His Redemption
Page 24
Manny took a step back and put his hands up. “Cálmate.”
“I do not know you but you are not taking my great-niece,” my uncle piped up.
“Tio, it’s okay. These are her friends I was telling you about,” my mother said, stepping forward but staying close enough that I could still use her for balance.
Uncle Juan Carlos grumbled loudly then rolled his eyes and tucked his gun into the back waistband of his expensive suit pants. “Javi, Carlos, get the boys to come clean up this mess.”
“No,” I cried. We needed to bury him. We couldn’t just let him be dumped in a field or buried God only knows where. “We have to take him home. And have a funeral.”
Flashes of a funeral—standing around a casket while people came up to stare at him and tell us how sorry they were for our loss. It’s just what he would have wanted. The attention and the traditions of Catholic funeral.
“Sobrina, you cannot take him home. How would you explain this to customs with no death certificate? We cannot take him to the hospital.” My uncle’s words sank in.
“We can bury him at my house, in the rose garden,” my mother offered tearfully. “We can have a headstone placed and you will have a place to come visit him.” There certainly wasn’t any love lost between my parents, especially after holding my mother prisoner for almost two years, but I could still see the pain and grief in her emerald eyes.
Exhaustion hit. Adrenaline crash. Before I completely collapsed Brody scooped me up once more.
“We need to get you out of here,” he told me softly, cradling my body against his.
“Please take her to my house. I’ll follow shortly after we make arrangements here,” Mom requested. “I’ll call Isabel to let her know you all are on your way. Please feel free to have everyone join you. There is plenty of room.”
“Thank you, ma’am, but we will be leaving later today,” Drew politely declined with a sincere smile.
“You will wait for me to return, yes?” My mother looked frantic at the thought of my departure.
“Yes, Mom,” I managed.
“Let’s get you home,” Brody whispered then bent his head down and kissed my forehead. “I’m so glad you’re safe.”
This time I didn’t disagree. I let him carry me out of the jungle, leaving my mother and my great-uncle to clean up the mess my father had created. I didn’t have the energy or mental fortitude to process one more thing.
I was done.
I just wanted to curl up in a corner and cry myself to sleep.
Chapter Twenty-seven
~Brody~
The weight of her in my arms was like a balance scale, lightening my anxiety and stress over her safety and well-being. We didn’t have to walk far to get back to the SUVs. I almost wished it was farther so I could hold her longer. I didn’t want to let her go.
I wanted to be her security, her protector. I wanted to shelter her from any more hurt or harm. She was safe in my arms because I would die before I let anything happen to her again. I couldn’t let her go.
As we trekked back, Kai radioed the helo that we wouldn’t be leaving quite yet and told them we would pick them up along the way. I was grateful that none of the crew had to kill anyone. The lone bullet that killed Diego Santos came from my gun.
He could have grabbed Emmery as an insurance policy to get himself out of there and I refused to take that chance. He wasn’t leaving that jungle alive.
Manuel would not have either if she didn’t defend him. You didn’t get to take what’s mine and not pay a price.
A price he would pay.
Eventually.
Her father being the one behind everything had thrown me for a loop. The whole time I was working to save her, I was feeding him all of our information. I’m relieved I didn’t give up any of our contacts’ names.
“Em, baby, I’m going to set you down in the car,” I said softly as Drew ran ahead and opened the back door of the Suburban closest to us as we reached the makeshift parking lot alongside the rutted back road. As I looked down at her, her eyelids blinked slowly and she had a steady stream of tears flowing from her honey-brown eyes. Her whole world had been flipped on its axis. Everything she thought she knew to be true was just destroyed. Not to mention the fact that she was abducted and held hostage by none other than her father.
Gently, I sat her down on the seat, but her hands were still fisting the top of my bulletproof vest, holding on for dear life. “Emmery, I need you to let me go so I can come around and get in the other side.”
Jaxon started the engine and turned the air conditioner on high. The sun was setting but it was still humid and sweltering in the middle of the jungle.
Once she released me, I walked around the back of the car and jumped in the open door. Drew, Jace and Bear were in the back and Kai was riding shotgun. We were ready to go.
Before we left, Joselyn jogged over from the other car with her medic bag and tapped on Em’s window. Emmery wiped her face and cleared her throat before lowering the glass.
“Hi, Emmery. I’m Joselyn. I was a medic in the Army. How about I ride with y’all? I can take a look at you real quick. Just a once-over. Give you some pain meds for your leg?” Joselyn offered.
Emmery didn’t speak or nod her head; she just turned and looked at me, silently asking me to make the decision for her.
“Thank you, Joselyn, that’s probably a good idea. Don’t you think so, Emmery?”
“Yeah. My leg is throbbing and I’m nauseous,” Emmery said, eyes forward, staring vacantly.
“Okay, I’ll ride with y’all. Brody, I’ll need to take your seat. Maybe Kai could ride with Kaci, Ridge and them?” Joselyn suggested.
Once we played musical chairs, we started on our way back to Emmery’s house. There were so many questions I had, but I needed to wait until she was more emotionally stable.
Her father had just died in front of her. And even if Manuel was right and he was the devil incarnate, he was still her father. A daughter’s first love is her daddy. No matter how horrible he may have been, she still loved him.
Joselyn checked her vitals. “Your vitals are good but your BP is a tad low. Are you feelin’ light-headed at all?”
“No. I always run a little low,” Em said, her voice flat, monotone.
Reaching up, I lowered the sun visor and flipped open the mirror, strategically placing it where I could see Emmery in the backseat.
“Anything else hurt other than your leg? And of course your nausea,” Joselyn asked, assessing her condition. “Nobody…did anything? Hurt you?” Joselyn whispered discreetly. I was just barely able to hear her
“No,” Emmery whispered. “Manny saved me from Freddy.”
What does that mean? My blood pressure climbed at that answer.
“What do you mean, Em? How did Manny save you? What did Freddy try to do?” Joselyn asked softly, pressing for an answer.
“Freddy only threatened me. He didn’t actually hurt me.”
“That’s good. Sometimes the psychological trauma can stay with you after the physical pain is gone. I’m glad Manny was there to save you,” Joselyn said with a smile.
My gut roiled and I held my tongue. Some people needed to die twice.
When we arrived at Alejandra’s home, Joselyn helped me get Emmery to her room and gave her some pain meds. Once she finally lay down, I climbed into the bed next to her. Face to face, we just stared at each other. Not saying a word, reassuring her silently that everything would be okay.
She reached out and took my hand just before she fell asleep. As she fought back tears she said, “My father wasn’t always the bad man he was today.” She closed her eyes. “I can’t believe he did all of this to my mom and me.”
“Sometimes people do a damn good job of hiding who they really are. My father was one of those people. In public, he was the affluent, well-mannered businessman everybody wanted to be like. But behind closed doors, he was a sick son of a bitch who liked to hit my mother.”
“Don’t be. He’s dead and it’s in the past. No one can change it. There is no sense in dwelling on it. For too long, I let his behavior dictate my life and my choices, but not anymore. I almost gave up Lillian because of him. The minute I held her in my arms, I knew I had made the best decision of my life to put the past in the past.” I lifted her hand to my lips, brushing them over her knuckles. “Well, at least one of them. Go to sleep, sweetness. I’ll be here when you wake up. I’m just going to go check in with the crew.”
“Okay,” she said as she closed her eyes. I waited a few minutes before leaving. I took full advantage of the opportunity to just lie close and watch her sleep. Her normally flawless skin was splotchy and red from crying, her beautiful eyes swollen.
Once I was sure she was asleep, I slipped out of bed and went in search of Alejandra. I wanted answers. I didn’t know what wicked lies she had told Emmery, but that shit stopped now. I would not allow anyone to hurt her again. I didn’t care if Alejandra was Em’s mother.
Leaving the bedroom, I turned left and went back out to the open, sunken living room where everyone was sitting around talking. The home had a traditional Spanish feel, with rich colors, large wood beams and terracotta tile floors. Ridge and Kaci were sitting next to each other on one of the stark white canvas couches, and although she refused to look at him, he was talking to her. Kai, Drew and Jaxon were standing next to the beautiful glass, arched-top doors that were set across the whole back of the room, while Joselyn, Rosa and the rest of the guys were sitting, playing on their phones on the matching white couch and other chairs scattered about the space.
“Where is she? Has she come back?” I asked as I kept walking toward the next hallway looking for Alejandra.
“She has not returned.” An older Hispanic lady came around the corner, dressed in a black and white maid’s uniform.
“Hello. I’m Brody. You must be Isabel?” I asked, approaching.
“Si, Señor Brody. Emmery has talked of you a lot. Is she okay? You did not leave Señora Ali with Señor Richard did you? He dragged them out of here earlier and I have been so worried for them.”
“Emmery is in her room and Richard is dead,” I told her and saw her relax.
“Oh, graciás a Dios. I do not wish to speak ill of the dead but he was a bad man. I need to go see Emmery and make sure she is okay,” the short, squat woman told me.
“She’s sleeping. I gave her pain medicine for her leg. I would like to let her sleep for a little while before we leave.”
“Leave? Where are you going? Señora Alejandra will want to see her mija. Señor Richard has kept them apart for so long now. Please do not take her. Not yet,” Isabel pleaded, almost on the verge of tears.
“I want to talk to Alejandra. Then I’ll decide.”
“Who says you get to decide for my daughter what she will do, and where she will go? What if she wants to stay?” Alejandra appeared from behind me and was in a new outfit. She must have come in another entrance and gone straight to her room to change.
“I think that depends a lot on you. Emmery told me all about how you just disappeared into the night, citing your need to get away from Richard. How you abandoned her a day before her birthday. She also told me you were never happy and that everything Richard gave you was never enough. So how can you stand there and pretend to care about what your daughter wants?”
“Mr. Davis, there is much you do not know. Perhaps my daughter could enlighten you,” she instructed, not answering the question. Emmery said she could be evasive.
“How about you answer the questions for yourself? Emmery is sleeping because she’s in pain and devastated at the death of her father. You can explain your role in his death to me,” I said, demanding answers. Jaxon and Drew crossed the room to flank me.
“From where we’re sittin’, it looks like you’re the brains behind this operation, not Richard. The men that went after Emmery’s horse—their plane tickets were bought with your credit card,” Jaxon interjected.
“Credit cards that were opened in my name by my husband.” She shouldered past me, marched through the tall archway toward the large foyer and grabbed her purse, pulling out her wallet and shoving it at Jaxon. “Feel free to go through my purse and wallet to see if the credit card that was used is in there.” She reached forward, grabbed Jaxon’s arm and lifted it to the wallet. “Go on, open it.”
As requested, Jaxon opened the wallet and looked through each of the cards. “Nothin’ here.”
“See. I’m not the monster here. The monster is dead. May he rest in peace.”
“This proves nothing. Just because the credit card isn’t in your purse, doesn’t mean that you didn’t use it to purchase airfare for those two.”
“Isabel can tell you.” She looked around me to the little old lady. “Isabel or Johan or anyone else. Manuel,” she exclaimed, wide-eyed. “Manuel knows firsthand who was in charge and who was the victim. He was here to watch me, to make sure that I did just as Richard said. Otherwise he would have killed me. Ask him. Isabel,” Alejandra beckoned. “Can you please have Manuel come in here?” Alejandra motioned to a couch. “You don’t understand. Please, we need to sit. Let me explain.”
Drew and Jaxon looked to me. Sighing deeply, I uncrossed my arms and nodded once.
“Guys, let’s move this party. Where could we wait?” Jaxon asked Alejandra, but it was Isabel who jumped in.
“How about we go to the kitchen? You all must be hungry. I feed you,” Isabel insisted.
“I can always eat.” Jace was the first one to stand up and follow the petite maid. The rest smiled at his eagerness and trailed after him.
Once the room was clear, Drew and I sat on the couch closest to the wall of windows, the rest of the room and hallways in our immediate vision. Jaxon took one of the brightly colored side chairs with a view of the rest of the room. Alejandra sat down on the identical couch opposite of where I was and began.
“About two years ago my uncle, Juan Carlos, contacted me about moving here and learning about the family business. For the record, I moved to the States to get away from my family after my parents were killed. So when he called I was surprised, to say the least. I wasn’t sure why he wanted me. He told me that it was my birthright. My father was the older of the two brothers so the heir would be his child. According to Juan Carlos, he was in failing health and had been recently diagnosed with stage-three stomach cancer. He had no children of his own.
“Sure there were other people within the organization that could have taken over, but it was supposed to be passed down. When I told him I didn’t want any part of it, he told me to sleep on it and then get back to him. Richard happened to be home and heard our conversation. We raised Emmery to believe that he was a tax attorney and while he was, his job was more corrupt than that. Richard was really good at investing money and moving it around, so good that he was approached on more than one occasion to work for people just as bad as my Tio Juan.
“Over the years Richard was employed by several cartels and corrupt businessmen around the world. He got a taste of that kind of power and wanted it for himself. The more money he made, the more he wanted. It was never enough. He was always traveling and leaving me alone with Emmery. And while I love my daughter dearly, raising a headstrong teenage daughter on your own was incredibly difficult. I needed him. Plus, in the beginning I wanted more children. I guess now I can see why God deprived me of that.
“I’m getting off topic, my apologies.” She tilted her head before continuing. “Richard was enraged when I told him I didn’t want any part of running a drug cartel. It killed my parents and I ran away from it. I didn’t want it in my life. He grabbed me and told me that I would be calling Tio Juan back first thing in the morning and telling him that he wanted to run it and that this way it would still be in the family.
“Richard was stupid to think that Tio Juan would actually allow an outsider to take o
ver. I laughed and told him so. That’s when he threatened Emmery. I never thought he’d hurt her so I blew him off. He pulled a gun from the bedside table and went down the hall. I ran after him and was able to stop him before Emmery saw him,” Alejandra said, shaking her head.
“He was a maniac that night. I was only able to stop him when I relented and agreed to do what he asked. He had always pretended to be such a doting, loving father, but it was all a lie. He only cared about himself and the money and power. That’s why it never bothered him to be away from us. So, I called my uncle back the next day and told him that I had changed my mind. He made arrangements to buy me a house down here and get everything ready.
“Richard’s only other stipulation was that Emmery would not be allowed to know why I left. She would have to stay with him. After all, she was his leverage,” Alejandra said, tearing up. “I didn’t want to leave her but he promised he wouldn’t harm her if I did what he said.”
“To what end? If everyone thought you were the leader, what did that get him?” Jaxon asked skeptically.
“Tio Juan wasn’t expected to live this long. Most people with that type of cancer don’t. As soon as he died, Richard would have taken over and I would have been free of him. So would Emmery,” she explained.
“So, now that Emmery’s father is dead, who will run the cartel? You?” I asked, leaning forward, resting my elbows on my knees. I just couldn’t wrap my head around this.
“No. Certainly not. I called my uncle when Emmery got here and told him everything. He was disappointed in me but agreed to help me get Emmery and myself out of here and away from Richard. He told me that he would have Richard taken care of and then we would be free to go wherever we’d like. We could even return home to Connecticut.” Her eyes shone when she talked about going home.
“Did you tell Emmery all of this?” Emmery deserved to know the whole truth.