Chapter 51
A hollow click from the AR-15 drained Jemma of the adrenaline pumping through her veins.
Nomar stared back at her with an amused look on his face.
“You bastard,” Jemma screamed. “This is part of your sick game, too?” She lunged for him, desperate to make him suffer. The cartridge might have been devoid of bullets but the gun was a weapon she’d used to her advantage on the guard outside. It could work again.
But it wouldn’t.
Jemma was jerked backward as strong arms wrapped around her, wrenching the weapon from her grasp. The barrel of a Beretta M9 pressed against her temple.
“I wouldn’t test him,” Nomar said with a shrug. “That one definitely has bullets in it.”
Jemma forced her body to relax. She was outnumbered by Nomar and his thugs. Hasty actions without a clear plan could be her downfall. She had to regroup and assess her situation. Determining her location and identifying options were critical to deciding her next plan of action.
But before she could do that, she had to find out what happened to Rocco. Knowing if he was alive or if Nomar had killed him, would dictate what she did next.
“Call off your goons,” Jemma said, glancing at the hard, rugged faces of the two men holding her. She lifted her arms in surrender. “I recognize when I’m outnumbered.”
Nomar looked pleased. “Release her and leave us.”
“Are you sure boss?” One of the thugs dared to ask.
The look from Nomar was enough to send the two men scurrying out of the door.
Jemma jumped as it slammed shut behind her. She was alone with Nomar … again.
He smiled at her as if they were old friends reuniting after a long absence. “It’s good to see you, preciosa. Welcome to my home on the seas.”
“We’re on a boat?” Jemma said, although that point was obvious. She had to find out more about the type and location in case she got the opportunity to make contact with Rocco and the Proteus team.
Nomar scoffed. “Boat? Are you trying to insult this nautical marvel? This is a luxury super yacht, one hundred ten meters with eleven cabins, a staff of five to cater to my every need and an army of fifteen to keep me safe.”
The super yacht she’d surveilled Eddie Baez partying on with a dozen half-naked models floated to her memory. Could this be the same boat? Was Eddie on board? If he was, he could be her way to make contact with Rocco.
“You must be incredibly uncomfortable in those grimy clothes after two days?—”
“Two days?” Jemma balked. “I was out for two whole days?”
“My men were overzealous sedating you once we got to the yacht,” Nomar admitted, a frown creasing his forehead. “They didn’t live long enough to regret that mistake.”
Jemma felt sick at how eagerly Nomar ended human lives. She’d witnessed it many times while undercover with the Ortiz Cartel. He hadn’t changed in all that time. A killer to his core.
“How many men are you going to kill because of me?” Jemma said, seeing an opportunity to fish for information. “First, Rocco and now these men?—”
“Rocco?” Nomar shook his head. “You mean that lovesick fool who didn’t know you were using him to gather intel against El Sombro.” A sinister laugh escaped Nomar. “He’s not dead.”
“He was trapped underneath the cargo door. You expect me to believe you took me and left him behind to tell the story to the cops? Come on, Nomar. I know you better than that.”
“I felt sorry for the guy. I was him once upon a time.”
“Your mistake could work in my favor.”
Nomar tsked. “I don’t make mistakes. The good doctor isn’t dead, he’s rotting in a prison cell as we speak. Going to get thirty years for trafficking drugs through his clinic.”
“What are you talking about?” Jemma said, unease snaking through her. Her mind swirled with confusion. Since Nomar hadn’t killed Rocco, he should’ve been rescued by the Proteus Team when she didn’t contact them after six hours. So, how did he end up being arrested? What had gone wrong?
“It was a setup to make El Sombro’s actions appear to have been coordinated by your lover,” Nomar explained.
“You made it look like Rocco was trafficking drugs. Why?” Jemma demanded.
“The reasons aren’t important,” Nomar said with a finality that let Jemma know she would get nothing more out of him on the subject. Pressing for more could put a target on Rocco’s back. She couldn’t let on to Nomar how much Rocco meant to her or he could be found dead in his jail cell within the next twenty-four hours. It was enough to know that Rocco had been found. Although Proteus hadn’t followed normal protocols to alert the local agencies of the undercover operation, she knew it would only be a matter of days before they were able to explain the situation and get Rocco free.
And if Rocco was in contact with Proteus, they had to know by now that she’d been abducted by Nomar. Rocco had a photo of her and Nomar on his phone. A photo of the same man Rocco watched kidnap her at the construction site. Lenny would quickly realize who the man was and enact a strategy to find her.
Jemma felt renewed knowing that help was on the way.
But it wasn’t in her nature to wait for a rescue. She had to do something more to help them find her.
“Even though my men overdid it with the drugs, you were never in any danger,” Nomar said. “I had my medical team check your vitals multiple times per day. Based on the dosage, they were able to accurately predict when the drugs would wear off.”
“And you staged this obstacle course to trick me into thinking I was on my way to freedom,” Jemma said, deciding to play along … for now. “Well done, Nomar. I dare say you’ve gotten smarter in your old age.”
“And you’ve gotten incredibly more beautiful.” Nomar rose from the bed and approached her slowly, stopping within several feet from her. “I’ve dreamed of this moment, but I’ll admit I’m not prepared for how I feel.” His features softened as he gazed at her.
“Neither am I,” Jemma said as she hid the hatred roiling within. When she’d seen Nomar at the club in La Placita, it was a shock. Fear had clouded her actions and muddled her judgment.
This time, vengeance produced a cold, calculating calm. This man would never break her. He’d never get the best of her. The only man she wanted to share her best with was Rocco. No one else.
He reached for her, then dropped his hand. “I loved you once. You were the perfect woman, caring for my son and supporting me as I fought to make a place for myself in my father’s organization. With you by my side, I chipped away at him and earned his respect. I was going to give you the world for that … the same world you shattered and destroyed.”
Jemma held his gaze. “I suppose you plan to shatter and destroy me in return.”
“That was the plan.” Nomar raised an eyebrow, a sad smile curving his lips. “Now I’m not so sure.”
“Why?” Jemma rested her hands on her hips. Her mind churned with ways to weaponize Nomar’s feelings for her. “Because part of you never stopped loving me?”
Nomar visibly cringed. “What if I haven’t? What would that mean to you?”
Jemma laughed in his face. “I never loved you. I could never love you, Nomar. Don’t be a fool.”
The sting against her cheek registered before she realized he’d slapped her. Her neck ached from the swift and decisive movement as tears sprang to her eyes. She glared at him.
“You aren’t afraid of me but you should be,” Nomar said. “You are so predictable, Jemma. You hope to anger me so that I dismiss you quickly. You don’t want to suffer or be tortured for weeks, months, years. You want to be freed by death.”
Jemma was quiet.
She wasn’t the predictable one.
Nomar was. He didn’t realize that she was manipulating him to her will, buying more time for Rocco and the Proteus team to rescue her.
“But I will never kill you. You belong to me!” Nomar screamed in her face. “I don’t want your fucking love. I never needed it. Back then, I thought you were a gold digger, targeting me for a life beyond your wildest dreams. That suited me fine because I didn’t want another woman to love me unconditionally and with such passion like my wife did.”
“Your wife, Maria. She came home and saw a rival gang kidnapping you.” Jemma remembered the whispered discussions of the staff about Nomar’s dead wife. “She knew they were going to use you for leverage against your father and likely kill you after they got what they wanted.”
Nomar paled as she spoke.
“She had a gun and opened fire on them, knowing that would turn their attention away from you. As they shot her full of bullets, you got away,” Jemma said. Maria’s reckless sacrifice that ended her life when her son was barely a year old. Nomar had plunged into a deep depression, lashing out with more mayhem than he’d been known for before. The cartel had benefitted from his angst, striking fear in their enemies and eliminating their rivals due to his ruthless thirst to punish the world for his wife’s death.
“I killed every last one of them and their wives, too,” Nomar said. “But it didn’t change the fact that my son grew up without his mother because she couldn’t bear to see me die. She traded her life for mine even though it was the last thing I ever wanted. I’ve carried that guilt for every year of his life. I won’t be in that situation again. Ever.” Nomar turned his back on her and walked toward the opposite side of the room. He was quiet before speaking again. “I want to love but I don’t deserve to be loved. Not after Maria. That’s why I want you.”
“You want me because I don’t love you? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“I could care the fuck less if one of my enemies wipes you off the face of the earth because I know you don’t give two shits about me,” Nomar said. “I would feel no guilt or remorse for your loss. Makes perfect sense to me.”
“And you think I’ll play along with being your what … lover?” Jemma shook her head. “You’re crazy.”
“You will choose to be my lover,” Nomar said with a sinister smile. “You will once again enjoy making love to me night after night like we did decades ago.”
Jemma narrowed her eyes, wondering what Nomar had planned. He must’ve thought this through over the years, plotting and planning what he’d do if he ever caught her. “How do you plan to make that happen?”
“By giving you a choice between two options,” Nomar said. “Let’s start, shall we?”
Jemma glared at him.
“You can shower and sleep in this beautiful room tonight, alone of course, then meet me for breakfast tomorrow at nine,” Nomar said. “That’s option one.”
“And option two?”
“Option two is to be stripped naked, beaten and given your first taste of fentanyl while you spend the night on the floor of the storage closet you were in before,” Nomar explained.
Jemma understood his sick twisted game. She either went along with his requests or he’d turn her into a junky who would do anything for another hit. Either way, Nomar would get what he wanted. He didn’t care if she did it willingly or because the drugs drove her to desperate acts.
Nomar shrugged, then said, “The decision is yours.”