14. Emerson
Emerson
When I was growing up my dad used to tell my sister and me that FEAR had two meanings: Forget Everything And Run or Face Everything And Rise. I’d lived my life choosing the latter. I’d never allowed fear of the unknown to stop me.
Never. Not ever had fear slowed me down.
But right now, seeing the murderous look on Thaddeus’ face, I wanted to tuck tail and run. I wanted to forget my past, forget my crusade, forget everything and run for the hills and never look back.
I didn’t want to face the repercussions of my actions. I didn’t want to talk about Autumn. I didn’t want to face the fact that I’d more than likely never see her again. I didn’t want to hear Thad’s hurt or righteous anger.
I wanted all of this to be over. It was too much. My house was built upon sand and the tide had finally rolled in and it was crumbling.
“ Agápi mou—”
“Don’t, Thaddeus. Don’t say that. I’m not your love and I haven’t been for a very long time. ”
“What happened to Autumn?” His tone had softened and I hated it.
“If I told you I didn’t want to talk about this, would you leave it alone?”
“No.”
“The past is the past. There’s nothing more to say. Your team is waiting for me to answer questions about Jefferson.”
I was being callous and I knew it. But dealing with a pissed-off Thad Bench was easier than a gentle one. I wanted him angry with me, it would make it easier when the time came for me to leave.
“Who’s David Duncan?”
I wanted to talk about David less than I wanted to talk about my sister.
“He was a Canadian sex trafficker. I met him while he was in New York on business. We had a whirlwind weekend romance. He asked me to go back to Canada with him and I agreed. I spent six months with him in Vancouver. When I had what I needed from him, I ended things and moved on.”
“Ended them? You mean you killed him?”
With my head held high I told him what he’d likely find if he read the report Zane Lewis had compiled.
“I did,” I confirmed.
I wasn’t ashamed for taking David’s life. His death had prevented a cargo container full of young women from leaving the port of Vancouver, destination Russia. David’s demise also freed his stable of prostitutes. So, no, I would never feel bad for taking a life so others could be free.
“How many?”
“How many what?”
“How many men have you killed?”
Yeah, that was not something I was admitting.
I’d give him David Duncan because I knew Thad’s boss knew about him, but if that was the only indiscretion he’d found, I wouldn’t give them more.
As it stood, if Zane turned what he’d unearthed over to the authorities I’d likely be facing jail time.
If I was behind bars, that meant my sister would be out in the world all alone.
It was time to put a stop to this. I sucked in a breath, slowly let it out and when I did, I slipped back into my role of cold-heartless-bitch. Over the years I’d honed my craft and sharpened my knife. I was good at pretending.
“Sorry, chief, I don’t trust you enough to tell you where the bodies are buried. That is, if there were bodies, and I’m not telling you if there are. I think we’re done. We both have work to get to.”
Oh, yeah, I’d poked the bear. The big, huge grizzly bear and he was mad with a capital M.
“You know, I’ve seen a lot of fucked-up shit in my life.
I’ve witnessed firsthand the evil people have in them.
I know what a desperate human is capable of.
But you take the cake. I never thought it was possible for a person to change as much as you have.
The woman I loved, the woman I would’ve killed and died for…
” Thad stopped and shook his head. “She is so far from the woman standing in front of me, it isn’t funny.
The worst part? Had you turned to me and trusted that I could and would take care of you, your sister, and your family, you wouldn’t be the pitiless woman you’ve become.
You’d be sitting pretty in a nice house with a husband who adored you, teaching first grade, and your only worry would be what trouble our kids were causing.
Instead, you turned your back on us, and that’s bought you a life full of shit. ”
After he decimated me with his truths, he left.
Calmly walked out the door, leaving the scum he’d scraped off his boot behind.
Thad had the closure he needed. I saw it. The moment when he’d realized the woman he thought he loved wasn’t real. After all of these years, he was truly done. Now that he knew, he was free.
I should’ve been happy he had the answers he needed. But I wasn’t.
I admit over the last decade, I’d secretly believed that Thad still loved me. That we had some cosmic kind of love that could stretch miles and time. It was an unbreakable connection. I’d built a shrine and inked it on my skin. Indelible. That was the love I had for him, unforgettable.
Now I knew that love was one-sided. The weight of that knowledge was so heavy I had to sit down.
My dad had also told Autumn and me that sometimes the truth hurt and it was our job to take that hurt and learn from it. Grow from it. But what my dad failed to tell me, was that there were times that the truth just plain ol’ killed and there was no moving on from it.
This was one of those times. Thad spoke the truth. We’d been destined for a beautiful life until someone stepped in and stole it from us. Taken Autumn’s bright future and destroyed it. Twisted everything good in my sister into broken pieces.
That man, those people, all of them, needed to pay.
That way, one day when I finally found Autumn, I could tell her she was free.
Until that day came, I’d take Thad’s hatred for me and bottle it up.
I’d use it as a reminder when hesitation and guilt took root.
I’d remember the abhorrence in Thad’s gaze the next time I plunged my knife.
But for now, I was going to sit on the edge of a bed that was not mine, in a house nestled in the Venezuelan jungle that I didn’t want to be in, with the man I’d forever love hating me from the other room, and hang my head in shame.
My parents would die a thousand deaths if they’d known what I’d become. I hadn’t seen them in over five years, hadn’t spoken to them in over three. I couldn’t face them again, not until I had Autumn. One day, I’d make it right. One day I’d find my sister, finish my degree, and teach first grade.
One day.
Alone.
A long time had passed by the time I’d pulled myself together enough to face Thad and his team. When I made my way into the living room where everyone was gathered, all conversation ceased.
It was an uncomfortable feeling, being on the receiving end of everyone’s stare. Everyone but Thad. He hadn’t lifted his eyes from the piece of paper he was reading.
“Sorry,” I unnecessarily apologized, mostly out of manners and less so because I was actually sorry about making them wait. “I’m ready when you are.”
“Why don’t you just start at the beginning,” Declan suggested.
“The beginning of what? When my sister was kidnapped by sex traffickers or when I met Jefferson?”
I vaguely heard Tatiana’s gasp, probably from my nonchalance, but I’d already fortified my resolve to get through this as emotionless as I could. I’d give them the facts and be on my merry way.
“Let’s start with Jefferson.”
“I met him at an art auction in Houston, Texas—”
“How’d you know he was going to be there?” Declan cut in.
“I’d heard his name while I was in the company of David Duncan.
David was trying to do business with Jefferson, but was having no luck, so he had one of his men research Jefferson and find out where he could orchestrate a run-in.
The information was gathered, unfortunately David met his death before he could meet with Jefferson. ”
“And you killed him?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I felt like I was being interrogated by the police, minus the small room, bad lighting, and handcuffs.
“Listen, it would take a week for me to explain the last eight years of my life and why I’ve done everything I’ve done. I think it would be easier if you just asked me the questions Zane wanted you to.”
“Eight years?” Thad asked without looking up. “Autumn was taken ten years ago. There’s a two-year gap. What happened during that time?”
“That’s meaningless to the story,” I told him.
“I met Jefferson at the auction and we hit it off. I’d used the research that David’s people had provided and made sure I’d memorized everything about him.
I played hard-to-get and he bought it. Within a few days he asked me if I wanted to join him on a trip to Spain.
I declined and he left. A week later he was back and double-downed.
He took me out and tried everything he could to get me to agree to go to France with him.
I agreed that time and we went. The first three months, he was cautious and didn’t discuss any business in front of me. ”
“What changed?” Kyle inquired.
“I told him I’d fallen in love with him.
He asked me to marry him. After I said yes, he told me he didn’t want secrets between us, and started to introduce me to his business associates.
Of course, it was bullshit. There were plenty of secrets.
He had his harem of women on the side. He never allowed me near his stable of women he sold or the prostitutes he pimped out, and his drug business was never spoken about, but he did tell me he made money buying, breeding, and selling animals.
“I assured him I loved him and didn’t care what his business dealings were. He took me to a dog fight and when I didn’t bat an eye, he took me to more. The more I proved I was loyal the less guarded he was around me.”
“You were fucking him, even though you knew he had women on the side?” Thad looked up from the report he’d been reading, clearly disgusted with what I’d told them.
“Didn’t say I was fucking him,” I returned.
“Right.” He shook his head. “Go on. After you won his trust, what?” he prompted.
“The most significant change was, he started taking me places. Everywhere he went he carted me along. I didn’t always sit through the meetings, but he most every time brought me.
And the ones I did sit through were about his dogs.
He also started talking on the phone in front of me.
Mostly Spanish, sometimes French, or Portuguese. ”
“And you speak those languages?” Max asked.
Yeah, he wasn’t happy with me. His tone had gone back to detached and hateful. Nothing like being the most detested person in the room.
“Spanish and French, yes. He talked about the procurement of the women mostly in Spanish, but he spoke to the buyer mostly in French. Same with his drug shipments. I’d assume the girls were being sent to Spain.
We made several trips there. Before you ask, I was never able to follow him while we were there. I had a guard with me at all times.”
“And Mexico? Who were you with then?” Max continued.
“Jefferson. The day I saw you and Thad, Jefferson had gone to one of the training camps to see some pit bulls. He asked Seth, the guard I was with, to take me to lunch.”
“Yesterday,” Declan started. “You said he was aggravated when he got back from checking on the girls. ”
I thought about how mad Jefferson had been when he’d gotten back to the villa.
“We didn’t find all the girls,” I announced. “He wasn’t happy that one was overweight. The five we found were skinny. He’d said some were too old. All of those girls had to be under eighteen. One of them looked to be twelve or thirteen. Someone moved the rest and his yacht was gone.”
“Maybe the seller came back and took the ones he didn’t want back,” Kyle noted.
“Maybe. But where’s his boat? His boat should’ve been there. Did you get the guy Jefferson was meeting with?” I asked.
“No. We were told the meeting was taking place upstairs,” Declan reminded me.
“Right. Okay, so maybe that man, Leon, took the girls and Jefferson’s boat?”
“Doubtful. The man we’re after isn’t in the sex trafficking business,” Brooks denied.
“Then why was he meeting with Jefferson? The man either dealt in flesh, drugs, or guns. Jefferson wouldn’t waste his time on a friendly chat.
Especially not at a fight. He liked to watch his dogs in action.
If he was meeting with this Leon Brown during the main event when his prized pit bull, Brutus, was fighting, it was because whatever Leon was offering meant Jefferson would stand to make money—and lots of it. ”
I glanced around at the scattered pictures that were on the coffee table in front of me and bent to pick one up.
“Why do you have a picture of Jefferson’s tattoo?” I asked.
I looked closer and realized the artwork was the same but the location was wrong.