“But she’s not Jessica.”
Luke nodded.
“So you’re just going to spend the rest of your life pining after someone you can never be with?”
He shrugged. “For now. I didn’t get to marry her, but my heart is still married to the memories I have of her.”
“Luke I’m—”
“Don’t. It’s not your fault.”
“My accident was on the morning of your wedding day.”
Luke reached across the table, squeezing her hand. “And when Jessica found out, she ran to find me, ripped off her veil, and drove me to the hospital.”
Lake blinked back her tears. “I miss her too, ya know? But I also miss my brother. I miss the man you were with her. She made you normal.” Lake smiled.
Luke chuckled. No one in his family ever knew Jessica’s whole story. Despite the irony in his sister’s statement, she was right. He found the best possible version of himself with Jessica. She gave him a life.
A life he wanted back.
*
The vibrating buzz of Luke’s burner phone brought him out of a light sleep a few minutes shy of midnight.
“What did you find?”
Gabe chuckled. “Not how much of your money did I have to spend?”
“Fuck the money. Tell me.”
“I saw the tapes, man. You were right. My God … it was her.”
“No shit. The room, Gabe. Whose name was on the room?”
“An Aric J. Monaghan. Omaha, Nebraska address.”
“Message it to me.”
“You can’t go. You said it yourself. It’s not safe.”
“Well I can’t not go. She’s there. I have to—”
“I’ll go. You stay put. I’ll get a flight out in the morning. Kelly thinks I’m going to be gone for another couple days anyway. Don’t be stupid and risk yourself or your family. Nobody will be looking for me. Besides, if she’s with some other guy, I’m not sure you showing up unannounced is the best idea. In fact, if she’s with some other guy, I’m not sure why you’re even pursuing this.”
The muscles in his jaw twitched as he clenched his teeth. “Just send me the address.”
“I just told you—”
“I’m not going anywhere, but if your wife doesn’t know where you are going, I think I should.”
“Good point. I’ll send it and call you when I know more.”
“Gabe?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.”
Chapter Nine
Knight
Held hostage in a constant groggy state, the lines between Jillian’s dreams and reality blurred. Time became indistinguishable. Had she been there days or weeks?
“Good morning, sunshine. I’m done running my errands, so I eased up on your sedative. Your food is attracting maggots. That’s not going to taste good when you eat it. And believe me … you will eat it.”
“Go to hell.” The words scraped across Jillian’s throat like sandpaper.
“You first.” Psycho bitch cackled.
She peeled her eyes open. A shiver erupted in bumps along her skin, a welcome contrast to the oven.
“What the fuck?”
“I thought the zip ties were poetic given our location, but I had a devil of a time trying to get the IV in with your hands tied behind your back. Or are you questioning what’s beneath your bare ass? That would be your own piss. Now that I’m sure brings back memories, huh? Freaky, isn’t it? G.A.I.L. insisted on knowing everything about your kidnapping. They needed every little detail to assess your mental state. It didn’t take long for them to conclude your psyche was irreversibly damaged.”
The duct tape securing her arms to her body didn’t allow an inch of movement. A mottling of bruises covered her forearm from her elbow to her wrist. In the middle, an impaled IV needle was taped in place.
“Your whole I-don’t-care-if-I-die attitude is not acceptable. You don’t have to eat yet, but I can’t have you dying of dehydration before the fun even begins. Getting the IV and saline was the easy part. Following the YouTube instructions for inserting it … not as easy. No worries. I swabbed your skin good with alcohol. Or did I? Hmm … I just can’t remember. But let’s face it. The puncture wound on your shoulder and the nasty cut on your hand aren’t looking too good right now, so I highly doubt my little IV experiment will make much of a difference at this point.”
Psycho bitch maintained her usual spot in her chair under a lone hanging light bulb, wearing a wicked grin matched only by Satan himself. The gleam in her eyes expressed her pleasure as Jillian glanced up to take notice of her—specifically what she wore.
“You like?” Her smile grew, exposing her crooked teeth.
Jillian focused on that instead of her military fatigues and boots—big, repeated-blows-to-the-ribs boots.
“It’s funny how you fooled everyone into thinking you were cured—normal. Your near-wedding nuptials had everyone fooled. Jessica Day found love and was going to live happily ever after with her Prince Charming. But the second you became Jillian Knight, your true personality came out again. How do you explain your fascination with fucking your neighbor? And not just any neighbor. Sergeant Monaghan. Was it the camouflage? The boots? Or just your need to be a total whore again? Because that’s what you are. Like mother like daughter.”