Chapter 33
Thunder
Gemma
THE MIDNIGHT CHANGE of guard doesn’t go unnoticed, just as it hasn’t any night that Caleb comes on duty.
However, as I have all week, I remain in my room. It’s for the best. We both have our own agenda and neither wants to compromise it, and getting caught with my bodyguard would definitely put a wrench in my plan.
And we would get caught. It would only be a matter of time. Enrique has truly lost his mind. He’s exhausted and irrational, even more so now than ever before. He hasn’t stayed away as he told me he would. Instead, he’s been stopping by unannounced and calling all hours of the day.
I haven’t even been able to sneak out to get to the warehouse for fear he’ll come by when I’m gone.
Luckily, while I’ve been at the museum during the day, I’ve been able to use the phone to arrange for pickups, but I haven’t been able to get to my computer, so I haven’t beat him to any purchases he’s told me he’s wanted to make.
Feeling tired and uninspired, I set my pencil down on the easel and traipse over to the bathroom. I’ve just shut the door behind me when it’s forced open again. I stumble back, astonished, as Caleb quickly steps inside and slams the door behind him. He locks it and then faces me.
I’m still dressed from the day in my skirt and blouse but in my bare feet. I wish I hadn’t kicked my heels off because like this, Caleb has a good five inches on me and he’s seething anger.
A shudder ripples through me and I take a step back. With a tight smile, I say, “What are you doing? Enrique could stop by at any minute.”
His green eyes snap hot as fire at me. “Who the fuck are you?”
Sneering, I gesture toward the door. “If you want to talk to me, how about you start by knocking like any decent human being would do.”
All reason, sanity, and judgment seem to have abandoned him. He’s a solid wall of muscle and it’s never been more obvious. “You should be used to indecent in your life, right?”
Stunned by his self-righteous behavior, my chest rises and falls with my rage. “You aren’t one to judge me,” I snap through clenched teeth.
Caleb’s expression darkens, his gaze flickering over my chest before darting back up to my face. “Careful, sweetheart. You’re letting your mask slip, and you wouldn’t want to show the real you, now would you?”
Closing my eyes, I clench my hands into fists as hurt washes through me. I thought I could count on this man. I thought he was on my side. I was obviously wrong. I should have known I’m the only one I can count on.
“If you’re wishing me away, it isn’t going to work.” His deep voice washes over me. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me who you are.”
“Get out!” I shout.
At the warm sound of his fake laughter, my eyes pop open. Sneering, he shrugs. “Already told you, I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what your angle is.”
My gut churns. “We’ve already done this dance. It’s getting tiresome.”
His sneer morphs into a glower. “How about I help you a little?”
A painful ache pierces my chest as I look at him in confusion. Obviously, he thinks he knows something but he can’t, not really. “Sure, why not?”
He leans in toward me, our faces almost at eye level. “Let’s start with your brother, Josh. Were you involved with him in the drug ring or on the theft side?”
Fear seizes me.
How could he know?
“Or were you just in on the hits?”
Hits?
Dumbfounded, I stare up at him, wordless.
His gorgeous green eyes are bloodshot, and he looks even more tired than he normally does. “Is you being here your payback to Enrique for your brother’s fuck ups or your own?”
I nod, swallowing down the shame I can’t hide. As much as I am attracted to this man, the fact that he can so easily stand here and want to tear me apart tells me he’s no one I should have allowed into my life. “Screw you. I’m nothing like my brother, and what I’m doing isn’t for him. It’s because of him!”
I turn away, but he takes hold of my arm and tugs me back to face him. I lose focus. All of a sudden, I’m back to that night—the night I lost my entire family, and this time I can’t block out the memory of it.
I hate my life.
What it’s become.
I want to go back and change that night. Change everything.
Caleb’s grip becomes stronger and I snap back to reality. My reality.
“Let me go,” I whisper. “Please.”
He immediately releases my arm. “Gemma?” he asks, his voice filled with concern.
I shake my head, my eyes refocusing on him. Everything hard about him is gone and the disgust I saw in his eyes has been replaced with something else.
“I’m not going to hurt you.”
Stepping back, I clutch my stomach and lean against the sink for support. “How could you possibly know about Josh?”
“I just do.”
I feel tears prick the corner of my eyes. “Enrique can’t know that I know about him.”
“Gemma.” I feel Caleb approach me tentatively. “Talk to me. Let me help you.”
“You can’t.” I try to breathe through my tears. “No one can.”
His arms come around me, and I find comfort in his embrace when I know I shouldn’t. “Let me try. Tell me why you’re here.”
Eventually the tears stop and I move to sit on the edge of the tub and brace myself to tell Caleb what I’ve never told another.
“Do you remember that first night we met?” I ask, my voice trembling.
He nods.
“I was wearing a necklace.”
“It was a pink heart, like the ones you keep drawing.”
I suck in a breath. “Everything that happened in my life has been because of that necklace,” I tell him.
His expression is grim. “How so?”
With a deep breath, I close my eyes and allow the story to unfold.
A few months or so passed after the benefit.
I stayed at work too long. It was late. I was tired and didn’t notice anything was wrong. I walked into the store my father owned and went directly up the flight of stairs that led to my family’s home.
As soon as I opened the door, I knew something was wrong. The furniture was out of place and everything had been thrown from the hard surfaces and broken on the floor.
“Mama, Papa,” I called out in a panic.
I heard whimpering.
I tried to run in the direction of the sound but a man’s grip pinched my upper arm and whirled me around to face him. He was wearing a ski mask.
I froze in place.
Then I heard my mother screaming and my father shouting.
I tried to run but a blow to the head knocked me to my knees and then the room went black.
When I woke, I was in the hospital and my brother was beside me. He looked grim. He told me our mother had died from a fall down the stairs and our father had suffered what the doctors thought was a stroke and was in a catatonic state.
“Over the necklace?” I asked, knowing it was the only thing we had worth stealing.
He started to sob.
At the time, I just thought we’d been robbed.
As time when on, Josh started acting strange. He was disappearing all the time and then he landed in jail. I didn’t know he was already working with Enrique. That he had been since Enrique sought him out after the benefit, after looking into me.
At the time I was too distracted to notice. I was trying to take care of my father and work. All the while Enrique kept coming to the museum, talking to me, befriending me, and I liked it. One day he happened to come in my office when I’d just gotten off the phone with the state facility I had checked my father into. I was upset because they’d told me there was nothing more they could do for my father. That more than likely his condition would never change.
I was crying and Enrique asked me what was wrong.
I told him.
Told him everything.
I was so stupid and naïve.
He offered to help. Said he knew of some doctors who might be able to assist with my father’s recovery.
At first, I declined, but Enrique kept insisting, and eventually I agreed. That was just the start. He then offered legal counsel for my brother, and like my father, at first, I said no, but eventually he convinced me it was for the best, and I accepted.
Enrique was married, and I told him I wasn’t looking for trouble. He told me he wasn’t either.
He’d kept his word, and we remained friends.
About a year ago though, everything changed. It was a rainy day and I was really tired but I forced myself to go visit my father after work. Just as I was walking inside the building, my ex-sister in law was leaving.
I was surprised.
I hadn’t seen her in years.
As far as I knew, she’d taken her and my brother’s children and moved back to Columbia.
I stopped her. “Carmelo,” I called through the pouring rain.
When she saw me though, she didn’t stop. She kept walking.
I ran after her. “Carmelo, talk to me,” I said.
She turned to me and the look she gave me was bittersweet. “Stay away from me,” she cried.
I was shocked but I didn’t back down. I asked if she was back for good. Told her I wanted to see the kids. That it wasn’t right that she was keeping them from their family. That’s when she told me she was only here because her ex-husband, my brother, had called her acting very strange. It made her nervous.
When I asked her why, she couldn’t believe I didn’t know. “Know what?” I asked. She blurted out the truth I was meant to know. That my brother had been working with a man named Enrique and she knew in her heart, Josh had given this man’s men the location of the necklace to steal, and after the strange call she’d received, she feared for her and the children’s safety. Feared that Josh had taken the necklace himself and the man he was working with was still looking for it.
I had no idea why Josh had called her. No idea if he was still in contact with Enrique but everything made sense.
I let her walk away but I knew no one was looking for her. I knew without a doubt who had the necklace.
Carmelo had gone to the hospital to talk to my father, make sure she was safe, she had no idea he was in a catatonic state.
I vowed vengeance that day.
On my brother and on Enrique.
In my heart, I disowned my brother. If I could have arranged to keep Josh Pablo Hart behind bars forever, I would have. Unfortunately, I had no control over that, though. All I could was hope he’d never actually get out of prison and even if he did, I’d never see him again.
To me he was dead.
But Enrique Cruz, he was free as a bird.
He was someone I could even the score with.
It wasn’t going to be easy.
I had to become a part of his world. I knew the only way to do that was to become his mistress. So, I came on to him and made it look like a moment of weakness. He took the bait. I just never expected he wouldn’t sleep with me because of his own beliefs.
Blessings really do come in small packages.
Caleb makes a growling noise.
His jealousy snaps me back to reality. I attempt to control my breathing before opening my eyes. “Everything changed for me after that—my brother and the man who was pretending to care about me had both betrayed me, and all I had to live for was revenge. Even my job became a ruse.”
His face blurs before me. “Gemma, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”
Almost hysterically, I grab his arms. “You can’t tell anyone. Enrique has no idea I know. He thinks I fell for him because of all he did to help me, and it needs to stay that way.”
“It will.”
A wild energy takes hold of me and I grip him tighter. “I’m going to get that necklace back, and then I’m going to kill him.”
“Shhh,” he quiets me. “Don’t say that.”
“I’m going to, Caleb, after the benefit,” I insist. The benefit. I just have to wait until after New Year’s. It’s not that far away.
Leaning forward, he whispers, “I’ll help you.”
“No,” I tell him. “I don’t want you involved.”
“I already am. More than you know.”
“What do you mean?”
He sits on the tile floor and pulls me onto his lap. “Later,” he whispers. “I need you right now.”
Accepting that, I fall against his hard body as his mouth slams over mine. I need him too, and just for tonight I’m not going to deny myself.
Tingles explode all over my body, and I can’t deny the fact that I’ve been burning for him. I suck on his tongue and he bites my lip. After we share the wettest, dirtiest kiss, we strip out of our clothes with an undeniable urgency.
We are going to screw, right here, on the bathroom floor. Yet, before I get lost in his touch, I take a moment to hope like hell whatever his vendetta is, it doesn’t screw with mine.
If it does, things are bound to get ugly.