12. Emerson
Emerson
My plan worked, maybe a little too well.
By the grace of God, I’d made my way out of the jungle. I hadn’t thought-out my trek through the forest and it had taken me forever to get my bearings. And by the time daylight broke I realized I’d been walking in circles and I was back at the shack where the girls had been kept.
That was possibly the best mistake. I followed the dirt road back out to the industrial buildings and found a local fisherman getting ready to launch his boat.
As it turned out, the ride the man gave me back to the hotel was expensive.
Thankfully, I’d nabbed my earrings off the table before we’d left the house Thaddeus and his team were staying at or I would’ve been up shit’s creek.
The fisherman hadn’t been willing to miss a day’s work without payment.
The earrings were worth six years’ worth of fishing for the man.
Though it was highly doubtful, he understood their value.
Easy come, easy go, right?
I’d had no other choice. I needed to get back to the hotel and collect my belongings before Jefferson’s men cleared out the room .
Paul, Jefferson’s second in command, was in the villa when I’d finally arrived.
I put on the performance of a lifetime and was overjoyed when he’d bought my story of kidnapping and escape.
I’d laid it on thick, too. I’d told him that the men who’d killed Jefferson and Carlos were from a gang from Caracas.
That was Jefferson’s most profitable and coveted area.
I’d told Paul the men wanted Jefferson’s territory and were planning on killing all of Jefferson’s lieutenants in an effort to seize what they wanted and they were going to use me for ransom.
He’d bought it—all of it. Paul had hung on every last word until he’d exploded in a rage and started making phone calls dispatching his men to exact revenge. Then after he’d commanded me to stay in the room until he returned, he’d left.
I didn’t know how many guards he’d left outside of the room and I didn’t bother to check.
I was too busy packing my shit and riffling through Jefferson’s, searching for anything valuable I could take.
I didn’t feel bad for stealing a dead man’s belongings.
Everything he’d owned had been acquired with dirty money.
Money that was tainted with horrors he’d inflicted on others. So, no, I didn’t feel a bit of remorse I was stealing it and using it to track down and kill other men who would cause the same kind of harm.
I was on my knees in front of Jefferson’s carefully packed Louis Vuitton trunk looking for my passport, then I wasn’t. Two arms snaked under my armpits and I was hefted upright, but not on my feet. I was dangling in air and moving.
My brain finally got with the program and I twisted my body trying to free myself.
I kicked and clawed with everything I had, and in the three seconds I’d been struggling, I realized a sad truth.
I wasn’t as strong as I’d thought. The much-stronger arms around my chest hadn’t budged. Not even the smallest of fractions.
“Stop moving.” I stopped thrashing and I stopped breathing. I held my breath and prayed I’d misheard the voice. “Do not try and run.”
Nope. I’d heard right.
Thaddeus.
He placed me on my feet and I twirled around and came face-to-black-masked face with the man I never wanted to see again.
Damn it all to hell.
Why? Why was the universe punishing me?
“What are you doing here?” I haughtily inquired.
“I’d ask you the same thing, but I think I know,” he returned.
“So?” I prompted.
“We’re here for the same reason you are.”
“Really? So, you’re here to get your shit and flee, too?”
“Don’t be a smartass, Emerson.”
Seriously? A smartass? I wasn’t trying to be smart, I was trying to ascertain why, once again, Thaddeus was screwing with my plans.
“Okay. So, why are you really here, Thaddeus?”
His eyes narrowed and even though I couldn’t see the rest of his handsome face, I was certain he was grimacing.
“Orders to confiscate and secure all of Garcia’s belongings. And that includes you.”
“What? Me?”
“That’s correct.”
“Why?”
No. No way was I going with them. Not again. Now that I had my stuff, I wanted out of Venezuela. I had important stuff to do and that didn’t include hanging out with Thaddeus and his band of assholes who all hated me.
“Our boss thinks you have intel that will help us locate a man we’re searching for.”
“Who? Just ask me now, and I’ll save us all the hassle.”
“Nope. Doesn’t work that way, agápi— Emerson.” He quickly corrected himself.
There was that nickname again, the one that I’d loved so much, but now was a knife to the heart.
“Thaddeus. Please. You don’t understand. I need to leave here. Paul will be back soon. I have to be long gone by then.”
“As good as you are at disappearing, I’m afraid it isn’t going to work this time. You’re coming with us.”
Yes. Direct hit. Sonofabitch .
“Front room and bedrooms are clean,” Max said, coming into the room.
His blue eyes came to mine, and if I was reading him right, he almost looked sorry for me.
Damn it. Damn it . Damn it. I wondered if he’d shared with Thaddeus and the others what I’d asked the girls.
“Is this everything?” Max asked, pointing at the luggage I’d arranged on the floor.
“Other than Jefferson’s suits that are still hanging in the closet, yes.”
Two other men came into the room and without so much as a hello, they started opening drawers. Either they hadn’t heard me or they didn’t believe that the room was otherwise empty.
Max came out of the huge walk-in closet announcing, “Clean.”
Yeah, buddy, I already told you it was.
I didn’t bother voicing my comment. Instead, I stood in silence as the men carefully inspected the bedroom.
Why wasn’t I speaking? I was plotting my next move.
If I went quietly with the team, they’d get me out of the hotel, which I was dreading doing on my own.
I didn’t know how many men were outside and I doubted Thaddeus would tell me.
That was, if any of Jefferson’s—or Paul’s now, as it were—guards were still alive.
“Grab what you’re taking, Emerson.” That was Declan.
I moved to the bed and zipped up the suitcase, debating asking one of the guys if they’d carry Jefferson’s trunk for me. The damn thing was worth the price of a condo.
But before I could ask, Declan heaved my luggage off the bed and exited the room.
“Let’s go,” Thaddeus commanded. “You stay by my side. If shit goes sideways, you listen to everything I tell you.”
Seriously, was he always this much of a bossy asshole but I’d been so blinded by soul-consuming love I hadn’t seen it?
“Whatever you say, chief.”
In a flash he was in my space and his hands gripped my shoulders.
“You think this is a joke?” he seethed. His face was so close to mine I could see the dark specks of black in his brown eyes.
Once upon a time, I’d gotten lost in those eyes, stared into them as he moved inside of me.
They’d spark to life as he made love to me.
I loved those eyes, had since the first day I’d looked into them. “Em-er-son.”
His punctuation of all three syllables of my name pulled me from my thoughts.
“I’m intimately aware this isn’t a joke, Thad-de-us.” I enunciated his name the same way he had mine. “I know what’s at stake, more than you can ever understand.”
“What does that mean?” His mask bunched, indicating he was, as always, scowling at me.
“We’re out,” Max announced .
Thaddeus stepped away from me and gave a reminder, “Right next to me. You’re my shadow, Emerson.”
This time I didn’t speak my acknowledgment. Mainly because my brain had taken a hike and I was stunned from his previous proximity.
Standing in the living room of a house I’d never thought I’d be in again didn’t make me happy.
However, Thaddeus’ team getting me out of the hotel was a godsend.
Paul’s car had pulled in as we were sneaking off the property.
And with Paul were two cars full of Jefferson’s men.
Paul was already taking over operations.
Not that I was surprised. I mean, we were talking about a criminal organization and there was no time to mourn the loss of one gang leader if you wanted to keep your cash flowing. And Paul did. He was a greedy fucker.
Which brought me to another reason why I’d willingly left with Thaddeus and didn’t try to get away.
I was afraid of Paul. Jefferson had been a disgusting pig but I never feared he’d hurt me for fun.
He would’ve easily killed me if I’d crossed him, but as long as I played my part I never felt like I was in danger of him.
Paul? He was a different story. With Jefferson gone, he would’ve gladly claimed me and held me against my will and when he was done hurting me, he would’ve sold me.
“Now what?” I asked when Declan and Kyle set down the suitcases they’d brought in from the car.
“In a hurry?” Declan returned.
“Honestly? Yeah, I am. I want out of this country. I’ve got shit to do.”
“You know, you keep saying that but never clarify what shit it is you have to get to.” Declan kept at me .
“You’re right, I don’t.”
Declan held my stare and finally he sighed and said, “Maybe we should start over. This will go a lot easier if you—”
“Wait, me? If I what? Just spill my guts? Because that might make it easier for you to get what you want but that leaves me in the same place.”
“Easier for all of us,” he told me. “You want to leave to go do your shit . We want to track a bad guy. It’s a win-win. The faster we learn what we need, the faster you get to get on with it.”
I thought about the wisdom of his statement.
He was correct—my cooperation would make it easier.
However, there was still that pesky little issue of trust. Even if I removed Thaddeus from the equation, and that was easier said than done.
Even if Max had shared, I didn’t want to talk about why I’d been with Jefferson or my future plans.
Declan’s phone rang and after he’d pulled it out of his pocket and checked the screen, he answered it on speaker.
“You got her?” A man’s voice came over the line and I froze.
“Yeah. She’s here,” Declan answered.
“Any issues?”
“No and you’re on speaker.”
“Emerson?” the voice called.
“Yeah?”
“I’m Zane Lewis. I had my team pick you up because we think you have some information that will help us track a man named Leon Brown. He was meeting with your boyfriend the night he was killed.”
I wanted to gag hearing this man, Zane Lewis, call Jefferson my boyfriend.
“Right, you mean, the night you killed Jefferson.”
“Considering I’m sitting in my office in Annapolis, I didn’t kill anybody. But the fact remains, he is dead and he was meeting with Leon Brown. What do you know about the meeting?”
“Nothing. As I’ve already told everyone, Jefferson didn’t discuss business with me. I’m afraid I’m of no help to you.”
“I’m sure you know more than you think,” he continued.
“I’m sure I don’t, Mr. Lewis, and I’m seriously over being kidnapped by your team.”
“Kidnapped. You mean, rescued. If we hadn’t secured your safety last night, you’d be on a slow boat to Europe to be auctioned off,” he reminded me.
“And your stunt going back to the hotel was stupid at best and a death wish most likely. Paul Scott would be more than thrilled to have your sweet ass draped on his arm. Though, he blows through his women quickly and when he’s done with them, no one sees them again. ”
Yeah, I didn’t need the reminder. I knew how Paul operated but I still wasn’t willing to give this man my gratitude.
“Be that as it may, I still can’t help you.
Jefferson really didn’t talk to me about his meetings.
As a matter of fact, I didn’t know the man’s name he was meeting with until you said it.
All I knew was there was a meeting and I was to accompany him and keep my mouth shut, until he decided to dismiss me. ”
“Just look over the intel the team has, maybe something will jog your memory. After that, we’ll get you on a plane back—”
“No. I’m not getting on any plane you provide. At this point, I feel like a parrot, but since no one is listening to me, I’ll repeat myself. I’m done. I’m not looking at any intel. I’m not answering anymore questions. I’m walking my sweet ass out of the door and leaving.”
“And if I could offer you something in return for your help? ”
“There’s nothing—”
“Autumn?”
My world tilted hearing Zane Lewis say my sister’s name.
“What about her? Do you know where she is?”
“Take a look at what my team has and answer their questions. After that we’ll talk.”
Anger bubbled up. Of course he’d dangle the one carrot in front of me he knew I’d jump at. Fucking dick.
“Not a chance. Now I just feel like I’m in a bad sitcom.
You sitting behind the phone like Charles Fucking Townsend talking to your Angels.
Newsflash, Mr. Lewis—I don’t make deals with people I don’t trust. And after that bullshit, I do not trust you.
You shouldn’t’ve brought up my sister’s name if you weren’t ready to play your hand.
Now I know you’ve looked into my background and found something you can use against me.
Fuck you for that. My sister isn’t a pawn in whatever fucked-up game you’re playing. ”
“Huh, never thought of myself as Townsend. And my men are certainly no Angels, but your reference would be funny if you were in a position to be joking. Yes, I have a very thick file on what you’ve been doing for the past ten years.
I’d say I was impressed if you weren’t so goddamned stupid.
You’ve been lucky so far, but your luck ran out with Jefferson.
Hell, it should’ve run out when you plunged your knife in David Duncan.
But then Duncan wasn’t real high on the sex trafficking totem pole, was he? ”
I swallowed the lump in my throat and looked around the room. Shit, goddamn, shit. How did Zane Lewis know about David?
“What do you wanna know?” I asked.
Good guys. Bad guys. Trust issues. None of it mattered. If Zane had tied me to David’s murder I was now at his mercy. That was, if I wanted to stay a free woman and not spend the next, oh, lifetime, behind bars .
“Just answer their questions and I’ll get you what I have on Autumn.”
And that was check and mate.
Damn.