Chapter Twenty-five
Gabby watched from the window as Jonah and Grey talked. She couldn’t hear what was being said, but neither of them seemed pleased with the other. After Jonah had walked out, making it obvious that her future wasn’t his concern, Grey had apologized for his rudeness. When she had explained that there was no need to apologize, that she knew why Jonah was so upset, she’d seen complete shock in his eyes.
“What do you know?”
“That Teri Burke was his fiancée, and Mathias Slater hired a hitman to kill her. And since his release from prison, Jonah’s been hunting her assassin. I know that Peter Tinsley, the man who murdered Teri, is dead.”
“Do you also know that Jonah hasn’t shared that kind of information with anyone? Ever?”
“Maybe he needed to tell someone who’s an outsider.”
“Maybe.” His gaze had darted toward the door Jonah had walked out of, and then a speculative look had come over his face.
They’d gone on to talk about her future and her interests, but she got the impression that ideas and thoughts were being developed outside their immediate conversation. She was quickly learning that Grey Justice was a man of many layers.
She watched as Grey and Jonah continued their conversation. She noted that Grey gave Jonah a hard look and nodded toward the cabin. After a couple more minutes, both men’s shoulders relaxed, and then Grey got into his SUV and drove away. The fact that he was leaving to begin the arrangements of creating her new life should have caused some sort of angst or at least excitement. Instead, her mind was focused on the brooding man standing beside the large woodpile, looking so alone. She wanted to comfort him.
With an abrupt movement, he went to retrieve the ax embedded in a fallen tree and then headed back to the cabin. Gabby jumped away from the window and looked around for something to do. She raced to the kitchen and pulled open the refrigerator door.
“What are you looking for?”
Gabby whirled around and tried to act like she knew what she was doing. “I was just looking for something to prepare for lunch.”
Surprised he didn’t call her out on the obvious lie, since she knew less about cooking than a toddler, she added, “Um… Maybe a sandwich or something easy?”
“We’ll worry about that in a little while. Right now, I need to talk with you.”
She followed him into the living room. “What is it? Has something happened?”
“I need to go into town for a few things. I don’t feel comfortable taking you with me. You should be safe here.”
“I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
“You told Kingston you can handle a gun.” He placed a Glock and a box of shells on the coffee table. “Show me.”
“You want me to shoot you?”
A spark of humor hit his eyes. “That won’t be necessary.”
She picked up the weapon and, with the ease of someone who’d performed the task hundreds of times, released the magazine and then pulled the slide back to check the chamber. She loaded the magazine with fifteen rounds, inserted it into the slot, loaded the chamber with another round, and slid it closed. She placed the weapon back on the table.
“Where’d you learn how to do that?”
“Raiza.”
“Someday you’re going to have to tell me all the things Raiza taught you.”
She hid a smile. Jonah would likely be both surprised and delighted to know all the things her friend had taught her.
“Ever shoot anyone?”
“Of course not. But we used to do target practice at least three times a week. I hit what I mean to hit.”
“Shooting a person is a lot different than shooting a target.”
“I agree. Unfortunately, we could never get volunteers to let me shoot them.”
“This is serious, Gabby.”
“I know it is, Jonah. But I promise I will not hesitate to shoot if I’m threatened.”
With an abrupt nod, he stood. “Good enough. I’ve got several errands, so it’ll be a few hours.” He handed her a cellphone. “It’s a burner. My number is already in it. You have any concerns, you call me. Understand?”
“I understand.”
With one last solemn look, he walked out and closed the door behind him.
Long after Jonah left, Gabby sat and listened to the silence. It had occurred to her that this was the first time in her life she’d ever been truly alone. Even though she’d had no friends and, not since her parents, any real family, she had never been by herself. For as long as she could remember, servants or guards had been within calling distance. It was a unique and wondrous experience to know that there wasn’t anyone around to hear her. If she wanted to go out onto the porch and shout or scream, the only ones to hear would be birds and creatures of the forest. How liberating.
Instead of doing that, she decided to explore her new, temporary home. The cabin wasn’t overly large but was a comfortable size for a small family. Two bedrooms, two baths, a kitchen, and a living room. The third floor held a giant room with more than a dozen windows and would make a wonderful art studio. She knew Jonah probably hadn’t considered such a thing when he’d purchased the house, but her artist’s eye could already see the possibilities.
The décor throughout was both modern and traditional with painted walls, hardwood floors, and a large, modern kitchen.
A person could find solitude and peace inside the sturdy, comfortable home and outside with the small lake, distant mountains, and gigantic trees that shaded the area.
She walked out onto the porch and leaned against the post. Drawing in fresh, clean air, a pleasant memory, one of the few from her childhood, flashed through her mind. Her parents had taken her and her brother on a holiday. They’d stayed in a villa in Spain that overlooked the sea. She couldn’t recall the exact location, but she remembered the things that mattered most. Her beautiful mother’s smile, her father’s strong arms and deep laughter. She even remembered Carlos teaching her how to ride a bicycle. She had loved him then. He’d been her big brother, and she’d looked up to him.
She’d been only about five or so, but those few precious days were etched in her mind forever. Maybe she remembered them so well because not long after that, life went horribly, terribly wrong.
What was left of her family was the stuff of nightmares. A grandfather who murdered, destroyed people’s lives on a whim. A brother who raped and did other vile things she didn’t want to imagine. Various aunts, uncles, and cousins who toed the family line and did what they were told, either because they were just as evil or they were too scared to rebel.
Like Antonia.
Her thoughts went to the day of her abduction. So many things had happened since then, she’d barely given any thought to the reason behind the physical exam at Antonia’s office. Now that she wasn’t consumed by fear and the need for survival, she remembered several concerning things she should have questioned more thoroughly. Why had she been examined? Was there something wrong with her that she hadn’t been told?
Why had Antonia felt the need to drug her? Admittedly, she might have seemed more anxious than normal. After all, she had known that within minutes after her exam ended she would be on her way to a new life. But had her anxiousness been so apparent that Antonia had felt the need to sedate her?
Deep in thought, she turned to go back inside the cabin. The instant she opened the door, her eyes locked on Jonah’s laptop lying on the coffee table. Why hadn’t she thought to do this before? She could hack into almost anything without leaving evidence that she’d been there.
Determined to get to the truth, Gabby opened the laptop and set to work. In five minutes, she had bypassed the weak security firewall. She had given her cousin more credit than she deserved. A five-year-old could have hacked into her medical records.
She found her file a couple of minutes later. Oddly enough, it was in a separate file and not in with any other records. Her eyes scanned the information. The first page showed her vital statistics. Nothing remarkable there. She clicked the next page and noted she had been slightly anemic a couple years ago. Of course, she hadn’t been told, but she did remember the cook had started serving more green, leafy vegetables.
She clicked to the next page, which included notes about past visits. Nothing remarkable there, either. From what she could tell, she was in excellent health.
Her eyes scrolled down to the last entry—the day she saw Antonia for the last time. Her cousin noted that she seemed a little more anxious than usual. Her vitals were good. Blood had been taken to check her iron level, which had improved. Nothing alarming or noteworthy.
She clicked to the next page, to Antonia’s last notation. She read the words, read them again, and then again. Surely she was misinterpreting their meaning. She read them once more.
No. No. No.
Her body went numb. All feeling from her head to her toes ceased to exist. She sprang to her feet, not even hearing the chair as it tipped over, slamming against the hardwood floor.
This had to be a mistake. This couldn’t be possible. They couldn’t do this…they could not do this. But they had. God in heaven, they had!
She had to get out of here. She couldn’t catch her breath. Air clawed at her lungs but wouldn’t come out. She flew across the room and opened the door. She had to get out of here. She could not…simply could not…
Gabby took one step onto the porch and slammed into a hard wall of muscle and sinew. “Gabby? What’s wrong?”
She shook her head. She couldn’t form words or make even a sound.
“Breathe, baby. Breathe.” His hands gripped her shoulder, and he shook her. “Breathe, dammit.”
She heard an odd gurgling noise and knew the sound came from her. She drew in for another breath, found one, and felt it explode from her body with a sobbing sound of anguish. How could they?
What the hell was wrong with her? Jonah looked around for threats or danger but saw nothing. Something had scared or upset her. But what?
He pushed her away slightly to make sure she wasn’t injured or bleeding. He saw nothing other than a pale, terrified woman gasping for breath.
“Tell me what’s wrong,” he demanded. “Tell me, sweetheart. What happened?”
She still didn’t answer, and Jonah looked around again, this time for clues. His eyes skittered and then stopped. The laptop he’d left on the coffee table was gone. He closed his eyes. Holy hell, why hadn’t he given that any thought? He had known she could hack into any kind of system. Without a doubt, she had hacked into her medical records. And she knew what her cousin—and her grandfather—had done to her.
“She…she… They…they…”
“I know, baby. I know.” Not knowing what else to do, Jonah pulled her into his arms and held her. After all the speech preparation and encouraging words he’d practiced on the way back to the cabin, his mind was blank. He had no clue what to say or how to comfort her.
Her face was buried against his chest, and she was trembling, but at least she was breathing and seemed to be getting calmer. There was still more bad news to come, but he would wait.
Gabby breathed in and out as steadily as she could. No good ever came from hysteria. She was far from accepting the information she had read. There had to be a mistake. And Jonah—
She took a step away from him, and her foot hit something on the porch. Looking down, Gabby’s eyes took in an odd assortment of items. Jonah must have dropped what he’d been carrying when she flew out of the cabin. Candy bars, DVDs, books, magazines, more notebooks. And in the middle of the innocuous items were several boxes. Something she’d never had cause to purchase or need before. The labels screamed out at her: Home Pregnancy Kit.
Realization dawned as his words finally clicked. I know, baby. I know.
Blood rushed from her head again, and she heard a hoarse, horrified whisper. “You knew?”
“Yes. I—”
As if scalded, she sprang away from him and ran back into the cabin. She stopped in the middle of the room and turned in a circle, looking for an escape. Get out, get out, get out was an echoing drumbeat in her head. The betrayal was worse than any she’d felt in years. She had trusted him!
“Gabby, stop. It’s not what you think.”
She whirled around and snarled, “Not what I think? You knew what was done and you didn’t think to tell me? How could you?”
“I didn’t know until yesterday…actually, the night before that. I was waiting for the right time to tell you.”
“Right time? Right time to tell me this? There is no right time. How could you?”
“Dammit, Gabby. I—”
“Tell me now, Jonah. Say the words. Say them!”
“You were artificially inseminated.”
She closed her eyes. The actual words sounded even worse than reading them. How dare they? How. Dare. They.
She opened her eyes again. Jonah’s expression was one of deep regret, and yes, anger, too. Knowing that the anger was for her helped a little.
“How did you find out?”
“It bothered me…what you said about being drugged at your doctor’s visit. I asked Kathleen to see if Justice’s people could hack into Antonia’s records. I found out right before your grandfather’s men found us in Colorado.”
“So a whole slew of people knew before I did. Kathleen, Grey, his hackers. All these people knew what was done to me.”
“I’m sorry, Gabby. I just—”
“You should have told me, Jonah. The minute you found out, you should have told me.”
“You’re right. I should have.”
All the strength went out of her legs. She sank to her knees and wrapped her arms around herself. Numbness faded, and a raging tide of agonizing pain washed over and through her. Sobs tore from her chest as the hideousness penetrated her horrified mind. What had they done?
Jonah was no stranger to helplessness. He’d felt it all too often himself not to recognize the agonizing pain. What had been done to Gabby was an awful and disgusting crime, and he couldn’t do a damn thing to make it go away. No matter what happened, no matter how she dealt with it, this was something that couldn’t be undone. Enduring and getting through to the other side was the only way to cope. He knew all about that, too.
What he wanted to do was go to Venezuela, find her freak of a grandfather, and end him. That might come later. For right now, Gabby needed him. So he did the only thing he knew to do. He went to his knees beside her, held her, and whispered meaningless platitudes.
Her voice was thick with tears. “I told myself that he could do nothing more to hurt me. That no matter what he did, he would never destroy me.” She swallowed and then whispered, “I was wrong. He has…he has.”
“He damn well has not.” When she didn’t respond, he pulled away slightly and grasping her shoulders, he shook her. “You are stronger than this, Gabby. You know you are. You’ve got more guts and stamina inside you than that bastard can fathom. You will not let him win.”
A long shudder went through her, and then she wept softly, despairingly, against his shoulder.
Jonah continued to hold her and let her grieve as much as she needed. Gabby, being Gabby, didn’t cry for long. Within a few minutes, the sobs turned to shudders. As if she was gathering strength, she went still in his arms. Then, with a long, shaky breath, she pulled away.
He hated to leave her, but he had left something in the SUV that couldn’t wait any longer. Something that he hoped would help immensely. “Stay here. I’ll be back in just a sec. Okay?”
“Yes…okay. I’m fine,” she whispered.
No, she wasn’t, but every single day he knew her, this woman impressed him more and more. She was so damn strong.
He went out the door and gathered the things he’d bought and brought them inside. It took three trips, but when everything was finally inside, he shut the front door and turned to face her. She was still sitting on the floor, shoulders slumped, head bent in defeat. It was as if all the hope she’d carried within her had left her body.
Dammit, the bastards would pay for this.
He looked down at one of the gifts he’d bought for her. This might not be the right time for her to meet anyone new, but hell, it wouldn’t be the first time his timing was off.
He bent down and unlocked the cage.
The first sign that someone other than Jonah was in the room was the cold nose she felt on her cheek. She raised her head and looked into the deepest, darkest, most soulful and kindest eyes she could imagine.
“Hello,” she said softly. “And who are you?”
“He doesn’t have a name yet. That’s for you to decide. I picked him up at the shelter in town. He was found wandering the streets a few months back. The vet thinks he’s a variety of breeds, but mostly black Labrador retriever. He’s about six months old. He’s had his shots, been neutered, too. He’s just been waiting for someone to love him.”
Her hand shook as she reached out and touched the pup’s head. Tail wagging, a goofy, adoring expression on his face, the dog looked up at Gabby as if he knew and loved her already.
“Oh Jonah, he’s beautiful. But why—”
“That was the first thing on your list.”
Her face was still pale, but her eyes shone with a brightness that had nothing to do with tears. “Thank you. This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me and the most precious gift I’ve ever had. I love him already.”
“I’ll put his water bowl and food out while you get to know him.”
As she petted her new friend, accepted his kisses and hugged him in return, an odd kind of peace touched her. Nothing was resolved, and hard times were ahead, but with this lovely act of thoughtfulness, this hard but generous man had helped tremendously.
“Thank you, Jonah. I’m sorry I lost control.”
“There’s no need to apologize, Gabby. But we’ll figure this out. Okay?”
“Okay.” She drew in a breath and nuzzled her new friend. “Okay…yes, we will.”