“Not actual weight, Jemma, geez. You look calmer; your eyes are brighter.”
“I feel better. I’ll still have to testify and go through the whole court process, but that bastard is now behind bars where he belongs.”
“I’m surprised Agent King let you out of his sight.” Mikel winked.
“I needed some space. Caid is amazing. But I missed you, and I was hoping that since you’re back, you might be interested in sparring?”
“Hell yes!” Mikel exclaimed. “Let me go get my gear, and I’ll meet you in the sparring room.”
“Awesome! I need to go change anyway.” Jemma turned and headed for the locker room, more than excited to spar with her old friend. Caid had argued it wasn’t safe for her to be out, but she had spent nearly her entire life being cooped up; now it was time for her to get some fresh air.
She had just finished pulling on her workout clothes when the door to the locker room opened. She started to walk out when a familiar face stopped her in her tracks.
“Maria.”
“Forget about me? It’s been a while since I’ve seen you.”
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“Came to catch up with my old neighbor.” Maria’s jaw was tight, and Jemma circled around to get to the door.
“I thought you’d fled the country.”
“Nah, you just didn’t know where to look.”
“What do you want?”
“You know, I had a pretty sweet deal going with Charmont. He was going to get my sister back for me, and now she’s dead. Her husband killed her because you couldn’t stick with the fucking plan.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“No, you’re not.” Maria laughed. “You’ve only ever cared for yourself. It’s why your mother died, and why Liam couldn’t stand to look at you.”
“Maria--” Jemma saw the large blade Maria pulled from a holster on her leg.
“Don’t you just love a freshly sharpened blade? That bite you get from just a tiny prick.” Jemma saw a drop of blood well up on Maria’s finger.
“You’re making a mistake.”
“Am I? I don’t think so.” Maria charged, and Jemma dodged, unfortunately not fast enough as the blade sliced her arm. “Feel the bite?” Maria taunted. Jemma kicked at Maria’s legs and knocked her to the ground.
“Bitch!” she yelled and attacked again, but Jemma pinned her in a matter of seconds. Tears stung at Maria’s eyes, and Jemma couldn’t help but feel pity for the woman’s sister.
“You have the wrong person, Maria!” she screamed. “I didn’t do a damn thing to your sister! If she died, it’s because your boss wanted her dead!”
“You’re wrong!” Maria cried out and head-butted Jemma.
Jemma’s vision blurred, but she got to her feet just as Maria came after her again. Moments later, Maria was ripped off Jemma and tossed backwards by an incredibly pissed off Mikel.
“You attacked the wrong person in the wrong fucking gym,” she said and punched Maria so hard she fell backwards unconscious.
“I see why you were a champ,” Jemma said as Mikel helped her to her feet.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I need to call Caid though.”
Mikel pressed a button on her cell and handed it to Jemma. “It’s ringing.”
When he answered, Jemma smiled. No matter the circumstances, she would never tire of the sound of his voice. “Hey, Caid, I found Maria. Or rather, she found me.”
“How’s your arm?” Caid asked as the paramedic finished stitching Jemma.
“A little tender.”
“You’ll have some nice shiners to go with it,” he said, pointing to her nose.
“Yeah, not the first time.”
“We’re all done here,” the medic said, and Jemma got to her feet.
“Did you find out about her sister?”
Caid nodded sadly. “Lupita Gonzales. She was found dead two days ago, and police arrested her husband, Gregory. It appears she was ‘accidentally’ killed when the two of them got into an argument and she fell down the stairs. At least that’s his story.”
“That’s so awful.”
“Yeah, the evidence is solid. It won’t bring her back, but he’ll go down for it.”
“So, Liam was going to help her get her sister away from the husband.”
“That’s what it looks like. You did say he liked exploiting people.”
She nodded, “he never would have saved her sister. He would have just killed Maria too.”
Caid nodded. “It’s over now, Jemma. He’s behind bars, and soon we can put all this behind us.” He pulled her toward him and wrapped his arms around her.
“Dinner?” he whispered into her hair.
“You asking me on a date, Agent King?” She pulled away and smiled at him.
“Eh.” He shrugged. “It’s about that time of day, and I’m hungry.” He grinned. “Besides, didn’t you promise me?”
“I would love to go on a date with you, shiners and all.” She laughed, and he wrapped his arm around her.
Jemma wasn’t sure what she would do now, but as she looked around, her life felt as if it were finally in color.
Epilogue
Caid held Jemma’s hand firmly as they made the walk up to his parents’ front door. This was the first time they had seen his family since he had arrested Charmont, and to say he was nervous was an understatement.
Although he hadn’t known her long, he was going to ask Jemma to marry him. Therefore, dinner needed to go perfectly if he was going to hope she would say yes when he asked her later that night.
His only saving grace was that Lance and his parents were also going to be there. It was the King’s make-up Thanksgiving dinner. Hopefully his sister would act better this time.
“You okay?” he asked Jemma right before ringing the doorbell his mother always insisted he ignore.
She took a deep breath and forced a smile, “I’m all right.”
“Everything will be fine, baby.” He kissed her lightly and pushed the button. Moments later, the door opened, and his mother stood on the other side in a yellow and orange turkey sweater.
“Caid King, how many times do I have to tell you not to worry about the doorbell? This is your house too. Just come in.”
“Yes ma’am.” He kissed her cheek. “What’s with the sweater?”
“What? You don’t like it? I think it’s festive. What do you think, Jemma?”
“I like it.”
“See, Caid? At least she has good taste.” She winked at Jemma and then led them both inside. Lance and his parents had already arrived and were in a conversation with Caid’s dad.
“Wait--” Jemma stopped and stared at the man and woman who stood before her. She knew them.
“Oh!” The woman covered her mouth with her hands. “There she is.” She took a step toward Jemma and gently touched her cheek. “You look just like her.”
“You used to sit and eat pancakes with me.”
“Yes, we did.”
“So, every time my mother took me to that diner, she was meeting with Lance?”
The woman nodded sadly. “She desperately wanted you two to meet, but was so afraid of your father finding out.”
“You two did meet once,” the man said softly as he took a step toward her. “When you were six, you wandered back in the kitchen where your mom was talking to Lance. You said hi and the two of you colored a picture together while Jenny and I tried to convince your mother to leave Liam.” Jenny handed Jemma a piece of paper from an old kids’ menu from the diner. The coloring was less than perfect, but to Jemma it was priceless.
“Thank you,” Jemma said with a smile.
“You are so welcome.” Jenny pulled Jemma in for a hug. “You are family just like I told your man back there. You two are more than welcome anytime.”
“Does this mean free pancakes?” Caid joked and earned a slap on the arm from his mom.
Jenny and her hus
band both laughed. “Of course, family doesn’t pay,” the man said with a smile.
Caid turned to see Sophia walking toward them. His back stiffened, ready to defend Jemma if necessary.
“Caid, can I have a moment with Jemma?” Sophia asked easily, and Caid noted it wasn’t a fight in her eyes, but shame.
“That’s fine,” Jemma said politely.
“You sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine, Caid.”
Caid nodded and stepped into the kitchen to help his mom, while Jemma followed Sophia to the couch.
Jemma took a seat on the sofa and faced Caid’s sister. She hadn’t seen her since she’d rescued her from Liam, and if this was another fight she wanted, then Jemma would damn sure give her one. She had no intention of walking away from Caid after everything they’d been through, so she hoped his sister wasn’t looking for that.
If she was, she was going to be highly disappointed.
“I wanted to say that I’m sorry,” Sophia said, and Jemma relaxed. “I never should have judged you based on your father. Especially since I didn’t even know you.”
“Thank you.”
“I know it’s no excuse, but I liked my brother’s ex, Brittany. We were friends, and I didn’t see her betrayal coming. I already had my back up about you even though you had nothing to do with it.”
“I can understand you wanting to protect Caid.”
“I can see that you love him, and I know that he loves you too. I never saw him look at Brittany the way he watches you.”
Jemma smiled as she glanced at Caid, who was trying to not look like he was spying on them from the kitchen. “He’s a wonderful man.”
“He is, and he’s lucky to have you.”
“Thank you.”
Sophia nodded. “So I hear you have panic attacks too?”
Jemma stared at her.
“I’m sorry.” Sophia laughed. “I didn’t mean for that to sound so crass. Caid apparently mentioned it to my mom, who told me when she was yelling at me after the way I treated you during Thanksgiving. I get them too. How do you handle them?”
“I box.”
“Ooohh, that sounds fun. Maybe once this girl comes out,” she said as she patted her swollen belly, “you can show me how.”
Jemma smiled. “I’d like that. Maybe one day you can show me how to knit.” At Sophia’s glance, Jemma added, “Caid told me that’s how you handle yours.”
“Oh okay.” Sophia laughed. “I’ve knitted a lot of shit lately.”
Jemma snorted, surprised that Caid’s sister had cussed. Before she knew it, Jemma was relaxed and deep in conversation as if she and Sophia had known each other for years.
Caid’s phone rang, and he stepped out onto the front porch to answer.
“King.”
“Sir, it’s Agent Omars.”
“What is it?”
“We’ve got a problem.”
“What do you mean?” Caid’s blood chilled. Had Charmont escaped? It was the first thing that came to mind followed by a panicked response to get Jemma and his family to safety.
“It’s Charmont. Someone got to him in prison. He’s dead.”
“What do you mean, someone got to him?”
“Maybe you should get down here. It’s nasty, sir.”
After saying a brief goodbye and leaving Jemma behind, Caid and Lance drove the thirty minutes to the prison where Charmont was being held. After checking in at security, they made their way to Charmont’s isolated cell.
Omars stood waiting for them, his face paler than usual. He nodded toward the cell, and they stepped inside.
“Son of a bitch,” Lance cursed and looked away briefly.
Caid ground his teeth together and took in the scene before him. Someone had tied Charmont to the bars and gutted him. It was a violent crime, and one Caid didn’t even have the stomach to look at for long.
“Who had access to this cell?” he asked the guard standing behind Omars.
“All the guards and the warden.”
“I want a list sent to my office ASAP.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And I want to see security tapes.” He stepped away and dialed Zach’s number. Not that long ago, he’d informed Caid that Matthews had been killed, and from the description, it appeared to have been in the same manner.
Now the question was, who would want both Matthews and Charmont dead? And why?
Be on the lookout for book 3 in the Bastards of Corruption series coming summer 2018!
Other Books by Jessica McCrory
The Prophecy Series
The Phoenix
The Fighter
The Sorceress
The Bastards of Corruption
The Charitable Bastard
A Tethered Duet
Tethered Souls
Broken Tether
Their Own Time
About the Author
I was born in California, and my family moved to Texas when I was a teenager. I was always an avid reader, and I’ve been writing stories since I was a kid! Having my stories published has always been a dream of mine, and it is beyond exciting to see that dream coming true!
I am a wine (red!!) lover, and I’m crazy for T-shirts (the kind with hilarious sayings on them). My amazing husband is more supportive than I could have ever hoped for, my two sweet kiddos keep my life wonderfully eventful, and we have four fur-babies, three dogs and a rabbit.
Growing up, reading was my way to escape reality, whether it was good or bad at the time, and I want my stories to offer readers the same kind of adventure I have sought between the covers of a book.
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