Chapter 15
Emma walked slowly through the house trying to think of how she was going to tell Nikos that her uncle was a drug trafficker and murderer and that she had unknowingly helped him for years. She turned it over and over in her mind. Her feet carried her automatically through the kitchen and headed for the stairs.
“You were going to leave with only a note?” His voice was hard and angry.
Emma jumped and couldn’t hold in the squeak of surprise. He sat in the dark in the lounge just off the kitchen. She hadn’t even realized he was in the house and had completely forgotten about the note she left him this morning. It seemed far longer than a few short hours ago.
“Oh, Nikos. I am so sorry,” she dropped the bag at the base of the stairs and slowly walked into the shadows. Tears slid down her cheeks as she knelt in front of him. “I need to tell you something.” She sniffed and looked down at her hands, sifting through words searching for the right ones to begin her story.
“I don’t know that I want to hear it. How can I believe anything you tell me?” Nikos sat imperiously looking down at her. He looked like an angry god staring down from up high.
“I was scared, Nikos. I wanted to protect you.”
“Protect me? From what? Your lies? Your theft? And God knows what else. It seems that the only thing I need protection from is you.” He spat the words at her. Emma rocked back under their weight. Something wasn’t right. Her note had simply said that her past had caught up with her, that she needed to leave, and that she loved him. What did he mean lies and theft?
“What are you talking about Nikos? I haven’t stolen anything from you and I’ve never lied.” She fended off his derisive scoff by raising her hands. “I haven’t told you the entire truth, but you knew that. I never told you anything that wasn’t true.”
“Really? I find that very interesting, Emma Wilcox.” Emma’s breath went out of her as if he had just hit her. How had he found out her name?
“How… What…” she stammered and pulled a hand through her hair.
“Here. Someone sent this to me yesterday.” He tossed an envelope in her lap and reached over to switch on the lamp. Emma winced when she saw his eyes and resisted the urge to switch it right back off rather than see that pain, betrayal and disappointment directed at her. She dropped her eyes to the envelope and recognized the type on the front. It matched the envelope she had received yesterday.
With a feeling of surreal deja vu she pulled out the contents. Disbelievingly, she smoothed out the same Tribune article that she had received yesterday. Red ink across the bottom asked, “Do you know who you’ve let into your life?” She stared a moment at the ugly words and set it aside. The next paper was a pawn receipt for a tennis bracelet and matching necklace. It was from the shop where Emma had sold those items last week. The next paper was an insurance report for the same items. Confused, she looked up at Nikos.
“When I buy jewelry it is automatically insured and registered. You chose poorly when you went into a high end shop. I imagine you were paid better, but the lower end places wouldn’t have cross checked the registry. You can imagine my surprise when my agent called me to tell me that my lost bracelet and necklace had been located. Of course, he was upset that I hadn’t informed that they had been lost in the first place.” He crossed his arms over her chest and lapsed into silence.
Emma looked down at her lap. There didn’t seem to be much to say. She didn’t think of it as stealing since they were bought for her, but it seemed like splitting hairs in light of everything else. That was the least of her worries considering the article that was lying beside her on the carpet.
“You don’t have anything to say?” Nikos exploded out of the chair and pulled her to her feet. His hands closed tightly on her arms and his handsome features contorted with emotion. Emma sobbed, shook her head, and pushed at him, but he held her in an iron grip. He shook her just a little, “What the fuck is going on Emma?”
“I’m so sorry, Nikos. I should have never stayed that night at the villa. I should have stayed on the road and none of this would have ever happened.” The words were thick with her tears and squeezed through the tightness in her chest that threatened to suffocate her.
Nikos deflated a bit at her tears. He had opened the envelope as an afterthought when he dropped into his chair after lunch. After the confusing phone call from his insurance agent that morning, the contents of the envelope had sent him on a search that revealed at every turn that Emma was doing more than just running from a rough past. He had let her keep her secrets, but had no inkling of just how dark they were.
His anger was rapidly dissipating now that he had vented his frustrations on her. The huge hole that had been ripped through his heart earlier that day started to throb again. His anger had been the only thing keeping him from folding under the weight of the searing pain. Now that it was gone, he was left with only his profound sense of loss. He sank back in the chair and pulled her with him. She curled naturally against his chest and they sat in silence.
“I was the top sales person last year. Uncle Malachi was so proud. I sold more cars than anyone ever had in a single sales year,” her voice was barely a whisper, but it sounded loud in the absolute silence of the room. “I had no idea that those cars had just been used to smuggle drugs. I went out on the lot day after day and sold cars, drove a hard bargain, and didn’t question my unusually large compensation check. I just figured it was Malachi spoiling me a bit.”
Emma stared into the corner of the room and made herself keep going. “I left my phone at work that day. I stopped by the office to get it and noticed that the side door to the shop out back was open. The mechanic, Gary, had been known to forget to lock up properly and I didn’t want him to get into trouble. He had always helped me out when I needed it.” She shrugged her shoulders slightly and sighed. She hadn’t thought about that day for a long, long time and had never spoken of it. In a monotone of remembering, Emma told Nikos the rest of the story.