
"I want him to free his sister, and I want him to find out what happened to yours." She pushes herself to her feet and crosses the room to me. "You deserve closure, Octavio."
"So do you," I murmur, pulling her into my arms.
"Do we have to agree not to pursue charges against him?" She turns to look at Kincaid, tilting her head back to see his face.
"You don't have to agree to a fucking thing, Faith," he promises her. "But I won't lie to you. That's what he's after. He knows he's in for a world of hurt because of your notebook and any testimony you agree to provide."
She nods like she expected that answer and then looks up at me again, her eyes soft. "Think about it, Octavio. We can free his sister and anyone else they're holding in the city. We can find out what happened to your sister."
"If we do this, he'll get away with what he did to you," I remind her, reluctant to agree even though it's not my choice to make. I want him to suffer. I want him to pay.
"If that's the price I have to pay to save his sister…I think I have to do it," she whispers. "She's been locked away for so long, Octavio. It's not right. She deserves her freedom too. They all do."
Dios. How can I refuse her?
"He frees everyone," I growl at Kincaid. "Every goddamn person he's holding against their wills. And they don't bring anyone else in to replace them."
Kincaid jerks his chin in a nod.
"Anyone who touched you is fair game," I say to Faith, not willing to budge on that one. If they put their hands on her, they're going down for it. "They don't get to walk away."
She nods, hope in her eyes.
"And he has to stop looking for Selena Ortega," I say, looking at Kincaid again. "In exchange, we agree to strike Faith's notebook as evidence against him and only him. She won't provide testimony against him. Anything we learned from her, we set aside at his trial."
"Smart," Kincaid says, respect in his steely blue-gray eyes. "You give him exactly what he's asking for, but you leave the door open to continue building a case against him for all the other shit he's done if he steps out of line."
That's precisely my plan. If he agrees to free everyone else, I won't need Faith's notebook or testimony to bring him down. He'll think we've given him a free pass. And the rest of the people he's abused and tormented will help me nail his ass to the wall if he so much as breathes wrong. I'll have my goddamn boot on his neck until the fucking cell door slams closed behind him.
"I'm not finished yet," I mutter.
Kincaid smirks, waving for me to continue.
"They have to agree to stay out of Tarzana. They don't even drive through the area. They also agree to remain no less than five hundred feet from Faith at all times. If anyone violates the agreement, her notebook goes back into play, and Tarasova goes down for human trafficking and slavery."
"Dude, a major freeway runs through Tarzana."
"They can use the freeway, but they don't stop in the district," I retort, refusing to bend on this one. Faith will be safe in our home and our community. I won't accept anything less. "If their car dies, they push the motherfucker to Encino or Woodland Hills. They're not to step foot inside Tarzana."
"I can probably get him to agree to that," Kincaid agrees. "Anything else?"
"Yeah, Tarasova testifies against her mother."
Faith's eyes go wide with shock.
"She doesn't get to walk away from what she did, angel," I murmur, reaching out to stroke her cheek. The bruise has faded to a green color. "She kept you away from the people who loved you. She abused you and then sold you to those pendejos . I'm not letting her get away with that."
"Okay," she whispers. Her honey eyes brim with emotion. There's a little touch of sadness there, but it's overrun by awe, like she can't believe I'd fight so hard for her. But she should know by now that everything I do, I do for her. She's my future, my happiness…the part of me that's been missing for most of my life. There is nothing I wouldn't do for her.
"I'll ask him for a sit down," Kincaid says, "but you aren't coming this time, O. You're more likely to shoot him than negotiate with him. The last fucking thing I need is to end up in another fucking war when the one we're dealing with still isn't entirely over."
"Fine," I agree easily enough, not taking my eyes off Faith. He's right. I let Tarasova live once. I'm not so sure I'm willing to do it a second time. "Do it."
He stalks across the room to January's side and picks her up from the couch. "I'll call when it's done," he mutters over his shoulder, already headed to the door with her in his arms.
As soon as the door closes behind them, I pick Faith up. She wraps around me like a koala bear again.
"Where are we going?" she asks as I carry her down the hall.
"Home, little bunny," I murmur, pressing my lips to her forehead. "We're going home."