Page 98 of Emerald

“That’s messed up.”

“It is rather weird, but I’ve seen people do worse stuff to secure their legacy. But she’s been sleeping with Domingo since she arrived.”

“And Pedro is okay with that?”

Elena shrugs. “He doesn’t know the full extent, I guess, but she says he is. Guess he’s desperate to secure his legacy.” I shake my head in disgust. “She said she slept with Manuel, too.”

“What?” Does this girl have a death wish? Does Manuel have a death wish?

“She said she forced him to. She enjoyed the power being Pedro’s wife afforded her so much so that she was lonely one night and crept into his room while Pedro was away, and he must have been staying there and told him he needed to sleep with her.”

“He could have said no.”

“She said she would tell her husband he touched her even if he didn’t.” I stare at her in shock. “I know, it’s not right. It’s just not something I would ever expect from her. Before we were stolen, she’d only slept with one person in college. She was more interested in getting to know someone before doing anything with them. She was shy sexually. Unlike me who was a little wild in college.”

“Who wasn’t,” I say, giving her a wink.

“I’m surprised you can remember all the way back to then,” she teases. Then her face falls. “Do you think the CIA knew this about us?”

“What do you mean?”

“About what we got up to with guys in college?” she asks.

“If they had been watching you for as long as they had been, then yeah, they would have.”

“Shit,” she says, jumping off the sofa to pace around the room. “That’s why they sent me to where I needed to be and why they sent Anna to where she needed to go. She was better suited to being a wife and I was better suited to being a whore.”

“Wait. No. That’s not it at all,” I try to reassure her.

“Did you know Anna has been going to fashion week all these years? Her closet is filled with designer clothes. I have twentymillion dollars’ worth of jewelry she gave me in the kitchen. I hate that Anna got to live a cushy life, while I had to struggle to survive in the gutter every minute of the day.” The tears roll down her cheeks. “Why am I so angry over this? I should be happy that I found her. That she’s alive. But … I’m also pissed off that she seems to be living her best life all this time. I’m a bad person for thinking this, aren’t I?”

“No, never,” I reassure her, standing and pulling her into my arms. “You have spent years worrying about your friend.”

“I just … I’m exhausted, Nash. I don’t want anything to do with this life anymore.”

“What you are doing right now is admirable. You are saving a girl’s life, think of Pearl. And how she is going to be able to get out of the nightmare she’s been stuck in for who knows how long. I’m sure Pearl had dreams at some point, she probably doesn’t think she will ever get to see them again.”

She hugs me tightly. “Thank you. Seeing Anna living in the lap of luxury all these years, I guess, made me jealous. And that’s surprised me.”

“No need to apologize to me, you’re human, even if you don’t think you are sometimes,” I reassure her. “Look, it’s been a long night full of surprises. How about a hot shower and a foot rub before bed?”

“Just a foot rub?” She smirks.

“I’ll rub anything you want,” I tease, squeezing her ass.

After spendingthe night and most of the morning in bed, we finally get up and Elena calls Sophie to tell her what happened last night. I still can’t believe it’s played out like this. I’m glad it did because fucking Manuel and his cronies didn’t get to touchElena and never will again. I have my reservations about her friend Anna, only because I’ve been living here since her reign of terror began. Now, could she be playing the part well and trying to slowly break up the cartel from the inside? There is that possibility, but the other possibility is she’s not playing and this is really her now. Elena is excited to get her friend back, and I would be, too, but I think she needs to prepare herself that Anna isn’t Anna anymore, that being that deep undercover for all those years has altered her. Just like being Persephone has altered her. But if I’m honest, I think Elena has dealt with the life she’s been given remarkably well, especially, for someone so young. I know I didn’t cope well, being in the military at that age, and I suppressed a lot of the horror I saw. I can see Elena is fighting her demons, but she knows she can rely on me whenever the fight gets too much, I’m happy to help.

Brooks: You trust this Anna bird?

The text comes through.

Nash: Not entirely.

Brooks: Me either. But Damon can’t find anything about her, she’s like a ghost.

Nash: That’s suspicious don’t you think?

Brooks: Fuck yeah.

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