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)
“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.”
Epilogue
Jema
“You know, being a crime boss's wife isn’t as easy as people think. You’re lucky I take it very seriously,” I say to my husband as I finish putting on my red lip stain.
“Is that so?” Salvador fights a smirk in the mirror as he watches me put on my final touches.
“I mean, you didn’t really give me much of an option.” I remind him of his sneaky way of marrying me and how I didn’t get the chance to turn him down.
“Where that was concerned, kitten, it was never going to be an option.”
“I know.” I huff a fake breath of exhaustion. “The things I have to put up with.”
I love putting up with everything he does, and we both know it. Is it crazy the man all but kidnapped me and tricked me into this? Some would say so. I, however, find it romantic and loving.
My birth parents got rid of me, and now I have a man who would die before he'd let anyone else ever touch me. I’m sure that’s messed up in a weird, codependent way, but I don’t care. My husband is obsessed with me, and not only does he come with a lot of money but also a butler! I'm over here living the dream, so I'm not going to complain about it. Except to my husband, obviously.
"I appreciate your patience with me," Salvador says, and I have to bite the inside of my cheek so I don’t laugh.
If anyone needs patience, it's him. He often says I'm a wild card and he never knows what he's going to get. Honestly, I don't know what I'm going to get with myself most days.
"You're welcome."
"Fine line, kitten," Salvador warns.
I mean, really, he's partly to blame for my antics. He encouraged it with "punishments," as he calls them. Weird name to call something I enjoy, but whatever.
"You'll have to punish me later. We have plans." I hurry back into my closet to grab my coat.
"Plans can wait," Salvador calls after me.
I got my memories back not long after everything went down with Joey. Since then, I've been making him take me out a few times a week. I love being home, but now I don't need to be locked away anymore. Unless it's for fun.
When the memories did come back, it only made me love my husband even more. Joey was supposed to be family to me, and to him, I was merely an object to be used when needed. I'm not as streetwise as I once thought, but that’s not my fault.
I'd latched on to Joey because he was nice to me when we were young, but when I really remember back, our relationship was about what I could do for him. I wanted a family and love so badly that I put up with it because I didn't know how those dynamics worked. I accepted what was there, not knowing better.
With my husband, I always come first. I can get away with murder, not that I’m murdering people. That’s Salvador’s job. But even when what I want will be a pain in the ass, my man makes it happen. A few times I believe some of my antics were a test to see if he was really going to stay. Sure enough, he clocked what I was doing before I even realized I’d been doing it at all.