Page 8 of Nemesis
When the security’s office door closed, his hand was in my hair and he pulled me tighter into his chest, my arms limp at my sides. I closed my eyes and did what I thought would be appropriate in this situation by burying my face in his shoulder.
“It’s nothing,mi amor. Trust me, I won’t let anything happen to you,” he murmured just above my right ear, trying to reassure me.
I shuddered in his arms, not from fear, but from the disgust that washed over me every time he touched me. I finally wrapped my arms around his middle and caught our reflection in the window from the door behind him.
My eyes locked on my reflection and a small smirk pulled at my features while I let another tear escape. Becoming the catalyst for Victor Morales’s downfall felt like glorious retribution. Making him anticipate and fear the moment his world came crashing down would be exhilarating.
Let the games begin.
CHAPTER4
THEO
My phone buzzed with a new message as I pulled into my driveway. I parked and turned off the ignition, then picked it up to find a message from Noah.
Noah: Call you when I get out of the office. I got a job for you.
Noah and I had met when I’d suggested recruiting him for the academy. I had been sifting through applications and scores when I stumbled upon his. He had still been in college when he’d taken the test and managed an almost perfect score, without his knowledge, which was a rarity at the bureau.
When I’d first showed up on his dorm’s doorstep with an offer, he’d initially slammed the door in my face. But after showing up every day like clockwork, he’d finally caved and accepted it.
After graduating, he’d started working for the DEA, while I went to work in organized crime. A few months into his new position, he’d been assigned to a high-profile case and had to move to Sardenya, a small island coasting the shores of Bemes.
He’d disappeared for a few years after his partner’s death before coming back to become a training officer at the academy in Blackwell, which was two towns east of here. Rumors had been that he’d accepted the position to protect his late partner’s kid, who’d survived the fire that killed his parents.
I hadn’t heard from him ever since I’d left the bureau.
Until now.
I put my phone away and walked inside my house. Everything was quiet, felt empty. No personal possessions decorated it, no trace of the man I used to be. For years, I’d moved around every few months because whenever I stayed somewhere for too long, memories of what I used to have and lost crept in.
It hadn’t been until last year that I decided to build this house and finally settle somewhere.
I laughed coldly under my breath at my pathetic reality. Pulling my mind from the unwelcome thoughts that tried to trickle in, I scanned the premises to look for anything out of place, a habit that stuck from my days at the bureau.
Once I was confident that nothing had been disturbed, I tossed my keys on the table beside the door and removed my gun from its holster, placing it into the drawer. I headed for the bathroom, stripped off my clothes, and stepped under the boiling water to wash today’s case off.
After I’d spent the weeks following my resignation basking in loneliness at my place, I’d started dabbling in private investigation to quiet the thoughts that plagued my mind. If my brain wasn’t constantly in working mode, it would crawl into a space where the voices would take over and I couldn’t let that happen.
I didn’t leave the bureau because I hated my job. I actually used to love it.
It was thrilling,fulfilling.
But it was never the same after she left. Nothing had felt real anymore.
It still didn’t.
Showing up for work, even getting out of bed, became daunting. I was barely hanging on by a thread trying to find her until I was forced to move on. The bureau thought I had developed an unhealthy obsession and threatened to dismiss me if I didn’t stop looking for her.
But how could someone move on from having the only person they ever fell in love with leave them? My work had always been my escape, but I had found solace in her.
That was until she vanished, taking a piece of my soul with her.
I washed the thoughts away with the last remnants of soap and reached for a towel that I wrapped around my waist.
My phone rang as I walked toward my closet to get dressed. I almost ignored it, leaving it to go to voicemail, when I saw Noah’s name flashing on the screen.
“You realize what time it is?” I hissed into the phone before setting it on speaker and placing it on the bed. I dried myself off, reached for a pair of black boxers, and pulled them on.
