Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22327 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 112(@200wpm)___ 89(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22327 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 112(@200wpm)___ 89(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
With each step I take toward the cellar, I can't help but wonder if I'm betraying my own husband. Then again, Joey says it’s all bullshit because I'm not married and still a virgin. That's one of the reasons I don’t believe Joey. I'm horny all the time. At this point, I can't even sleep without an orgasm. I think about Salvador and I'm turned on. I must have been a nympho before I hit my head.
When I get to the vault door, I key in the code, and it pops open. Joey quickly sits up on the mattress, and I can see the relief written across his face.
"Thank god you’re back. I thought he'd kill me before you had a chance to figure it all out." He sounds so confident, which only makes him that much more believable.
"Don't get excited; he was able to answer all my questions."
"Please, Salvador is a career criminal. Lying is like breathing to him.”
“And it’s not for you?” I ask, and he gives me a coy smile.
"So you are remembering." His teasing is light and playful, and it makes me draw closer. I'm still far enough from him that the chain will keep us separated and he won’t be able to grab me.
"No, not yet, but what you’re saying is making it hard to figure out what is real." I wring my fingers together in front of me.
"You're leaving me down here to die, aren’t you?"
"What if you’re the bad guy? What if you chop up animals or something?"
"Jems, that was one time, and it was an accident."
"What?" I whisper more to myself than to Joey. Then I have a flash of memory of him sitting across from me at the diner calling me Jems.
"It was a joke," he says, and I nod.
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.