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)
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.”