by Lacey Silks
“It’s not your fault,” I said.
“It’s not any of your faults.” Emma filled my glass up again. “So, now that we’re all up to speed, I have something to tell y’all. And you better brace yourselves. Drink up, Annabelle. You’re going to need this.”
“Emma, what have you done?” Eric asked.
“Nothing, yet. But I do need your permission before I take the next step.”
“Step to what?” Derek leaned in closer.
We were sitting around a fire pit. Blake threw in a few more logs before draping Missy’s sweater over her shoulders. I was so happy that my best friend had finally found his soul mate. They looked so happy together.
“Well, I went ahead and called a few friends. Your annulment will be ready in two days. No signatures needed. It will be as if you two never got married. Poof—gone.” She spread open her fingers as if she was performing some sort of a magic act, which at this point, I believed it was. “If that’s what you want.”
“Of course that’s what I want. Emma, that’s great news. Wait, can you do that? No, maybe I don’t want to know.”
“I don’t think you want to know,” Eric said, cautiously eyeing his girlfriend. “What else, Em?”
I should have known that my happiness wouldn’t last long.
“It looks like Ricardo Menzos, Rick as you know him, didn’t seek you out without a reason.”
I felt chills fly up my spine. Derek pushed his chair behind the log I sat on and wrapped his arms around me.
“The bastard covered his tracks very well, Annabelle. You couldn’t have known about this. Hell, I didn’t know, and I’ve been researching John Huntz for months.”
I gasped. “What?” Had he found a way to haunt my family from the grave?
“What does Huntz have to do with it?” Eric asked.
“Ricardo had been stalking you for a couple of years before he made his move. He knew more about your family and its wealth than you did. I think he married you not only for the green card—in fact, I’m pretty sure that was just an excuse to get money—but also because you were tied to the Waters name and Huntz told him all about you. The only reason I didn’t make the connection was because Ricardo and his twin brother Mateo took their mother’s name instead of their father’s. Thankfully, Mateo remains in Mexico. When I started tracking Rick a couple of weeks ago when Eric asked me, I found a pattern. He’s been traveling to the same town in Mexico as Huntz had. I flew there myself, asked around, and yeah, it looks like Huntz liked to spread his seed in Mexico.”
Eric shot off his chair. “Are you telling me that my sister married Huntz’s son?”
“Was conned to marry,” Emma corrected. “Eric, I’m sorry. John Huntz went back to Mexico often. No one could have known about it. He kept Ricardo hidden.”
“No, I am sorry. This is not your fault, Em. Fuck! Can we fix this?” Eric asked. I just sat there, in part relieved that I’d been ambushed and didn’t need to blame only my own stupidity. Though now I could honestly say that I was more afraid than before. If Rick was Huntz’s son, then he was much more dangerous than I thought. Actually, I’d always known just how dangerous he was, but now, his relationship to Huntz just added a new layer of fear.
“I’m pretty sure we can get Anna to write her exam without running into Ricardo at all. But if he’s got his father’s blood in him, I’ve got to find a way to put him behind bars before he comes after you again. I was thinking of getting him deported, because if the marriage gets annulled I could, but it wouldn’t be too difficult for him to be smuggled across the border again. He’s been smuggling people from Mexico for years and completely took over his father’s enterprise in Fairview. I need to find a way to put him behind bars.”
It now made perfect sense why Rick was in town.
“Oh my God, I can’t believe this is happening.” I lowered my head into my knees. Maybe I shouldn’t have had so much wine. When I lifted my head and looked over at Missy, I saw her face go pale as she blankly stared into the fire pit.
“Missy, let me see your arm,” I said to my sister. “The one with your birthmark.”
She hesitantly rolled up her sleeve. I recalled Rick’s tattoo and how he got it to cover up his birthmark. I would bet my life that they were almost identical in shape.
“You married your half sister’s half brother,” she whispered.
That was just so messed up! My world, the one I thought I’d be able to live in again, had just collapsed.
I felt Derek stand up from behind me. “Okay, listen up. We are not going to let this asshole fuck with us any longer. I don’t care whose father Huntz is or whose brother this dweeb Ricardo is. All I care about are the people here. My family. We’ve been a family for almost three decades. We’ve been lucky enough to find another family member.” He looked over to Missy. “And the only thing that will keep us strong is if we stick together.”
I found it difficult to swallow. That was my man talking, and I’d never felt so much pride in my life.
“So, Eric, you’ll stay here and get your mom from the hospital. Blake, you’ll need to take care of the pig sale for me. Emma, make that phone call and get my girl to be single again. We are flying to San Francisco so that Annabelle can write her exam, I can keep her safe, and Emma, well, you do what you need to do to get this asshole behind bars.”
There was a moment of silence as everyone stared at Derek. I wasn’t too sure where that wild man came from, but I had a feeling that he’d always been there; he’d just been hiding because I kept pushing him away.
“Uhm, I think I can handle this, Derek,” Emma said.
“And there’s no way I’m not coming, Emma. So please, spare me the strong-woman speech.”
“You sure you don’t want me to come?” Blake offered.
“Blake, with all due respect, I don’t babysit.” Emma crossed her arms over her chest, clearly unhappy that so many people wanted to change her plans.
“Hey, Eric? It looks like your balls are missing.” Blake laughed.
Derek spat out the beer he’d just sipped.
“Buzz off, Blake,” Eric said. “Or I may ask her to shave your fucking pussy.”
“Eric!” I scolded. “What the fuck happened to your mouth?” My hands flew to cover my entire face. Everyone laughed, even Missy. And I was sure I was done drinking the wine that night, because it seemed the entire world spun. I wished our time together as one family would last much longer than one stolen evening in Ogden. I wished I knew this was the one and only night we’d ever have together. Maybe I wouldn’t have left for San Francisco at all.
CHAPTER 18
Annabelle
The flight wasn’t as bad as my brother had warned me. Emma said he’d nearly peed his pants the first time he was on a plane. Maybe it was because I had Derek with me and couldn’t stop cuddling into his side. I think we were acting like two lovesick puppies. Emma rolled her eyes once in a while but let us be and went to work on her laptop during the first hour of the flight. Afterwards, she’d told me about her family in New Jersey, her two brothers, nieces, and nephews, and how she met Eric. I couldn’t believe that my brother was the one who killed John Huntz. He saved Emma’s life.
We checked into an expensive hotel—Emma insisted on it, citing it was the safest one in San Francisco, with great security. Rick would never find me here. My bare feet squeaked over the marble floors, and it’d be a sin if we didn’t try out the oversized tub in the middle of the bathroom. This hotel was suitable for a king. It would take me a while to get used to the money we had. Apparently, Eric already began selling the crude and stuffed my pockets full of cash, gave me his credit card, and told me not to worry about any belongings I had in my loft in San Francisco as he’d replace everything. No one wanted me to take a chance on crossing Rick. And if I thought I had trouble getting used to our new fortune, I could tell that Derek had done everything in his power not to show his discomfort, and I loved him for it. Maybe it was because he and my
brother had been best friends since they could walk and talk, or perhaps it was the close relationship our families have always had. Whatever the reason, I was grateful that Derek accepted me with my faults, with my lies, and now with the fortune, wanting nothing in return but my honesty and love. And I swore I’d never lie to him, or to any of my family, again.
Now that I sat in the lecture room, counting the minutes until my exam was over, I couldn’t wait to run into Derek’s open arms, go back to the hotel room, and fly home. Emma had been on the phone and on her computer since dawn and was waiting for me, at Derek’s side, just outside the door, expecting a phone call from someone in New York who could tell her how to proceed with Ricardo. And as of tomorrow morning, I would be a single woman again. This was too good to be true. Could everything fall into place so easily? Maybe when so many people worked together, miracles were possible.
When my professor rang the bell on his desk and I handed in my paper, a sense of pride and accomplishment filled me. In two weeks I’d get my nursing diploma, and officially I could begin my work at Dr. Marvey’s office. Outside, Derek greeted me with the sweetest of kisses and a bouquet of roses. The few students writing the make-up exam with me had already left. We were the only ones in the hall.
“Congratulations,” he said against my mouth. “I’m hoping I’ll be the first to see your nursing outfit. In our bedroom.”
“Thank you. And of course you will be. I’m planning on giving you a thorough physical when we return.” I chuckled.
“I don’t know where this is coming from, Annabelle, but I like it.” He kissed me again.
“What happened to Emma?” I asked.
“She got a call and had to go back to the hotel to get some papers.”
“I’m surprised she left you.”
Emma had been with us nonstop, and it took a lot of persuading to get her to leave our room last night.
“Me too. Ready to go home?”
“Yeah, I just need to use the bathroom. Hold this for me?”
“Okay, I’ll wait here.”
I kissed Derek once more and handed him my purse. I stopped before entering the bathroom and waved to him once more. He blew me another kiss and pointed to his watch for me to hurry. I nodded before disappearing inside.
I crouched, scanning the stalls for anyone else, but no feet were visible. Letting a nervous breath out, I entered the stall. Before I had a chance to lower my shorts, I felt something pierce my shoulder. When I looked up, I wanted to scream, but whatever was injected into my body had already affected my vocal chords. Rick’s hate-filled eyes beamed from above as he smirked. The last thing I remembered was my limp body being pulled out of the bathroom, through a hallway, and out the door.
CHAPTER 19
Derek
Nerves began tingling in my hands after the first five minutes passed and Annabelle didn’t come out of the bathroom. I paced back and forth a few times, patiently watching the door, but when a woman I didn’t remember entering the bathroom came out, it made me pause.
“Excuse me, did you see a girl in jean shorts and yellow shirt in the bathroom?”
“No, I’m sorry. Maybe she confused the exits?”
“What exits?” Panic set into my body.
“There’s another entrance into these bathrooms from the restaurant’s side.”
I didn’t wait for her to finish and rushed inside.
“Annabelle!” I pushed each stall door open only to find it empty. There was no sign of her. I left through the other side with faint hope that perhaps Annabelle in fact had confused her exits, but when I couldn’t find her, I knew that the worst that could have happened just did.
I dialed Emma’s number. She picked up after the first ring.
“Derek?”
“She’s missing. I think he got Annabelle in the bathroom.”
“You let her go to the bathroom on her own?”
“What was I supposed to do? Go in there with her?”
“Yes, I would have.”
I heard her mumble something about never leaving an amateur on his own again. But I should have known better. I should have gone in there or insisted on Annabelle holding it until we got back to the hotel. “You’re a girl, for Pete’s sake!”
“Okay, listen. Stay where you are. I’m gonna go to her apartment and check there first. Ricardo’s apartment.... ” She paused for a moment. “Shit, you’re closer.”
“Emma, give me his fucking address.”
“You’re not going there alone. Wait for me.” And she hung up.
I wanted to throw my phone against the wall. It was times like these when I wished people knew what I was capable of. But I couldn’t tell anyone about my experience with the SEALs, not even Emma. Although at this point, knowing the kind of investigator she was, it wouldn’t have surprised me if she already knew. Either that, or Eric had already told her.
Fuck! I sat on the nearest chair I could find and lifted my head when a red-haired waitress came to the table.
“Can I get you anything?” When she caught my gaze, it was only then that I recognized I was in the same restaurant I’d seen Annabelle in with her friends almost two months ago. “You? You never called.”
“Ahm....” And of course for the life of me I couldn’t remember her name. How could I have when Annabelle was the only one I was thinking about then and now? “I’m so glad to run into you.”
“Really?” She placed her hand on her hip, tilting it slightly to the side. Her mouth curved up a bit, and I knew I’d given her the wrong impression, but I didn’t care at the moment.
“Listen, there was a guy here. Dark hair, possibly with a beard and a mustache.”
“Honey, you’ve just described half our clientele.” I looked around the Mexican-themed restaurant. Had I not noticed that two months ago when at Eric’s request I came to San Francisco to check on Annabelle?
“Here.” I removed a copy of Ricardo’s photograph that Emma had given me from my pocket. “Him. Have you seen him?”
She regarded the paper closely before saying, “Rick?”
“Yes, Rick.”
“He comes here every day. He lives just upstairs.” She pointed to a side door at the restaurant.
Seriously? I had the urge to kiss her again, but I didn’t want to give her unwarranted hope.
“Which apartment?”
“Are you going to call this time?”
I sighed. “I’m sorry I led you on. I will definitely not call you, but if you could please tell me which apartment he’s in, I’d be very grateful.”
She let out a long breath before saying, “At least you’re honest this time. He’s in 4B. But be careful. Rick has a temper and usually gets what he wants.”
“Not when my girl’s in trouble,” I said under my breath before leaving. “Thank you!”
I rushed upstairs every second step and paused at the door marked 4B. I shut my eyes for a moment, took a deep breath in, and exhaled. Recalling my training, I knew I had two choices. Either knock the door down and surprise him, or enter in peace and feel out whether Rick had any weapons. If I barged in, I ran the risk of him using whatever weapon he had on Annabelle.
With as much patience I could find in my raging body, I knocked on the door. Pressing my finger to the peep hole, I waited. There was no answer for longer than it should have taken for someone to come to the door. I lowered my gaze to the doorknob, watching it, waiting, and knocked again, louder this time. The faint sound of shuffling feet resonated from within.
Rick or fucking Ricardo opened the door. A chain lock remained fastened to the frame and a strong smell of booze and cigarettes hit me. The scruff on his face and dirt under his fingernails made me want to puke. By the look on his face, he didn’t expect me to be here, and I didn’t think he knew who I was, either—or maybe he was pretending?
“Can I help you?” he asked.
“Yeah, my cat seems to like climbing the fire escape, and he’s just outside your window. Do yo
u mind if I get him?”
He contemplated for a moment, and I added, “You know, I could go from the outside but didn’t want to seem like a fucking pervert peeking into people’s business.”
“Yeah, make it quick.” He unlocked the chain. I went inside, heading for the window, warily scanning the dump of an apartment for any sign of Annabelle. There was only one door to the left, and it was closed. To my right I saw a messy kitchen full of pizza boxes, dirty dishes, papers, scattered beer bottles, and old food containers. And right there on the counter, a barrel of a gun stuck out from underneath a cloth.
“Here, kitty, kitty,” I called out the window, keeping Rick’s proximity in the back of my mind. The last thing I wanted was for him to surprise me.
But he reached into the fridge for a beer before leaning against the counter. At this moment he was closer to that gun than I was. If I rushed at it now, while he didn’t suspect it, I had a chance to reach it first.
“You should call your cat by its name instead of kitty.” He took a long swig of his beer.
A rustle sounded from the bedroom, and we both turned our attention toward it.
“You’re right. Maybe my cat got stuck in your bedroom.”
His gaze skidded to the gun, and I didn’t wait for him to make a move. I lunged at it, grasping the handle and pointing it at him. “Don’t move, you son of a bitch.”
The surprise in his eyes lasted not more than a second, and as he reached behind his back I knew I miscalculated. The gun I held was empty, and now I stared at a loaded one in Rick’s hands, which he pulled from behind his back.
“It’s good to have a backup.” He wiped the dripping beer off his chin, and a sly smirk crossed his face. “Now who the fuck are you and what do you want?”
A soft whimper escaped from behind the bedroom door, and my face drained of blood. He saw my panic-stricken gaze dart toward the room, then back to him, and I knew that Rick realized I was here for Annabelle.
