Chapter 12 #2
I do know him, and I don’t feel a rush of fear with the memory. If anything, it's worry that hits me, but now I don’t know if it’s for him or me.
"Why did he do this to you?" I ask.
Am I already trying to plan a defense for my husband? Yes. It's terrible because I don't have all the facts, but I think I love him.
"He doesn't need a reason."
"Joey," I say while rolling my eyes at him, and the gesture feels really freaking familiar. "There has to be a reason."
I can't see Sal tossing people into his basement and cutting off fingers without a reason. The man has more important things to deal with, like me.
“You really don’t remember what he’s done to me.” Joey’s shoulders drop with defeat.
“Hey now,” I say and step closer. Guilt is once again weighing heavily on me. “If you didn’t really do anything, I can—"
My words are cut off as Joey lunges for me. I try to move back quickly but end up stumbling over my own feet. When I fall back on the concrete floor, it knocks the air out of my lungs. Thank fuck I don’t hit my head.
“Got you.” Joey smirks as his hand wraps around my ankle. Before I get away, he yanks me over to him.
“It was all a lie?” My voice squeaks when his hand closes around my throat.
"No." His whole expression morphs to pure anger. “But you gave Salvador what belongs to me.”
“What?” I choke out, completely confused. I don’t have shit to my name.
"You,” he grits out as his hold around my throat tightens. “But I suppose you’ll still be useful to me after all.”
Chapter 13 Salvador
“Where’s my wife?” I say to no one in particular when I enter the kitchen.
The two people chopping vegetables pause to look around like they thought she was here too.
Edward enters from the opposite side of the room, and when he sees she’s not here, he shrugs. “She must have already gone to the gardens.”
“That’s where I just came from,” I say and glance around the room again. “She was on the cameras entering the kitchen but not exiting.”
“Are you sure she wasn’t outside?” Edward asks, but there’s less conviction in his voice this time.
Over the years I’ve learned to trust my gut, and as the seconds tick by, I get a sinking feeling. Edward must have the same suspicion because we both turn to the basement door at the same time.
“It should be locked,” he says right as I grab the handle and twist it open.
“Well, it’s fucking not,” I spit at him as I barrel down the stairs.
Jema is full of curiosity, so I should have known she’d try to go down to the basement at some point.
There’s nothing down there I’d be afraid for her to see—well, at least that she’d be able to see.
There’s no way she can get into the vault.
I’d be happy to show her the rest of the stuff I have down here.
Sure, it’s not exactly legal, but I really don’t think she’d care all that much.
What is bothering me is that I know for a fact that the door was locked, so if she got it open, she was the one that picked it. That means that at least some of her memories are back, and she’s not telling me. Does that mean there are other things she’s not telling me?
I do a quick scan of the storage rooms but keep moving in the direction of the vault. My gut is telling me that’s where I’ll find her. She’s too curious not to want to know what’s behind a locked vault door, and I need to come up with a way to explain it.
As soon as I come around the corner, my stomach drops. Jema isn’t at the vault door, but it’s wide open. My heart hammers against my chest as I slowly approach, but then I hear a sound that makes my blood run cold.
“Please,” Jema cries.
All other thoughts leave me, and I don’t think about what to do; I just react. I take off running toward her even as I hear Edward call out from somewhere behind me.
When I get into the room where Joey is being held, I see he’s got his hands around Jema’s neck and he’s on top of her. The sight of it sends me into a rage that clouds my vision, and I rear back with all my might and kick him in the ribs.
I feel the bones along the side of his body shatter under my foot before he rolls off of Jema and onto the floor. He gasps and sputters but otherwise doesn’t make a sound. I’m certain I’ve punctured a lung when he begins to spit up blood.
“Salvador,” Jema whimpers, and I have to blink a few times to clear away the fury clouding my vision.
“I’m here,” I tell her as I pull her off the ground and into my arms. “I’ve got you now; you’re safe.”
“Safe,” Joey manages to grit out. “That’s a fucking joke.”
I put Jema on her feet and then block her from Joey’s view. I don’t want him looking at my wife.
“Do you want to tell her the truth or should I?” I keep my eyes on Joey, but I can feel Jema stiffen against my back.
“What truth?” she says as she tries to move around me.
“Mr. Roven, should I…?”
Edward is in the vault now, and I know what he’s asking: if I need him to get Jema out of here or if I want him to take care of Joey while I get Jema out of here.
Either way, we both know she needs to go.
A small part of me wants to do exactly that.
I want to hide this from her forever and never let her see the dark side of what I do.
But deep down, I know it’s important that she understands why I’ve done this.
“It’s fine,” I tell Edward. “No more secrets.”
“Someone explain something to me,” Jema says.
“Joey took money from my organization," I say and turn to face Jema. “There’s a guy named Ryan that works for me. He keeps an eye on all the accounts and helps me clean dirty money.”
Jema doesn’t seem shocked or scared off by this information. If anything, she nods in understanding. “Okay, that makes sense.”
“Ryan noticed something odd about one of the smaller accounts that shouldn’t have had any activity.
He could see where all the money was taken out and then the next day all the missing money was deposited again.
” I glance over at Joey, who has sat up and is now leaning with his back against the wall.
“Ryan digs some more and finds out Joey has been taking the money and gambling with it all over town. He thought he could put it back and no one would know.”
“It was only a hundred grand. It was nothing,” Joey says defensively.
“Nothing to you because it was in my pocket,” I say and take a step closer. “You used my money as your piggy bank, but you didn’t stop while you were ahead. You lost it all, and when you couldn’t pay it back, you went to the feds.”
Jema gasps from behind me, and I’m glad she understands the severity of what Joey has done.
“Joey tried to roll over on all of us, but we have friends at the feds who helped us out. They brought him to us and told us what he tried to do, but that’s not his worst crime,” I say, and Joey presses his lips together like he can keep me from saying it out loud.
“Come on, tell her what you did.” Joey shakes his head, and I turn to Jema. “He offered you up as payment.”
“What?” Her eyes widen as she looks at me and then at Joey.
“The feds brought Joey to me at the warehouse, and he knew you’d track his last location. The night you fell and hit your head?” She nods for me to keep going. “He was counting on you coming and told me that you were his payment. He said I could do whatever I wanted to you to cover his debts.”
“Jems,” Joey starts to say, but she cuts him off.
“You knew I’d come save you and that’s how you treat me?” I see the anger in her eyes, and I step between them again.
“When you showed up at the warehouse, I pretended to not know why you were there. I was trying to scare you away, but you wouldn’t give me a straight answer. Then you ran.”
“And you always chase,” she says.
“It’s because I love you, Jema. From the moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you were the one.” Reaching out, I cup her cheek, and to my relief, she leans into it. “I knew I had to protect you, and all I could do was hope that you’d fall in love with me before you got your memories back.”
“I do love you,” she says softly. “And whether all of my memories come back or not, I’ll still love you. I know in my heart that no one else has ever protected me or taken care of me the way you have.”
Joey tries to say something, but it comes out choked and unintelligible. When I glance back at him, I see there’s more blood pouring out of his mouth, which means his lungs are now filled with it. There’s nothing that can save him, although I have no intention of trying to.
“If you’d like to take Mrs. Roven upstairs, I’d be happy to clean up this mess,” Edward says.
“Thank you,” I say to him as I lift Jema into my arms. “Right now, I’d like to be alone with my wife.”